KEITH Cronin is a back-to-back Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally champion, but his coronation came after some final-day drama on Sunday.
Reigning champion Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin were awarded victory when Fermanagh's Jon Armstrong and his Donegal co-driver Shane Byrne were excluded from the event after it was found that they had contravened the regulations, insofar as their Ford Fiesta Rally2, contrary to the regulations, did not finish the 18-stage rally on its own power.
It was the result nobody wanted but rules and regulations, like any other sport, are there for the protection of the sport, to ensure fairness and transparency.
Shortly after 3pm on Sunday afternoon, Armstrong/Byrne arrived at the finish of the Sam's Cross stage (SS18) and according to cumulative stage times appeared to have won the rally by 34.8 seconds from Cronin/Galvin.
Keith Cronin at the finish ramp of the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally.
However, it appears that Armstrong's M-Sport run Fiesta Rally2 developed an engine issue prior to leaving for the finish ramp in Clonakilty. Subsequently, there was a report from the Motorsport Ireland observer that he may have received outside assistance on the road section from the exit of SS18 to Clonakilty.
The Motorsport Ireland stewards along with a Cork Motor Club steward, having considered the matter, determined that Armstrong's car received outside assistance on the road section as video evidence was presented showing the fact. Armstrong was found to be in breach of Article 6.16 of Appendix 29 of the MI Yearbook part of which states, ‘The entire event shall be completed by each car under its own power, or by gravity, under penalty of exclusion from the Finishers List, except the manual assistance by the occupants of the car will not incur penalty.'
Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Rosscarbery's Aidan Hennessy finished eighth overall.
The stewards were satisfied that Armstrong's car did receive outside assistance on the road section. Their decision read as follows: ‘Competitor No. 4 Jon Armstrong be excluded from the finishers list.’ Armstrong was reminded of his right to appeal to Motorsport Ireland National Court. The decision was laid down at 8.45pm on Sunday night. The one-hour time limit to lodge an appeal passed and the results were finalised at 10.12pm, showing Cronin/Galvin as the winners.
‘It's a strange way to win,’ Cronin said.
‘I'd rather have taken it on stage times alone. Jon and Shane were very unfortunate to have that issue right at the end, they were on a great pace all weekend.'
The episode cast a damper on the celebrations and while it was described in some circles as controversial – a term frequently used incorrectly in motorsport – the decision was based on fact and the correct implementation of the rules. Yes, there's no doubt it was tough on Armstrong/Byrne, but sport can often be cruel.
For Cronin/Galvin, it was back-to-back wins and more importantly, the acquisition of maximum points at the beginning of the defence of their Irish Tarmac Championship title.
Following the decision, Cronin's winning margin over Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Citroen C3 Rally2) was one minute and 7.2 seconds with Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia R5) a further 43.8 seconds behind in third. Two West Cork crews also finished inside the top ten with the Citroen C3 Rally2 cars of Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy/Eric Calnan (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Ovens driver Owen Murphy and Rosscarbery's Jonathan O'Mahony finishing eighth and ninth respectively.
Cronin set the pace on the opening stage at Ballinascarthy with Moffett 4.8 seconds behind. Welsh driver Matt Edwards (Hyundai i20 Rally2) was third as fourth placed Armstrong completed most of the stage without the intercom system. From a local perspective, Dunmanway's Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5) and Kilcrohane's Jer O'Donovan (Ford Fiesta R5) crashed out after landing awkwardly over a crest soon after the stage start.
Edwards was best in Rossmore to slot into second, 5.9 seconds behind Cronin. When Daniel Cronin crashed on the first night stage at Ballinascarthy, he returned under Super Rally and treated the rest of the event as a test ahead of next week's Circuit of Kerry Rally in Tralee. Due to the accident both Edwards and Moffett were credited with Keith Cronin's time. Having sorted his intercom woes, Armstrong punched in the best time on SS4. Overnight, Keith Cronin led Edwards by nine seconds with Armstrong a further 5.6 seconds behind with Moffett fourth.
Dunmanway's David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and his Bandon co-driver Stephen Quin pictured on the Timoleague stage.
