DUNMANWAY’S David Guest and his Millstreet born co-driver Liam Moynihan had to be content with fifth overall on Sunday's IC Motor Factors and Tyres sponsored Boggeragh Rallysprint near Nad that was organised by the Cork Motor Club.
The event, which consisted of four times runs over the 5.9km gravel stage, was won by the Cashel crew of Pat O'Connell/Michael Ryan (Ford Fiesta R5), who finished 22.8 seconds ahead of early leaders, Waterford's Andrew Purcell and Galway's Martin Brady (Ford Fiesta Rally2). Third place was secured by Bruff's Alan Shinnors and his Ballincollig co-driver Brian Duggan (Mitsubishi Lancer E9), who were 25.4 seconds further behind.
Ballylickey's Robert Cronin (Opel Corsa Rally4) finished fourth in Class 3B where Clonakilty's Aidan Hennessy (Ford Fiesta Rally4) was fifth.
Usually a finely contested event, the first run continued that trend as Purcell, driving an ex-Armin Schwarz Ford Fiesta Rally2, finished the stage a mere 0.2 of a second ahead of O'Connell.
Guest was also expected to be in contention, however, throughout the stage he was hampered when he used the handbrake as all four wheels of his Ford Fiesta Rally2 locked up. In one instance close to the finish, O'Connell encountered Guest as he tried to get past at a hairpin. Fortunately, O'Connell was able to get by on the inside of the junction without losing any time. Meanwhile, Guest eventually was able to restart his car and finished the stage down in 15th place, 35.4 seconds off the lead.
Shinnors/Duggan, benefitting from a fresh set of tyres had a solid run to hold fourth, four tenths of a second ahead of the Cousane Gap's Matt and Catherine Shinnors, who were forced to retire after the opening run with a fanbelt issues that led to the engine of their Mitsubishi Lancer E6 overheating. Douglas driver Mark Murphy (Subaru) was sixth.
Purcell punched in the best time on the second run to move 2.6 seconds ahead of O'Connell, who clipped a chicane bale that cost him little over a second. Shinnors/Duggan occupied third with another consistent run through the stage. Having been baulked on his opening run and again on a re-run Laois driver Aaron Martley (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) was eventually classified fourth followed by Wexford's James Boland, who double drove Purcell's car.
David Guest's issues on the first run were sorted by Colm Grant (TTEC Rally Prep) when he discovered that there was a severed wire in the motor of the differential release. With the third fastest time, Guest moved into sixth place with Murphy seventh.
The complexion of the event changed towards the finish of the third run where Purcell approached a tight right hand bend too quickly. He had to take evasive action to prevent his Ford Fiesta Rally2 from slipping into a ditch and ended up spinning backwards after he extricated himself from the situation by pulling the handbrake. However, although the car was unscathed, he lost valuable time and the lead as O'Connell inherited top spot and led Purcell by 24.8 seconds. Shinnors/Duggan retained their fine third position followed by Boland and Guest, who posted the second quickest time on the third run.
O'Connell went on to become the fourth different winner of the event. Purcell and Shinnors/Duggan completed the top three. Boland secured fourth from Guest, who said, 'It was a disappointing start but other than that, it was good. We got some gravel mileage under the belt, hopefully, we will do the Moonraker Rally in April, but before that we will have the Galway International in February.'
Elsewhere, Ballylickey's Robert Cronin lost time on the second run when an intercooler pipe came adrift of his Opel Corsa. On the final run, he punched in the third quickest time in the category to finish fourth. On what was their first gravel outing, the Clonakilty crew of Aidan Hennessy/Pakie McCarthy (Ford Fiesta Rally4) had an untroubled run to finish sixth in the category.
Results: 1. P. O'Connell/Michael Ryan (Ford Fiesta R5) 15m. 15.8s; 2. A. Purcell/M. Brady (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+22.8s; 3. A. Shinnors/B. Duggan (Mitsubishi Lancer E9)+48.2s; 4. J. Boland/J. McCay (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+57.2s; 5. D. Guest/L. Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+1m 00.9s; 6. A. Martley/A. Browne (Mitsubishi Lancer E9)+1m. 24.1s; 7. M. Murphy/S. Murphy (Subaru Impreza)+1m. 44.6s; 8. J. Brennan/E. Doherty (Peugeot 208 Rally4)+1m. 46.8s; 9. M. O'Connor/G. Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer E7)+1m. 50.6s; 10. C. Caldwell/D. Long (Peugeot 208 Rally4)+1m. 55.6s.
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In other events over Christmas, Donegal's Aaron McLaughlin (VW Polo GTi R5) won the Turkey Run Rally at the Shackleton complex in Derry while Kilkenny's Enda O'Brien, also in a VW Polo GTi R5, led the Carlow Car Club's Rallysprint at Mondello Park, finishing 2.2 seconds ahead of the Hyundai i20 R5 of Monaghan's Josh Moffett.
Also on Sunday, Rosscarbery co-driver Alistair Wyllie competed with his Hertfordshire driver Tom Clark (Ford Escort RS1800) in the Rixy Stages Rally near Thetford (between Cambridge and Norwich). They finished fifth overall and second in class. The event consisted of eight stages, two of which were cancelled. On the opening 14.89km stage the pair were equal fourth overall, one of several crews to have received a stage interruption time. The repeat runs over the first and second stages were cancelled. It wasn't until late in the event that Clark/Wyllie managed to get clean runs of the stages and with a fourth and third quickest times on the final pair of stages, they finished fifth of the 46 crews.
