BY MARTIN WALSH
THE battle for supremacy in the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally was eventually settled on the road section to SS 12 when overnight leader Derry’s Callum Devine retired his Fiesta R5 with gearbox problems.
At the time, he trailed Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Hyundai R5) by some seven seconds. For the previous 11 stages they traded stage times during a titanic struggle for their first success in the Clonakilty-based event.
Welsh driver Meirion Evans (VW Polo GTi R5) was also in the hunt for honours. Indeed, after the conclusion of SS 10, a time frame of 8.2 seconds covered the trio with Moffett leading Devine by a mere two tenths of a second and Evans eight seconds further behind.
Meanwhile, Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin (VW Polo GTi R5) upheld local honour followed by the Fiesta R5’s of Ovens ace Owen Murphy and Dunmanway’s David Guest.
Moffett concentrated on his own driving and went on to claim his first-ever West Cork Rally and his third victory of the season. Cronin took West Cork honours while other local top ten finishers were Dunmanway’s David Guest (fifth), Ovens’ Owen Murphy (sixth) and Clonakilty’s Cal McCarthy, who was eighth. Kilnamartyra co-driver JJ Cremin partnered Limerick’s Keith Lyons (Fiesta R5) to finish ninth.
There were class wins for Bandon’s Vincent McSweeney/Michael Kearney (Mitsubishi) and Reenascreena’s Seamus and Aoife Ronan (Honda Civic).
