Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series Round 4 Report
In the fourth round of the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series, Brian Brady scored his first maximum points of the championship; the Meath man took the lead on stage 2 of the Donegal Forest Rally, a lead that he held to the finish despite being pushed by Shane Kenneally, who after the six stages around Pettigo, finished only 26 seconds in arrears.
The points haul by Brady sees him move into joint 3rd place, while second place points for Kenneally propels him to the top of the leader board at the halfway point of the Championship.
After a non-finish for Jason Murphy in Donegal the double Irish Forestry J1000 champion slips to second place in the standings, his event was cut short on stage 3 when his Honda Civic suffered suspension issues that put him out of the race.
Michael Cunniffe remains in third place, despite not starting Round 4, but he’s now joined by the inform Brady.
Omagh’s Gareth Deazley recovered from an accident on the previous round in Cork to leave Donegal with 3rd place points on what was very much a confidence building drive, also pulling out all the stops and working into the late hours before the event was Ruairi Mac Artain who’s hard work getting his Civic back into shape was rewarded with 4th place points.
Attention now switches back to tar for round 5 of the Junior Rally Series, Ravens Rock Stages Rally on Sunday June 30th.
The Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series is part of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy initiative, to promote and assist competitors focused on developing their motorsport future.
The series is taking place over dual surfaces; tar and gravel, and the best performances in 5 out of 8 rounds will count.
Two tar rounds (Ravens Rock and Galway Summer Stages) and two gravel rounds (Cork Forest Rally, 2 days counts as two rounds) still remain on the calendar to qualify for the championship, competitors must be under 25 (1st of January) and start a minimum of two events on each surface. Eligibility is reserved to those who hold a current competition license issued by Motorsport Ireland and only cars built to the Class 16, J1600 regulations are eligible for the series
A prize fund of training and coaching up to the value of €20,000 on Motorsport Ireland events is on offer, plus a nomination to the Billy Coleman Award.
