ALTHOUGH Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin and his Dunmanway co-driver Donnchadh Burke failed to finish last Saturday’s Donegal Harvest Rally, the final round and deciding round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship, they secured a top-three finish in the eight-round series.
They crashed out of sixth place on the seventh stage of the event that was won by Derry’s Callum Devine (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) for a fourth time.
Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5), who was second, took the top points in the series to clinch an unprecedented fourth national title.
Kilkenny’s Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia R5), one of four title contenders, finished 12th and couldn’t, like Cronin, improve on his pre-event points total of 102. On Saturday evening and as Sam Moffett (Hyundai i20 Rally2) had finished down the leaderboard and looked to have got six championship points for a total of 101 points, Cronin and Doherty appeared to have secured respective second and third overall championship positions.
However, when provisional results were posted on Monday evening Sam Moffett was shown to have been awarded seven points from the Donegal event that also put him on 102 points and based on tie-break rule, he took second overall with Cronin third.
According to the championship organisers, one competitor, Donegal's Aaron McLaughlin, who competed in the event in a different car, didn’t re-register for his class and no unregistered competitor gets points in the overall standings. That was the difference between Moffett getting seven rather than six championship points.
According to one of the championship regulations (6.1), competitors are required to register for the series at the first round that they compete in and once registered it is not a requirement to register at subsequent rounds. The ruling also states that ‘Competitors who wish to change class during the championship must re-register in the class they are moving to.’
In this instance, it appears there is no reference to overall points. However, when The Southern Star asked for clarity on the situation, it was informed that this has always been the case and the manager has applied precedent. Of course, Cronin and Doherty can query the situation as results remain provisional until October 28th.
Cronin and Burke were one of four crews involved in the national title decider and they made a great start. They finished the opening stage as the top Triton Showers National Rally Championship registered competitors, 6.6 seconds behind top seed Callum Devine (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), who wasn’t involved in the series. Monaghan’s Sam Moffett (Hyundai i20 Rally2), one of the four title protagonists, was just 0.1 of a second behind Cronin while fellow championship rivals Josh Moffett and Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia R5) were sixth and seventh respectively, the latter 10.3 seconds off top spot.
By the Letterkenny service Cronin, who dropped to fifth on SS2, was up to fourth, 0.6 of a second behind third-placed Desi Henry (Citroen C3 Rally2).
‘We made a good start, the second stage was only alright and then I clipped the rear right wheel off a kerb near the end of stage three that finished in Rathmelton village. I was worried that I had done some damage to the car, but it appears to be fine,’ said Cronin.
Meanwhile, Josh Moffett and Eddie Doherty were sixth and
and seventh respectively. In terms of the Triton series, Sam Moffett held the advantage. His brother Josh knew he had to increase his pace on the second loop, and set the fastest stage time to move from sixth to second in one stage with Cronin in fifth.
The fifth stage brought another loss of a place for Cronin as he approached a left-hand junction at high speed. Unfortunately, he spun and ended up at the edge of a field. Luckily, the gate was open. Although he was able to get back on the road, his VW Polo GTi cut out and stalled; the whole process cost him around 15 seconds. Josh Moffett set another fastest time to retain second spot – 6.5 seconds behind Devine and 3.5 seconds ahead of his brother Sam.
Devine was best on SS6 and at the final service he led Josh Moffett by 7.9 seconds. Sam Moffett continued to hold third followed by Henry, Michael Boyle (VW Polo GTi R5) and Cronin.
The final loop of three stages proved dramatic and Cronin was a central figure when his rally ended after he slid wide on a right hander, his VW Polo GTi R5 glanced a tree and the impact broke the steering arm.
In the meantime, Josh Moffett continued as the top championship contender – followed by his brother Sam, who was 3.5 seconds behind but needed to be ahead of his brother to have a chance of the title; Doherty was down in 15th.
On the penultimate stage (SS8) Sam Moffett punctured and dropped to 25th position, Devine’s Skoda also punctured but he was close to the finish and time loss was minimal; he still led Josh Moffett by 7.2 seconds.
Josh Moffett went to finish second and the top championship competitor and netted an unprecedented fourth national title. Devine won the rally while Boyle finished third overall, following a tie break with Henry that was decided by their performance on the opening stage where Boyle was the quicker of the pair. Sam Moffett finished 23rd overall. Doherty was 12th.
The points issue regarding Sam Moffett, Cronin and Doherty is intriguing. They are shown in the provisional championship results (issued on Monday evening) with 102 points. Donegal’s Aaron McLaughlin, who finished 16th overall and had previously competed in rounds of the series in an R5 (Class5) car, wasn’t, according to the championship organisers, eligible for overall points in Donegal where he competed in a Ford Fiesta WRC (Class 7) and didn’t re-register for this class. Yet, as previously stated, the championship regulations make no specific reference to overall points in this instance. That decision saw Sam Moffett take seven championship points to end the season on 102 points and second overall.
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THE Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Trial and the Munster Navigation series kicked off with last weekend’s Cork Startrek Navigation Trial that was based in Whitechurch.
The 85-mile event was won by the Longford/Monaghan crew of Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza), who finished with six penalties, two ahead of the similar car of Limerick/Sligo pairing of Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran. Reigning national champions Monaghan’s Andy Mackarel and Limerick’s Greg Shinnors in yet another Subaru were third; they finished with ten penalties albeit on a tie-break with the Mogeely/Ballincollig crew of James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody (Subaru Impreza).
Former champion driver Michael ‘Bones’ O’Connor and former champion navigator Drinagh’s Denis O’Donovan teamed up for the first time and were fifth overall on 12 penalties while Ovens driver Owen Murphy and his Monaghan navigator Shane Maguire also finished with 12 penalties to complete the top six.
Elsewhere, Bandon’s David Beamish and Crookstown’s Chris Brady took their Ford Focus to second place in the Semi-Expert class; the Leap father and son pairing of James and Ciaran French (Subaru Forester) netted second place in the Novice section and Ballincollig’s Brian Duggan (Toyota Starlet) and Horse and Jockey’s Susan Smith won the Beginner’s category. The event was organised by the Cork Motor Club.
The next round of the national series is the Drumlin Navigation Trial in Monaghan on November 9th/10th next while the Skibbereen and District’s Carbery Navigation Trial November 23rd/24th, that will be based at the Kilmurry GAA complex, is round three of the national series sand the second round of the Munster series.
