J OS H MO FF ET TWINS AS GREER STEAL S IRISH FOREST POINTS
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Organiser: Enniskillen Motor Club Ltd When: September 2 Where: Enniskillen, County Fermanagh Championships: Northern Ireland Rally Championship; Irish Forest Rally Championship Starters: 100 Stages: 6.
At the first north of the border round of the Irish Forest Rally Championship, the Lakeland Stages, Josh Moffett won by 31s while his brother Sam moved into the championship lead.
The two-car Ford Fiesta R5 Combilift team were tipped as favourites going into round five of the series, which merged with the mixed-surface Northern Ireland Rally Championship.
The event was key for Sam Moffett as he looks to take an unprecedented triple of the Irish National Rally Championship, Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and the forest championship. With the national championship already won and merely crossing the start ramp in Cork set to be enough to take the Irish Tarmac title, the possibility of three championship wins in one year left pressure on Sam, giving Josh and Stephen Thornton the upper hand in Enniskillen.
On the opening 5.4-mile Lough Navar, Josh was nine seconds faster than Sam and James Fulton before adding eight seconds on the shorter 3.3-mile Big Dog test. A humble Josh admitted Sam probably had the worst of the road conditions running third, finding the gravel was loose. Either way it was Josh’s day to win.
Sam not only lost more time on SS3, but Jonny Greer and Kirsty Riddick got ahead where they remained at the finish to take second from Sam by 25s, taking valuable points from the latter in the championship.
For Greer, maximum Northern Ireland points moved him into second with two wins early in the season keeping him in the hunt. Derek Mcgarrity, who had Noel O’sullivan on the notes in an R5-spec Skoda Fabia, could become champion for a record-breaking eighth time at the Bushwhacker. He holds a six-point advantage to Greer’s Citroen DS 3 R5 with fourth on the Lakeland Stages.
A puncture on the final stage might have stopped Kenny Mckinstry from improving on fifth but his customer Martin Cairns felt he had a good set-up and admitted it was the first time he enjoyed his Ford Fiesta RS WRC on gravel. The confidence gain and the experience of Rory Kennedy resulted in sixth, a single second ahead of Derek Mcgeehan’s Mini John Cooper Works WRC.
Carlow’s David Condell lost a bumper on the first loop but said the Ford Focus WRC was a joy to drive compared to a Ford Escort. He proved he could be among the four-wheeldrive runners when, having been as high as sixth, he finished eighth.
David Crossen found the bumps on the 8.8mile Ballintempo stage tricky but ninth overall, first two-wheel-drive and equal second in the overall Irish Forest standings was proof he found the rhythm in his Ford Escort MK2.
On his four-wheel-drive debut Alan Smyth was 10th and first in class in an E10-spec Mitsubishi Lancer, 15s ahead of Jordan Hone who was driving to maintain his Group N class lead in the Irish Forest championship.
After a long stint with a Mcgeehan Mini, Alan Carmichael has gone back to a Subaru, and Impreza S14 WRC, a car he retired at the Tyrone Stages and finished 12th.
Liam Regan, who leads the Prestone Motorsport News Junior British Rally Championship co-driving for William Creighton, has had limited outings in the driving seat in recent years. He switched from a Peugeot 206 to a Mitsubishi Lancer. While learning the new braking distances he was 16th.
Donall Sweeney moved into the Northern Ireland two-wheel-drive lead in his Mcconnell Motorsport-run Ford Escort MK2, aided by an absent Kyle White who suffered engine damage at a pre-event test on his Peugeot 208 R2.