HENRY BEATS MOFFETT TO TOP SPOT ON LAKELAND
Organiser: Enniskillen Motor Club Ltd When: September 7 Where: Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh Championships: Motorsport UK Northern Ireland Rally Championship; Irish Forestry Rally Championship Stages: 6 Starters: 85.
Desi Henry and Damien Connolly won the six-stage Lakeland Rally – where Irish and Northern Ireland championships competed against each other – by 22 seconds in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Coming off the 3.6-mile SS1, Belmore, Henry was two seconds down on early leader Sam Moffett and James Fulton in an R5-spec Fiesta. But it was on
SS2, the longest stage of the day at 11.2-miles, where Henry was four seconds quicker to move into a lead he wasn’t to relinquish.
Over the second half, made up of the same three stages from the morning, Henry increased his lead greatly. Henry’s outing as a newly-married man has inspired him to take on more forest rounds before the year is out and Connolly, who hadn’t competed on gravel for two years, secured his first gravel victory.
A troubled Moffett aided Henry’s advantage when intercooler pipes disconnected after a heavy landing on a Ballintempo jump. At service the Monaghan driver had hoped not cleaning the road on stages, that he felt were very loose, would move him closer to Henry but he eventually focused on maintaining second.
Forest champions Cathan Mccourt and Barry Mcnulty in their Fiesta R5 were on a lap of honour on Saturday, 11s behind Moffett, having clinched the title at the previous Cork double header. A joint-fastest time on the Ballintempo repeat was noteworthy to get ahead of fellow Fiesta R5 crew Vivian Hamill and Andrew Grennan, who dropped from 3s ahead after SS3 to 21s in arrears at the finish after the car cut out mid-stage.
Handling and confidence issues on gravel put to one side after the first loop, Donagh Kelly and Conor Foley moved up from 14th on SS1 to fifth and first non-ford in a Skoda Fabia R5, 5s behind Hamill.
Patrick O’brien was pleased brake problems were sorted in his Mitsubishi Lancer E9 ahead of the event and put some bad luck this season behind him by finishing sixth just ahead of Fiesta R5 newcomer Niall Mccullagh.
In the Northern Ireland championship Stephen Wright is considering more outings after an eighth-place finish in his Fiesta R5. Series competition Derek Mcgeehan was down in 12th and multiple champion Derek Mcgarrity retired with a broken rear arm on his Fiesta RS WRC.
Despite a third consecutive Junior win and being tied on points, Kyle White was runner-up to Vauxhall
Nova driver Derek Mackarel who took the championship with more wins over the year. For White the Northern Ireland Junior title is still on the cards heading to Omagh’s Bushwhacker later this month.
Results
1 Desi Henry/damien Connolly (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) 34m17s; 2 Sam Moffett/james Fulton (Ford Fiesta R5) +22s; 3 Cathan Mccourt/barry Mcnulty (Fiesta R5); 4 Vivian Hamill/andrew Grennan (Fiesta R5); 5 Donagh Kelly/conor Foley (Skoda Fabia R5); 6 Patrick O’brien/thomas Nugent (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); 7 Niall Mccullagh/ryan Mccloskey (Fiesta R5); 8 Stephen Wright/arthur Kierans (Fiesta R5); 9 Conor Mccourt/brian Hoy (Fiesta R5); 10 Michael Carbin/conor Mohan (Lancer E8). Class winners: Adam/david Vance (Honda Civic); Niall Mcgonigle/paddy Mccrudden (Lancer E9); Mervyn Wilson/ Darragh Sheridan (Ford Escort Mk2); Ruairi Maguire/grace O’brien (Vauxhall Corsa); Marc Johnston/colin Irvine (Escort Mk2); John Gordon/thomas Wedlock (Escort Mk2); David Condell/paul Kelly (Escort Mk2); Kelly/foley; Henry/connolly; Stanley Orr/graham Henderson (Ford Escort RS1600).