The dry conditions led to a strong pace on Saturday's eight stages, however having suffered a moment on the way to Ballinglanna, Edwards departed the fray when he beached his Hyundai up a bank at an earlier location on the repeat of the Ring stage. On the repeat of Kilbrittain (SS8), a number of the top drivers beat the bogey time. Cronin continued to lead Armstrong by some 12.8 seconds, with Moffett 12.2 seconds further behind.
The afternoon action was a double run over Dunworley and Timoleague. Armstrong found a good rhythm and with three stage wins moved to within 7.5 seconds of Cronin, who was constantly tweaking the settings in a bid to get the optimum from his Citroen. Both Cronin and Armstrong beat the bogey time on the second run over the shortened Timoleague stage (SS12). Moffett ended the day in third followed by Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia R5) and Donegal's Declan Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2). Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy and Rosscarbery's Eric Calnan were tenth overnight with a consistent run.
Sunday's offering was a double run of the loop of three stages at Ardfield, Glandore and Sam's Cross. Rally leader Cronin endured a major moment on the Ardfield stage where he slid up a bank. The incident brought some perspective insofar as it reminded him of his target to secure maximum ITRC points. It didn't help that his Citroen was understeering at a significant rate. Armstrong certainly pushed hard and took 3.9 seconds out of Cronin.
Then, on Glandore1 (SS14), Armstrong edged into the lead by the same margin and with another stage win, this time on Sam's Cross, he moved 17.7 seconds free of Cronin. They had contrasting comments at the final service halt. New leader Armstrong said: 'All good, there's less grip today for sure, but the car is handling well, especially over all the bumps on Sam's Cross.’ Cronin commented, ‘It's not doing what I want, it's understeering. It was doing it a bit yesterday on the fast stuff but it's more noticeable on the tighter stages today.’
Clonakilty's Aidan Hennessy/Pakie McCarthy (Ford Fiesta Rally4) at Parce Ferme during the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally. (Photo: Martin Walsh)
On the final loop Armstrong extended his lead on all three stages as Cronin, who spun on the penultimate stage, managed to secure the maximum Tarmac points. At the stage finish at The Pike, all were set to make the journey to the Emmet Square finish ramp. Then, it appeared that Armstrong had an issue with his Ford Fiesta that subsequently led to his exclusion and Cronin's promotion as rally winner.
Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy and Ovens ace Owen Murphy, both in Citroen C3 Rally2 cars, were ninth and tenth respectively while Dunmanway’s David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Bandon's Stephen Quin were 11th overall.
At the finish ramp, Cronin told The Southern Star, ‘Look, it's tough. To be honest, once Matt (Edwards) had gone I had a good lead over Josh (Moffett) and it probably took the edge out of my driving at that point. Jon (Armstrong) is competing at WRC and ERC level so we consolidated our second place. Then this (Armstrong issue) happens. We all have to set our engines and set everything else up to last the distance to get to the final control.'
On the set-up of his Citroen, he added, 'We are not there yet. I don't feel I can drive as fast as I want to drive. I just want to commit to that next step, I know I can do it and the car should do it but I'm not quite getting what I want, it's not giving me the feeling. We will get there, this is our first time out on dry tarmac in Ireland.'
Results: 1. Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin (Citroen C3 Rally2) 2h. 00m. 21.0s; 2. Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Citroen C3 Rally2)+1m. 07.2s; 3. Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia R5)+1m. 51.0s; 4. David Kelly/Arthur Kierans (VW Polo GTi R5)+3m. 10.5s; 5. Declan Boyle/Patrick Walsh (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+3m. 11.1s; 6. Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty (Hyundai i20 Rally2)+3m. 45.8s; 7. Kevin Eves/Chris Melly (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+3m. 53.6s; 8. Cal McCarthy/Eric Calnan (Citroen C3 Rally2)+5m. 14.5s; 9. Owen Murphy/Jonathan O'Mahony (Citroen C3 Rally2)+6m.04.9s; 10. Michael Boyle/Dermot McCafferty (VW Polo GTi R5)+6m. 11.8s; 11. David Guest/Stephen Quin (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+8m. 04.8s.
