McGarrity triumph ignites rally title fight as Wright is denied by ‘Benone-gate’ incident
DEREK McGarrity thrust himself right back into the fight for the Northern Ireland Rally Championship — and a record eighth title — with a hairsbreadth victory in the penultimate round, the Tyrone Stages.
McGarrity and co-driver Paddy Robinson squeaked over the line by two seconds from Stephen Wright and Liam Moynihan at the end of a day which proved damaging to the hopes of Desi Henry and Derek McGeehan.
It is Wright who now leads the McGrady Insurance series going to the season finale in the forests of the Glen of Antrim on November 9 but it is amazingly tight with the Monaghan driver a point ahead of McGarrity and eight in front of McGeehan on the countback of best scores.
Wright can feel unfortunate not to have won a rally which BALLYNAHINCH man Korie McGreevy won the final Superstock 600cc race of the BSB season at Brands Hatch yesterday on his IMR prepared Century Racing 675cc Triumph.
He was unaware that he had also clinched the Pirelli National Superstock 600cc Championship.
The 22-year-old went into the race 19 points behind New Zealander Shane Richardson and quickly became embroiled in an eight-rider dice for the lead with Aghadowey’s Eunan McGlinchey.
Richardson was riding a steady race in 11th position with the championship seemingly in the bag.
A two-lap safety car intervention kept the nerves jangling and as the race entered its closing stages the lead changed hands corner by corner, and then drama as Richardson entered the pits with a machine problem, rejoining in 25th position meaning that if McGreevy or 16-year old Storm Stacey could win they would be champion.
Halfway around the final lap Stacey led, but a small mistake allowed McGreevy to snatch the lead, which he managed to hold to the chequered flag, 0.223sec ahead of TJ Toms with Stacey 0.101secs back in third and a mere 0.022sec ahead of McGlinchey.
McGreevy said: “Words cannot describe how I feel right now.
“We had a terrible weekend up until now. I hadn’t a clue how the championship was unfolding and just kept my head down trying to win the race. This has been an incredible journey and I have to thank everyone who was with me along the way.”
Falls, wins and even a disqualification have been part of his season, but for Korie to emerge as champion on a shoe-string budget is testament to his skill.
Australian Josh Brookes may was effectively settled by a gate which had been knocked into the path of his Ford Fiesta, forcing him to slow right down and bounce over it. Wright reckoned it cost him eight to 10 seconds, the difference between winning and losing.
But it was McGarrity who claimed the victory, his first of the series, after switching from his WRC Fiesta, which has been plagued by a persistent misfire, to an R5 Skoda Fabia he had only acquired earlier in the week. Despite having little time to set up the car for the slippery stages close to Benone strand, he was in the thick of the battle from the have won all three British Superbike races over the weekend, but it was his PBM Be Wiser Ducati team-mate Scott Redding who clinched his first ever BSB championship in his debut season, five points clear of Brookes after a second and two third positions.
Andrew Irwin (Honda) missed out on the Riders Cup by a single point to Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon, the former Supermoto star set to leave the Philip and Hector Neill team following the start, tracking early leader Henry and Wright.
But Henry’s late charge for the title — he had won three of the last four rounds — came to a halt when he twice put his WRC Fiesta off the road. And with McGeehan retiring his WRC Mini with engine trouble, it came down to a fight between McGarrity and Wright who launched a furious attack over the last two stages, clawing nine seconds back, but denied a possible third win of the season by that errant gate.
Junior Irish Tarmac champion William Creighton stepped up for just his second R5 outing and again showed his potential, Sunflower Trophy meeting next weekend after four seasons.
Jack Kennedy completed his Supersport championship winning season with yet another double on the Appleyard McAdam Integro Yamaha taking his total wins for the season to an amazing 20 from 24 races.
Kennedy heads to the Superbike championship for 2020 with TAG Yamaha while his place in the Appleyard team goes to Scottish rider Rory Skinner. finishing third in a DGM Fiesta ahead of a dispirited Henry. Gareth Sayers was fifth and Sean Devine sixth, both in R5 Fiestas.
Barry Morris came with a late run in his Darrian to snatch victory in the two-wheel-drive division ahead of the Ford Escorts of John Devlin and James Kennedy.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland won the international autotest Ken Wharton Trophy for a record eighth year in a row at Alcester, Warwickshire, where they finished ahead of the Republic of Ireland and England.
Paul Blair was the individual winner alongside Robin Lyons, Mark King and Paul Mooney.
Donegal rider Richard Kerr suffered a massive accident from his Campbell Motorsport Triumph in Saturday’s race at Paddock Hill Bend after he and Skinner touched and was lucky to escape serious injury.
The 19-year-old Ramelton rider made the grid for yesterday’s race, strapped up and sore, but courageously battled his way to a seventh-place finish and overall fifth in the championship in his second season in the class.