Wins for Tohill, McCourt & Dwane at Irish motorsport events
Three times Irish Rallycross champion Derek Tohill yesterday scored his first home win of the year, with his Parts for Cars Fiesta taking top place in both the Supercar Final and the day’s main race, the Super Final, at Mondello Park.
The Dubliner seized the lead at the start of both races and finished well clear each time of former title holder Tommy Graham, with Noel Greene taking a distant third place on each occasion.
Ulster pair Cathan McCourt and Barry McNulty became the first crew to win two rounds of this year’s Valvoline National Forestry Rally Championship by taking their Fiesta R5 to a one minute victory in the Donegal round, based in Bundoran.
Their nearest rivals were Niall McCullagh and Ryan McCloskey with third place going to Conor McCourt and Caolan McKenna. Monaghan’s Derek Mackarel won the Junior section, and brought his Nova to an amazing eleventh overall.
Defending Irish Hillclimb champion Rob Dwane made it four wins from four events, taking another weekend double in the Wexford rounds near New Ross.
Photo-credit-Ruaidhri-Nash
MONDELLO PARK SPORTS CLUB RALLYCROSS AT MONDELLO PARK, CO KILDARE (ROUND 3 OF PARTS FOR CARS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP):
SUPER FINAL:
1 Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta) 3m 56.07s,
2 Tommy Graham (Ford Fiesta) 4m 01.87s,
3 Noel Greene (Mitsubishi Mirage) 4m 12.25s,
4 Peter McGarry (Vauxhall VX220),
5 Michael Morris (Subaru Impreza),
6 Pearse Browne (BMW Compact).
SUPERCAR FINAL:
1 Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta) 4m 12.44s,
2 Tommy Graham (Ford Fiesta) 4m 16.50s,
3 Noel Greene (Mitsubishi Mirage) 4m 32.38s,
4 Michael Morris (Subaru Impreza),
5 Darragh Morris (Subaru Impreza).
MODIFIED FINAL:
1 Peter McGarry (Vauxhall VX220) 4m 29.33s,
2 Pearse Browne (BMW Compact) 4m 33.03s,
3 Philip Kelly (Toyota MR2) 4m 35.62s,
4 Brian Grealish (Honda Civic),
5 Michael Coyne (Vauxhall Nova),
6 Paul Burns (Vauxhall Tigra).
RALLY CARS FINAL:
1 Thomas O’Rafferty (Vauxhall Nova) 4m 45.87s,
2 Ken Power (Peugeot 106) 4m 50.80s,
3 Dick Sheenan (Opel Corsa) 4m 56.09s,
4 Joe Downey (Peugeot 106),
5 Paul Dowling (Peugeot 206),
6 Coly Loughlin (BMW Mini).
FORD FIESTA ZETEC FINAL:
1 David Maher 4m 59.90s,
2 Denis McCrudden 5m 01.77s,
3 Oisin Keane 5m 03.36s,
4 Philip Lawless,
5 Nicole Drought.
JUNIOR FINAL:
1 Jack Byrne (Ford Fiesta) 4m 51.34s,
2 Loughlin Farrell (Ford Fiesta) 4m 51.81s,
3 Michael Ryan (Ford Fiesta) 4m 53.87s,
4 Christopher Grimes (Ford Fiesta),
5 Seanie Bellew (Ford Fiesta),
6 Eoin Kinsella (Ford Fiesta).
BUGGY FINAL:
1 Russell Woods (Semog) 4m 11.31s,
2 Padraic McHale (Yacar) 4m 12.60s,
3 Pat Bellew (Semog) 4m 18.61s,
4 Paul Nolan (Yacar),
5 Owen Skelly (Semog).
DONEGAL M C ALLINGHAM ARMS HOTEL FOREST RALLY AT BUNDORAN, CO DONEGAL (ROUND 4 OF VALVOLINE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP):
1 Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty (Fiesta R5) 47m 26s,
2 Niall McCullagh/Ryan McCloskey (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 48m 26s,
3 Conor McCourt/Caolan McKenna (Fiesta R5) 48m 40s,
4 Joe Hegarty/David Turkington (Lancer Evo 9) 48m 43s,
5 Mickey Carbin/Conor Mohan (Lancer Evo 8) 49m 30s,
6 David Crossen/Aileen Kelly (Escort) 49m 34s,
7 Peter McCullagh/Callum Maguire (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 49m 47s,
8 Martin McKenna/Gary McElhinney (Fiesta WRC) 50m 05s,
9 Stephen Dickson/Tommy Hayes (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 50m 07s,
10 Gary Kiernan/Darren O’Brien (Escort) 50m 34s.
Junior Class 16: 1 Brian Brady/Gary McNamee (Civic) 54m 22s,
2 Shane Kenneally/Jer Connors (Civic) 54m 46s,
3 Kieran Lynch/John Lynch (Civic) 54m 57s.
Junior Class 16A: 1 Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes (Nova) 50m 35s,
2 Marty Gallagher/Niall Burns (Peugeot 208 R2) 53m 33s,
3 Michael Hamilton/Stephen Joyce (Fiesta R2) 57m 45s.
Junior 1000 Class: 1 Kyle McBride/Kieran McBride (Aygo) 61m 05s,
2 Casey Jay Coleman/James Fogarty (Micra) 62m 31s,
3 Reece Pollock/John Burke (Micra) 63m 09s.
WEXFORD M C HILLCLIMB AT BALLYANNE, NEW ROSS, CO WEXFORD (ROUND 3 OF PACK & PALLET NATIONAL HILLCLIMB/SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP) (DAY 1):
1 Rob Dwane (OMS 25) 53.87s,
2 Brian Kirwan (Peugeot 205) 61.05s,
3 John Mahon (DJ-ADS1 Hayabusa) 61.12s,
4 John Boland (Escort) 61.67s,
5 Jim Doherty (Starlet) 61.84s,
6 Damien Walsh (Supercar RT2000) 62.70s,
7 Dara Fay (Swift) 63.35s,
8 Aidan Courtney (Peugeot 106) 63.41s,
9 Kenny O’Brien (Nova) 63.69s,
10 Willie Barrett (Civic) 64.36s.
Class winners: Brian Kirwan, John Mahon, John Boland, Damien Walsh, Aidan Courtney, Kenny O’Brien, Dermot Harrington (Escort), Enda Byrne (Sheane VW), Mark Halligan (Seicento), Sean Murray (Lotus Elan).
WEXFORD M C HILLCLIMB AT BALLYANNE, NEW ROSS, CO WEXFORD (ROUND 4 OF PACK & PALLET NATIONAL HILLCLIMB/SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP) (DAY 2):
1 Rob Dwane (OMS 25) 52.41s,
2 Tomas O’Rourke (Lancer Evo 9) 58.46s,
3 Jim Doherty (Starlet) 59.01s,
4 Brian Kirwan (Peugeot 205) 59.82s,
5 Aidan Courtney (Peugeot 106) 59.94s,
6 Tommy Gardiner (Civic) 60.95s,
7 John Mahon (DJ-ADS1 Hayabusa) 61.03s,
8 James Bradley (Civic) 61.37s,
9 Damien Walsh (Supercar RT2000) 62.04s,
10 Kelvin Lyons (Civic) 62.38s.
Class winners: Tomas O’Rourke, Jim Doherty, Aidan Courtney, John Mahon, Damien Walsh, Kelvin Lyons, Ray Cunningham (Mini), John Farrell (Escort), Mark Halligan (Seicento), Sean Murray (Lotus Elan).
