Moore Take Sperrins.....
Trevor
Moore has won the 2002 Vodka Kick Tour of the Sperrins. He won by a small margin
but as they say in rallying as long as it is more than 0.1 second that will do.
But Trevor won by 5 seconds to take the maximum amount of points available. In
second spot was Eugene Donnelly who had been waiting for a while to see if
things would go his way in relation to the Easter Stages Crisis. Next in line
was Stephen Whitford who in fact was driving a Group N Lancer Evo6 from the DGM
stable. Stephen was 3 seconds off Donnelly who was a further 5 seconds off
Trevor Moore in the Escort Cosworth Semi-WRC. 4th was Denis Biggerstaff in the
Metro 6R4 who had set fastest times on stages 1 and 5. But this did not help the
Dromara man as he stayed in fifth for good. Denis was 33 seconds off Stephen
with a time of 37 mins 59 seconds.
But this leader board seems to be strange as we have seen Derek Mc Garrity in the Entry list but not in the top 4. Where could the Glengormley man be. We had been told that Derek had retired from the rally after a crash. But it seemed odd as Derek has had lots of experience in the woods after 7+ years of driving. But you could expect that to a certain degree as he has just been driving all year on Asphalt and Tarmac.
Lying in fifth at the end of the day was Mr. Consistency. James Gillen was out in a Escort Cosworth and had been putting in good times all day. In sixth place was Gary White the last of the 4 wheel drive cars who had also been setting reasonable times throughout the day. Seventh was local man Greg Mc McCormack in a 2 wheel drive Ford Escort MkII. Greg was 11 seconds off Gary. In eighth place was Raymond Mason who did not start the first three rounds as he does not like the circuits. Ninth and first in class five was James Cassidy in the squealing G4 Escort. Last of the top ten was Mark Barnett in a Escort MkII.
So the Leader board looked like this:
1st Trevor Moore - Escort Cosworth - 35:18.0
2nd Eugene Donnelly - Toyota Celica - 35:23.0
3rd Stephen Whitford - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI - 35:26.0
4th Denis Biggerstaff - Metro 6R4 - 35:59.0
5th James Gillen - Escort Cosworth - 36:21.0
6th Gary White - Escort Cosworth - 36:47.0
7th Greg McCormack - Escort MkII - 36:58.0
8th Raymond Mason - Subaru Impreza - 37:00.0
9th James Cassidy - Escort G4 - 37:10.0
10th Mark Barnett - Escort MkII - 37:21.0
Report By Chris Mc Sherry
McGarrity
Gets Points For C.O.I..... 
It appears that Derek McGarrity
has been given his points for the Circuit Of Ireland. That means now that Eugene
Donnelly will lose the fifteen and get 14 points instead. That now puts
McGarrity well out in front in the championship. His record Three straight wins
in a row is phenomenal. But could he do it for a fourth time. The Sperrins is
not long away but he will have some good opposition as Eugene Donnelly and Denis
Biggerstaff and lets not forget Trevor Moore all will be trying hard on the
day.......
Report By Chris Mc Sherry
Donnelly Strikes it Lucky.....
The Easter stages has appeared to be challenging. But for Eugene Donnelly it was nothing but. He started the first stage just hoping to finish in the top three. With two World Rally Cars and other very experience it looked to be a challenge in anybody's eyes.
So the race to the finish had begun well with Trevor Moore and James Gillen each sharing fastest time with 8 mins 32 seconds. Just behind was Denis Biggerstaff and Eugene Donnelly with another exact same stage time of 8 mins 35 seconds. They then moved on to stage two. This time Donnelly had set a extremely fast time that took 7 seconds off the closest challengers. Denis Biggerstaff and Kieran Shaw in the Escort WRC were next in line, each with an 8 minutes 32 second stage time. All ready by this stage in the rally we had lost 10 competitors. Amongst the list of retirees there was Raymond Mason a challenger for Group N and Andy Hawthorne a regular Championship competitor.
So on to stage three and four, where we lost yet more contenders for the championship. Stephen Whitford and Trevor Moore went out including another couple of competitors. On stage three Donnelly got fastest stage time again this time only by 1 second to James Gillen. By this stage Donnelly was leading with Gillen in second. Stage five was a completely different matter when Donnelly set a super time which took 10 seconds of James Gillen who was second fastest in the Escort Cosworth. On stage six we were to lose yet another challenger but the difference was it was Glenn Allen in one of the only two WRC cars. Stage six was all Donnelly's again as he stopped the clock at 8 minutes 17 seconds while Second fastest was Kieran Shaw in the only remaining WRC Escort.
