It was a great weekend for Mayo crews at last weekend’s West Cork Rally. The event was the second round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Tarmac Rally Championship. Donegal’s Donagh Kelly, with co-driver Conor Foley, won the event, making it a hat-trick of successes in West Cork in his Ford Focus WRC. Cork’s Keith Cronin and Mikey Galvin were second almost a minute behind in their Citroen DS3.
Mayo motor club member Aaron MacHale who had Enda Sherry on the notes in the Skoda Fabia finished in 12th place overall, while Westport’s David Carney and Ray Fitzpatrick brought their Citroen DS3 home 21st. Unlucky not to finish the event was Stephen McGing, also from Westport who was navigating for Wexford’s Andrew Leacy, the pair suffered electrical woes in their Toyota Corolla, putting an early halt to an impressive run.
In the Junior section of the event, Headford’s Justin Ryan once again drove a superb event. With Stephen Monaghan, also form Headford filling in as navigator for the event, the pair finished an excellent second overall and for the second time in a row Ryan claimed maximum championship points, placing him firmly at the top of the standings after the opening two rounds. Shrule’s Noel Murphy also took well to the challenging West Cork Stages, with Tuam’s John Burke on the notes, they finished the event in sixth place out of a very competitive Junior entry.
Elsewhere at the weekend Crossmolina’s Lorcan Moore debuted a new car for the Autocross season, he took a class win at the Cavan Motorclub event held at Latton, Co Cavan, a great start to the year for the young Mayo driver.
