BY MARTIN WALSH
IN last weekend’s Skibbereen and District Car Club double-header autotest at the Bandon Co-op complex at Kilbrogan in Bandon, there were wins for Newcestown’s Don Giles and Rathmore’s Peter Falvey, both in a Westfield.
On Saturday’s event, round three of the Partsworld Munster Autotest Championship, there were 12 tests as Giles finished 8.05 seconds ahead of Skibbereen’s Liam Croston (Toyota Starlet) with Ballinascarthy’s Martin Walsh (Toyota Starlet Special) a further 26.48 seconds behind in third. Giles won six of the tests.
On Sunday’s event, Falvey won the opening test, failed the second test but made a great recovery, going on to win nine of the remaining ten tests to win by a mere 2.82 seconds. Walsh and Croston swapped places from Saturday’s event to complete the top three.
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The Triton Showers National Rally Championship reaches the halfway mark on Sunday with the Carlow Rally that has attracted an entry of 165 crews. Yet again, Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin and his Dunmanway co-driver Donnchadh Burke (VW Polo GTi R5) and Dunmanway’s Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5) and co-driven by Blackpool’s Liam Brennan are the principal West Cork entries.
Cronin is currently fourth overall in the eight-round series, four points off Ulster driver Aidan Wray in a similar VW Polo GTi R5. In the last round, the Birr Rally, the Ballylickey ace netted fourth place but with third-placed driver, Donegal’s David Kelly (VW Polo GTi R5) not registered for the national series, Cronin took an important 16 championship points.
On Sunday’s nine-stage rally that also features the Mk. 2 Challenge Trophy there’s little doubt that Cronin’s main adversaries are the Monaghan-born Moffett brothers. Josh (31) is the top seed; he’s a triple national champion and is trying to become the first driver to win four national rally championship titles. Josh crashed out of the opening round in Mayo but has since won the rounds in Monaghan and Birr to move into second (41 points) with Sam Moffett leading on 57 points. Cronin needs to get off to a strong start as dropping time to either of the Moffett brothers is costly in terms of a good finish.
‘Realistically, I’m not probably going to match Josh and Sam (Moffett) this weekend but if we could start as we finished in Birr, where we were only a few seconds off them, it would be good as they were battling hard. Speaking with Donnchadh (Burke) the stages in Carlow seem to be more flowing,’ Cronin said.
For McSweeney/Brennan, it’s a key event. From a fine fifth place in Mayo, they have failed to finish in Monaghan and Birr, leaving them in 13th place with a similar number of points. They are seeded at No. 24 but like the previous round are likely to be reseeded. Elsewhere, Ballyvourney’s Meabh Griffin co-drives for Carlow’s David Condell (Ford Escort) and Kilnamartyra’s JJ Cremin calls the pacenotes for Donegal’s Stuart Darcy (VW Polo GTi R5).
Meanwhile, Barryroe co-driver Dylan Doonan makes the long journey north to Magherafelt to compete with Barry Morris (Darrian T90 GTR) in Saturday’s Go sponsored Tour of the Sperrins Rally that features a double run over a loop of three stages. The rally is the fourth round of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship and has a cracking entry that includes former Irish Tarmac champion Fermanagh’s Gary Jennings (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and current NI Championship leader Jonny Greer (Citroen C3 Rally2).
