MCGARRITY TAKES EIGHTH TITLE
Moffet twins but northern irish title is decided with a record-breaking score for mcgarrity
Organiser: Omagh Motor Club When: September 22 Where: Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland Championships: Irish Forestry Championship and MSA Northern Ireland Rally Championship Starters: 110 Finishers: 87 Stages: 11
Despite having to retire from last Saturday’s Bushwhacker Rally, results went Derek Mcgarrity’s way and he was crowned Northern Ireland Rally champion for an eighth time.
Forced to call it a day at first service because of an oil leak that had developed on the engine of his Ford Focus, Mcgarrity still ended the day a record eight-time winner of the national series.
“I went to the rally with the intention of winning it and I firmly believe we would have done had the seal on the engine’s crank not started to weep oil,” said Mcgarrity, who has confirmed he will contest the last round of the series in a different car. Only Desi Henry and Alan Carmichael had a mathematical chance of prolonging Mcgarrity’s wait for another few weeks, but neither could land the win they needed. Instead, that honour went to Josh Moffett and Stephen Thornton, the Ford Fiesta R5 crew free to attack the County Tyrone forests having successfully sewn up the Irish Forestry Championship title, of which the Bushwhacker was a round, at the Lakeland Stages.
They recorded fastest or equal fastest times on seven of the 11 stages to win by 19s from the Ford Fiesta R5+ of Vivian Hamill. The only incident of note for Moffett came on stage five when he smacked a rock and bent a rim. For the final loop he decided to conserve his lead and raise the car’s ride height as large stones and ruts began to appear along the route.
Hamill, meanwhile, made it back-to-back podiums on gravel, his movement up the leaderboard aided by the demise of Mcgarrity before Barry Mckenna’s Fiesta went off the road on stage five.
As for Henry, he came within two seconds of Moffett after losing ground early doors as his Skoda Fabia performed road cleaning duties. A broken gear linkage on SS6 ended his charge but some quick cable tie repairs allowed him to battle back to third.
Connor Mccloskey – on his first outing since the Pirelli – bagged fourth from Cathan Mccourt. Tied with Adrian Hetherington, Mccourt got the nod courtesy of his quicker time on the first stage. Niall Mccullagh triumphed in the Production Class at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer E9, while Paul Barrett’s Ford Escort Mk2 came out top in the two-wheel-drive scrap.