The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Duggan makes history on Killarney Historic Rally
THE two runs over Moll’s Gap were the deciding factors in Rob Duggan and Ger Conway’s victory on Saturday’s Rentokil Initial Killarney Historic Rally.
Driving a West Wales Motorsport run Ford Escort Mk2, the local pair led from the start to take a comfortable 14-second victory over World Rally Championship refuges Craig Breen and Paul Nagle.
Duggan and Conway were eight seconds quicker than their Escort rivals on the early morning run over Ireland’s most-famous rally stage.
Their second run earned them a further six-second buffer but Breen and Nagle reeled them in over the Ballaghbeama and Shanera stages.
Just eight seconds separated the crews as they headed to the two final tests over Rockfield and Coolick but when Duggan snared two more seconds over the short Rockfield the rally was done as a contest.
Duggan goes into the history books as the first-ever former winner of the Modified category in the rally to win the overall historic title while Conway was celebrating his third success on the event having previously won it on two occasions alongside Denis Moynihan.
“Unfortunately, we had a spin on some oil on Molls Gap and dropped quite some time, which pretty much put us out of the race for the win. Congrats to Rob and
Ger on the win, it was a great race and I think we raised the Historic rallying bar in Ireland, it was incredible to be able to pedal the 40-year-old historic cars even quicker than the modifieds at times,” said Breen
While Duggan and Conway were deserving winners, and the runners-up were the first to say this at the finish of the final stage near Kilcummin on Saturday evening, Nagle was more than a little disappointed.
New for this year, the overall winners of the rally were presented with the Maurice Nagle Memorial Trophy, named in honour of the man who founded the Killarney Historic Rally. Paul would have dearly loved to get his hands on the trophy named after his father but it wasn’t to be this year.
However, Nagle was named as the Kerry county co-driving champion following his victory on two days of the Rally of the Lakes and his second place on Saturday.
Alan Ring finished seventh in his BMW M3 while Kilgarvin’s Helen O’Sullivan guided Denis Cronin to ninth.
Todd Falvey got the upper hand over his nephew Mark, just four seconds separated the 12th placed Ford Escort RS1800 and 13th placed Ford Escort RS1600.
Pat Looney and Ronald Riordan won class C3 in their Ford Escort RS2000 while Donal O’Connor and Ann Hutchinson were third in a similar car.
Lixnaw co-driver Tony McCarthy guided James Hall to sixth in Class K in their Audi Coupe Quattro
Denis Dowling James Treanor took their Ford Escort RS1800 to 11th in class.
London-based Killarney man Mike Smith won class C2 in his Hillman Avenger.
MODIFIED CATEGORY
There was plenty of local cheer in the modified category too as Coilin O’Donoghue and Sean Collins took a popular victory in this very competitive section
They were third fastest over Moll’s Gap in the morning, giving best to Gary Kieran and Marin McGee but the local crew overtook their Cavan and Donegal rivals on the run over Ballaghbeama to take a lead they would never relinquish.
It was a proud moment for Colin’s father Kevin, a successful driver in his own right, when he greeted his son at the finish ramp on Saturday evening.
Damien Fleming guided Raymond Conlon to fourth overall in their Toyota Corolla Twin Cam while cousins Aidan Buckley and Shane Buckley were just one place behind in their Escort.
Denis Hickey and Sean Nolan admitted to getting off to a slow start in their Escort but a better run in the afternoon netted them 14th overall.
Andrew Duggan and Tara Duggan delivered their brand new Escort to 21st overall.
Duagh man Noel Maloney returned from his New Zealand base to guide Dylan Donoghue to 31st place. Jack Kelleher was another Kerryman to make the trip home, he came from Australia to contest his first rally but had to rely on Rally2 rules to get to the finish. Diarmuid Lynch and Eleanor Looney, driving an Austin Mini Cooper, were another crew that had to use Rally2 but their efforts earned them second in their class.
Bob Moran and Adam Power were third in their class in an Escort.
Eoin Duffin and Mike Cleary were 39th in their Ford Escort Mk2, two places ahead of the returning Sean Enright and Kevin Tydings.
John Falvey was on pace note duty for Billy McCarthy and they finished 44th.
Noel O’Sullivan and Nicholas Burke secured third in their class in their Ford Escort Mk2 while Raymond O’Neill and Padraig O’Donovan were fifth.
Pat Cashman guided Don Moynihan to 59th while Paudie O’Callaghan and Danny Murphy broke the Escort dominance by taking their Toyota Starlet to fifth in class.
Tadhg O’Sullivan and Liam Brennan on the notes for the first time and they finished 72nd, one place ahead of Eddie Kennelly and Paul McGlinchey.
John Hickey and Denny Greaney hastily built a Toyota Corolla for the occasion and brought it home in 72nd place under Rally2 regulations.