Stage Seven was cancelled, which left it harder for James Gillen to catch Eugene Donnelly in the Celica. Stage eight proved to be tough for Eugene as James was angry that stage seven was cancelled and only left him one chance to get first place. James stormed through the stage and beat Eugene by 17 seconds. Sadly this was not enough as Eugene stole the victory by a mere 4 seconds over James even though he flew through the last stage.
Derek Mc Garrity did not get any points and neither did any of the other Circuit of Ireland competitors as the last day in the Circuit was not the same as the Easter Stages.
So at the end of the day the overall results looked like this:
1st Eugene Donnelly - Toyota Celica - 59:52 mins
2nd James Gillen - Escort Cosworth - 59:56 mins
3rd Denis Biggerstaff - Metro 6R4 - 60:58 mins
4th Gary White - Escort Cosworth - 61:49 mins
5th George Robinson - Escort Cosworth - 62:55 mins
6th Kieran Shaw - Escort Cosworth WRC - 63:02 mins
7th Kevin O' Kane - Subaru Impreza - 63:15 mins
8th Brian Armstrong - Ford Escort - 63:47 mins
9th Charlie Beattie - Ford Escort - 64:16 mins
10th Terence Teggart - Ford Escort - 64:42 mins
Report By Chris Mc Sherry
Points For Circuit of Ireland Competitors.....
It appears that competitors of the M.E CROWE N.I. Rally Championship that have entered for the 3-day Buy & Sell Circuit of Ireland rally, will be able to score points for the N.Ireland Championship. This is because championship council bodies have enabled competitors doing the three day event to score only if the Easter stages are run on exactly the same stages.
This will then apply to about seven competitors who have entered for the Circuit of Ireland including, Derek Mc Garrity ~ Subaru Impreza WRC P2000, Gary Jennings ~ Peugeot 106 Super Cup Car, and Norman Savage ~ Subaru Impreza Grp N
The circuit of Ireland will be based @ Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh on Saturday 30th - Monday - 1st of April.
Report By Chris Mc Sherry
Mc Garrity Takes Two In A Row.....
After Derek Mc Garrity's win at Kirkistown Derek thought that he would be in with a chance with taking Bishopscourt. This would give Derek a good lead ahead of second place driver whoever that may be after round two. But his prediction's were right and snatched the win from Maurice Gass in his Impreza WRC. This happened from the word go and Derek steamed ahead with a 6 second advantage between him and early challenger Owen Lamont (Impreza WRC). But all good comes to an end for Owen, as his Impreza later went of the road and damaged the differentials. This then put Maurice into second spot thanks to Owens downfall.
Stephen Whitford followed and set good, fast times to sit tight in third place. But back in the service area there was confusion, Where had Eugene Donnelly in the similar car to Stephen Whitford Gone ?? Eugene had started the first stage just behind Stephen. He had completed his first lap of the circuit and went on to his second & last. He was chasing down David Greer in the Ex-Carlos Sainz Toyota Corolla WRC. By this stage of the lap he had went over the jump at the back of the circuit and was coming up to the tricky hairpin, which not to mention was also slippy as there was oil on the track. He had seen David Lock his Rear wheels with the handbrake and decided to do something similar. But it didn't quite go to plan as the front of the car turned into the corner too much and clipped a tyre and rolled as the consequence. It took a while to get the car back onto all fours but we later found the car had leaked oil out of the top of the engine.
This meant that any car out on the circuit was being held up. If that wasn't enough the Clerk of the Course then Cancelled the first stage. So we had our drama on the first stage which made most drivers think twice about what tyres to use as they had seen that the tarmac, and concrete was slippy.
So the second stage then passed with Derek taking another chunk of time out of Maurice. But Derek had new opposition. Now David Greer had moved up and set some more scorching time but was later to retire with mechanical maladies.
So it looked like Derek was going to take the win, and so he did by winning by 32 seconds over Maurice Gass. Maurice was then 20 seconds ahead of closest challenger Stephen Whitford who was a further 10 seconds over Denis Biggerstaff in his Metro 6R4 that had managed to split the from Diff on the last stage. Next in line was Trevor Moore somewhat unpleased with his final result as he could have caught Denis easily throughout the day.
So the final standing looked like this: 1st Derek Mc Garrity - Impreza WRC- 37:49
2nd Maurice Gass - Impreza WRC - 38:21
3rd Stephen Whitford - Celica GT3 - 38:41
4th Denis Biggerstaff - Metro 6R4 - 38:51
5th Trevor Moore - Escort Cosworth - 39:03
Report By: Chris Mc Sherry
Webmaster.
FRANK
MEAGHER
1962-2002
Tragedy Hits Rallying Once Again.....
