Midlands Stages Rally March 2014
Midlands Stages Rally
Photos by James Burke
A tight finish to the 2014 Midland Moto Stages Rally saw Paddy McVeigh from Tyrone come out on top over Pirelli star, Daniel Mckenna. The pair battled for the top spot throughout and only four hundredths of a second separated them at the final service. On the final loop McVeigh’s advantage of four wheel drive in his Subaru Impreza WRC told over Mckenna’s Ford Escort MK2. Longford man Tommy Doyle banged and popped his way to third in his high revving Renault Clio.
A tight loop of mixed fast flowing and technical driving stages awaited the crews on Sunday and the event as always, attracted a number of Mayo & District entries.
Best placed Mayo member to finish was Darragh Mullen, navigating for David Leonard in a Mitsubishi Evo, thepair finished in 7th place overall and claimed 2nd in class 20.
David Doherty from Ballinlough with Cormac Lyons alongside brought his Peugeot 306 home in 42nd place and 2nd in class 7.
Ballyhaunis man Seamus Coffey was calling the notes for John McGeehan in a Subaru Impreza and guided him to 53rd place and 3rd in Class 20.
Foxford’s Stephen Doherty who had Alan Moran navigating proved that he could easily swap his usual hobby of playing Irish music for the thrill of motorsport and still get the same enjoyment, as the pair finished an excellent 5th in the junior section of the rally.
Not so lucky were John Warren and Ruthann O Connor as their Toyota Corolla succumbed to engine failure on stage 7, after being knocking on the door of a top 20 place.
