BY MARTIN WALSH
AT the end of one of the most difficult challenges of his rallying career, Ballylickey’s Keith Cronin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) clinched the Irish Tarmac Rally championship after he finished second to outgoing champion, Derry’s Callum Devine (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), on the O’Connell Group Cork ‘20’ Rally, the seventh and final round of the series.
All through an orange weather warning, Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin kept their focus of shadowing Devine and his Killarney co-driver Noel O’Sullivan to win the Fisher Memorial Trophy for the second time in eight years.
‘Championships are hard to win and this year’s series was hugely competitive,’ Cronin smiled afterwards.
The event that was to have featured eight stages but was curtailed on safety concerns, the final two stages were cancelled. Indeed, while Cronin and Devine and some 30 others completed two runs (six stages) over the three-stage loop, results were declared on those pertaining after SS5.
The new Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac champions Keith Cronin (right) and Mikie Galvin receive the Bertie Fisher Memorial Trophy from Colman Hegarty, chairperson of the Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA). Also included are Sean Hayde (ITRC Manager), members of the Keith’s service team and his family. (Photos: Martin Walsh)
Devine netted the event victory, 12.1 seconds ahead of Cronin with Welsh driver Matt Edwards (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and his Mallow born co-driver David Moynihan 25.2 seconds further behind in third.
That result meant that Cronin and Devine both ended with 100 points (each with three wins and two seconds places) from their best five events with Cronin taking the title on a tie-break that was based on the best result on the opening round – with Cronin taking maximum points (and victory) on the Galway International Rally last February.
Meanwhile, Dunmanway’s Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5) had the best result of his career when he finished fifth overall on the event. Ovens driver Owen Murphy (Citroen C3 Rally2) was ninth overall.
Two West Cork co-drivers also won overall awards in the Tarmac series. Ardfield’s Anthony O’Sullivan finished as the top co-driver in the Historic category; he took maximum points with his Welsh driver Neil Williams (Ford Escort) as they won the Historic section of the rally. Rosscarbery co-driver Brian Keohane and Barry McIntyre (Honda Civic) clinched the Junior Irish tarmac series courtesy of their second place in the Junior category. Clonakilty’s Kevin Kelleher (Ford Escort) was sixth in Class 14 but garnered enough points to finish third overall in the Modified category of the series.
All season long, Cronin and Devine and indeed Edwards have set the pace in the ITRC and ‘The 20’ was more of the same. On the opening stage amidst heavy rain and strong winds, Devine was a mere 0.8 of a second ahead of Cronin, who moved into top spot, albeit by 0.4 of a second after SS2. Incidentally, that kept a unique record intact as Cronin, at one point or another, has led all seven events of the championship. Devine regained the lead with the best time on the final stage of the loop to move 1.5 seconds ahead of Cronin. At the Corrin Events Centre service park in Fermoy, Cronin offered his assessment of the event, explaining, ‘The conditions are really difficult, it’s so easy to get caught out, we’re not taking any risks.’
Edwards was 10.9 seconds behind Cronin, Donegal’s David Kelly (VW Polo GTi R5) was fourth in a top six that also featured Preston’s James Ford (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Kilrea’s Josh McErlean (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2).
Despite a misted windscreen on all three stages Dunmanway’s Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5), who was co-driven by Blackpool’s Liam Brennan, was in seventh spot. Ovens ace Owen Murphy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and co-driver Anthony Nestor were ninth; he said: ‘We were in a ditch on the first stage and then we had a misfire through the other two stages.’
Elsewhere, Clonakilty’s Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and his Rosscarbery co-driver Eric Calnan were down in eighteenth spot.
‘We had a massive moment on the first stage, the car seems down on power through the second and third stages,’ said McCarthy. Rather than cause any potential damage, they withdrew from the rally.
Out on the second loop and illustrating the potential hazards Cronin had a moment on SS4 when his Fiesta aquaplaned. Luckily, it didn’t deviate onto the grass margin. Devine posted the best time to extend his advantage to 10.4 seconds. Edwards clouted a bank on SS5, his Fiesta collecting some cosmetic damage. Kelly and Ford both retired, the former crashing out and the latter stopping with transmission trouble promoting McErlean into fourth.
The organisers decided to stop proceedings due to the adverse conditions that were deteriorating rather than showing any signs of improvement. Subsequently, the results of the rally were based on those at the conclusion of SS5. McSweeney finished fifth – his best result in a major event.
‘I am thrilled. Back in 2017 I was second in the Fastnet Rally. Competing today and given the calibre of the entry in what was the final round of the Tarmac series, this is a massive result for me,’ he said.
Elsewhere and despite being unable to sort the misfire Owen Murphy went on to finish ninth overall; he was first Citroen home and in the process won €5,000.
Dunmanway’s Jason McSweeney and co-driver Liam Brennan (Skoda Fabia R5) finished fifth in the Cork ’20’ Rally.Due to the weather conditions, the presentations took place within the Corrin Event Centre.
‘Our plan at the start was not to get into a fight with anyone,’ Cronin explained.
‘We needed to be just one place behind Callum (Devine), we tracked him all day and managed our pace accordingly. On saying that and given the conditions, you could be caught out at any moment. We were lucky on SS4, in the middle of a straight, the car just took off on us. The repeat loop was worse than the morning loop and the organisers made the correct decision.’
The ultra-competitive nature of the series is reflected by the fact that both Cronin and Devine ended up with a total of 100 points from their best five rounds. They each won three rallies and were second in two events, Cronin won on a tie-break as he had the best result (win) on the opening round in Galway last February.
O’Connell Group Cork ‘20’ Rally (Final round, Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac Rally Championship): 1. C. Devine/Noel O'Sullivan (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) 38m. 12.3s; 2. K. Cronin/Mikie Galvin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +12.1s; 3. M. Edwards/David Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+37.3s; 4. J. McErlean/James Fulton (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1m. 11.8s; 5. J. McSweeney/L. Brennan (Skoda Fabia R5) +1m. 41.9s; 6. D. Boyle/P. Walsh (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1m. 55.7s; 7. M. Boyle/D. McCafferty (VW Polo GTi R5) + 1m. 59.7s; 8. K. Eves/C. Melly (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +2m. 02.1s; 9. O. Murphy/A. Nestor (Citroen C3 Rally2) +2m. 08.8s; 10. F. Kelly/L. Kelly (Ford Escort) +2m. 16.8s.