It is with great regret we learn of the death of Frank Meagher .The former Circuit of Ireland winner was killed as the result of a 'testing-accident' whilstdriving a Ford Sierra Cosworth in the Slievenamon mountain area near his County Tipperary home on Sunday( 11.03.02 ). It appears that he crashed in 'Anner' forest and reports suggest that Frank collided with a tree after rolling the car - Frank, apparently suffering a broken- neck and sadly,was pronounced dead at the scene. Frank's death comes just as the Irish 'Rallying-family' were coming to terms with the tragic helicopter accident related deaths of Bertie,Mark ,&Emma Fisher.On hearing this sad news, Subaru Ireland driver-Andrew Nesbitt said" I'm very saddened by this. Frank was a great international competitor, very talented, and a very nice person as well, a great family man. I started my career in Escort MkII's,as did Frank, and we were much the same age, ... Frank was always first to give help and advice. I loved rallying against him. I'm lost for words really, at losing another top driver, after last years tragedy involving Bertie, Mark and Emma".
My Dad( Jim ), remembers Frank starting-out rallying back in the early eighties...in his 1300 pushrod Escort. Even then, Frank embarrassed 2.0 litre Escorts with his committed driving ....My Dad affectionately refers to Frank as the "Cloneen-Concorde".... Frank often ' laid - on 'lunch / rest for my Dad on his many business trips to Tipperary /Cork area during the late - eighties.
Frank was talented and is the only driver to have won the 'Stonethrowers Rally' nine times. Frank is also the most recent Irish winner of the Manx International Rally. Most people who knew and had seen Frank drive say that he was a very remarkable man .
To his wife and four children - the motorsport family's thoughts and prayers are with you at this most difficult time .God bless you all .
Please Sign The Book Of Condolences.........................................CLICK HERE.....
'Nirallying ' sends its condolences to the Meagher Family .
Mc Garrity Scoops Round 1.....
Derek Mc Garrity (Impreza WRC P2000 ) has won the Eurocables Stages Rally 2002. But it wasn't an easy victory as the Belfast driver was slow off the mark, never mind incurring a time penalty on the second stage. The early pace setter was Owen Lamont in his 'Harper Rally Preparation' converted right- hand -drive c Subaru Impreza WRC. Owen set fastest time on the first stage, to lead by a mere 0.10 of a second.
This was good for Lamont as he had managed to put a gap between himself and his adversary-Trevor Moore ( Escort Cosworth). Mc Garrity was not to happy on receiving the ten -second time penalty for late arrival at a time control ). This left Derek having to work really hard for the lead. By now he was a long way off the top- spot after stage 2. --- 13 seconds adrift.
Trevor Moore then who has 'come on form' on the tarmac surfaces had a lead of 5 seconds over Stephen Whitford( Celica ST185 out of the DGM stable) in third spot. Whitford( a former N.I.Junior Champion) had the current championship sponsor - Mark Crowe onboard reading the notes. Not far behind 'Weavy's' Celica was another Celica hotshot- Eugene Donnelly. He set top 5 times consistently throughout the day.
This is strange. Where is Denis Biggerstaff, nobody had seen him on the leader board. Problem was that Denis's Metro 6R4 had a fuel injection problem on stage 2 and was only driving at a slow pace until he could try to get the problem sorted.
Group N was won by Raymond Johnston ( Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 5 ) who fought all day with Dick Curran. He beat Dick on the first three stages to lie 4 seconds in front. We had a new comer to Group N today as well as Dick's son Mike,who was out in his Dad's 2001 Evo 5 car . Ex- Karts racer- Raymond Johnston shone through to secure the Grp. N category.
We had more new faces too, as Danny Mc Ginley (from Dunfanaghy,Co.Donegal) was out in his Denis Biggerstaff prepared Metro 6R4 similar spec to Denis' "Computervision" colored scheme 6R4. Danny went on to finish in 39th place. Another new face on the scene was Hugh Dunne in his Subaru Impreza WRC which he had bought about a two weeks before the event . Hugh finished 6th with a time of 22.35.8 mins .Former N.I.Champion Co driver-Mike Gibson directed Hugh round the Co. Down Circuit.
The Final leader board looks like this: 1st - Derek Mc Garrity 22.10.0
2nd - Owen Lamont 22.14.7
3rd - Trevor Moore 22.23.3
4th - Stephen Whitford 22.30.7
5th - Eugene Donnelly 22.34.2
6th - Hugh Dunne 22.35.8
7th - Gary White 22.39.8
8th - Denis Biggerstaff 22.44.6
9th - George Robinson 22.47.1
10th - Jaye Jordan 22.48.2
THATS ALL FROM KIRKISTOWN................................
REPORT BY : Chris Mc Sherry
Derek Mc Garrity. ( Subaru Imprezza WRC ) <W19 SRT
©Copyright.
2002