BY MARTIN WALSH
KEITH Cronin returned to winning ways with a significant victory in the Newry-based Ulster Rally, the penultimate round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
Moving into the lead on the second stage, Cronin and co-driver Mikie Galvin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) took no risks as stage by stage they increased their advantage before they were able to judge their pace to secure the win that extended their lead in the ITRC series to 15 points.
At the conclusion of the ten-stage encounter they were 15.4 seconds ahead of current Irish Tarmac champions, Derry’s Callum Devine (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) and his Killarney co-driver Noel O’Sullivan. Former champions, the Monaghan/Wexford crew of Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Citroen C3 Rally2) were a minute and 40.5 seconds further behind having lost time with an excursion into a field and a puncture.
It was Cronin’s third win in the current tarmac championship campaign – having made a great start with wins in Galway and the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally – that is based on the best five results from its seven rounds. With dropped scores taken into consideration, Cronin can clinch what will be his second tarmac title with a second place finish on next month’s Cork ‘20’ Rally. Even if Devine was to win the one-day event, second place would still be enough to secure the series, albeit on a tie-break.
At the outset of Saturday’s event the ITRC was a three-way contest between Cronin, Welsh ace Matt Edwards and Devine. Edwards and co-driver Mallow native David Moynihan were the crew in most need of victory to maximise their championship bid and they began well. On the opening stage near Rathfriland, Edwards set the pace, however the intensity of the series was reflected by the fact that the top four were within 0.8 seconds of each other. Cronin occupied second, just 0.2 of a second shy of the Welsh driver with both Moffett and Devine hot on their heels.
On SS2, Banbridge North, Cronin moved 2.4 seconds in front of Edwards with Devine some 5.2 seconds behind rally leader Cronin. Moffett’s fine run on SS1was negated when he ended up in a field via a hedge, the incident relegated him to fifth spot.
There was major drama on SS3 when Edwards saw his chances of championship success evaporate. Seemingly around six seconds up on Devine at the time, his Ford Fiesta Rally slid wide as he approached a left hander, the rear of car moved onto the grass verge where it made contact with a root stump that was hidden in the overgrowth – the impact broke the right wheel hub and while he continued for a short distance, he had to stop to prevent further damage to the car.
Meanwhile, Cronin led Devine by 4.6 seconds but Moffett lost further ground with a puncture, however he was best on SS4 while Cronin impressed on SS5 where he extricated 10.6 seconds from Devine to stretch his advantage to 17 seconds at the halfway mark of the event. Devine experienced a massive slide on the stage after he decided to cross the soft compound tyres on his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
‘I’m taking no major risks. Yes, it's slippy out there. It’s all about managing things, no heroics,’ Cronin commented.
Third-placed James Ford hit a wall on SS5, with Moffett moving to within ten seconds of the Preston driver. Ford made a good response with the best stage time on SS6, a repeat of the morning opener but his rally ended on the next stage with a broken driveshaft thus promoting Moffett into third. Cronin was quickest on SS7 and arrived at the final service halt in Newry with a 21.3-second advantage over Devine.
‘If I thought anything was a bit tricky I just backed off,’ Cronin said, ‘We're in a good rhythm, I don't feel like I'm taking any big risks.’
Cronin did back off too much on SS8 where Devine made a strong response to trim the margin to 16.1 seconds. However, Cronin didn’t panic and with his fourth fastest stage time of the event he edged out Devine by 0.4 of a second and arrived at the final stage with a 16.5-second lead and did enough on the final stage to take a valuable win. Devine and Moffett completed the podium.
‘It's good to get the win but there’s still a lot of work to do yet,’ Cronin said. ‘We had a good start to the championship but the last two rounds didn't go great for us.’
On his championship bid, he was pragmatic.
‘With this sport, there's so many things that can go wrong and go right. It's still all to play for, for sure. Anything can happen at the Cork ‘20’ rally,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Clonakilty’s Cal McCarthy and his Rosscarbery co-driver Eric Calnan finished seventh overall. They had two major overshoots on the opening stage that dented their confidence.
Clonakilty’s Cal McCarthy and Rosscarbery’s Eric Calnan (Citroen C3 Rally2) finished seventh in the Ulster Rally.
‘We struggled as a result. On the third stage, we went on a softer tyre and it rained and it probably suited us and we got our confidence back,’ McCarthy said. Having closed to within a fraction of a second of sixth-placed Steve Wood, also in a Citroen C3 Rally2, McCarthy was relatively satisfied with his pace as the event drew to a conclusion. He confirmed he will compete in next month’s Wexford Rally and the Cork ‘20’ Rally.
Ardfield co-driver Anthony O’Sullivan and his Welsh driver Tomas Davies (Ford Escort) were second in the Historic section. While Davies clinched the category within the Tarmac Historic series, O’Sullivan needs a result in the Cork ‘20’ to clinch the co-driver’s category.
Results: 1. K. Cronin/M. Galvin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 1h. 16m. 50.3s; 2. C. Devine/N. O’Sullivan (Skoda Fabia Rally2)+15.4s; 3. J. Moffett/ A. Hayes (Citroen C3 Rally2)+1m. 55.9s; 4. E. Doherty/T. Murphy (Fabia)+2m. 29.0s; 5. J. MacCrone/K. Riddick (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+3m. 55.3s; 6. S. Wood/K. Hull (Citroen C3 Rally2)+5m. 04.8s; 7. C. McCarthy/E. Calnan (Citroen C3 Rally2)+5m. 08.2s.
