TOHILL SURVIVES A LATE DRAMA TO SEAL A FOURTH IRISH RX CROWN
In a dramatic finish, Derek Tohill clinched his fourth Irish Rallycross Championship in a row, by winning two Finals and two Super Finals in one day at Mondello Park. He claimed the spoils despite having to limp to the final victory with a broken propshaft on his Ford Fiesta.
Tohill once again dominated the day, which included semifinals and finals held over from the opening round of the series back in March when a snowstorm forced the curtailment of the usual programme.
Earlier efforts to clear this backlog didn’t work out, so they were run immediately before
Sunday’s final round.
Dubliner Tohill’s regular challenger Noel Greene, in his Mitsubishi Mirage, still had a chance to take his first title if Tohill hit problems and, with just two laps left in the last race of the day, the Super Final, the Fiesta slowed and narrowly held Greene at bay by a mere
0.6 seconds at the chequered flag.
Earlier in the day, Tohill had decided to sit out the second heat to avoid overstressing any already tired components and it certainly paid off, as he had missed the Tynagh round in April and needed to score well in every race on Sunday.
Behind the two Supercars, Gavin O’connell had an impressive drive to bring his two-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta home in third position in the round seven Super Final, just 2.3s behind Greene. He had also earlier beaten former National title holder Willie Coyne to take the Modified Final.
Michael Ryan led Brendan Mccaughan and Christopher Grimes home in the Junior Final, all in Ford Fiestas, with Mark Meenehan beating Oisin Keane and Denis Mccrudden in the Zetec race.
Because of the need to run the two sets of semi-finals and finals, and the shortage of daylight hours in late November, Mondello had its first ever floodlit rallycross at the weekend. Results (all races six laps)
Round 1 (delayed from March 3)
Super Final: 1 Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta); 2 Noel Greene (Mitsubishi Mirage) +7.270; 3 Pearse Browne (BMW Compact); 4 Philip Kelly (Toyota MR2);
5 Michael Coyne (Vauxhall Nova); 6 Chris Grimes (Vauxhall Nova).
Supercar Final: 1 Tohill; 2 Darragh Morris (Subaru Impreza) +13.184s; 3 Greene; 4 Derrick Jobb (Ford Focus); no other finishers.
Modified Final: 1 Coyne; 2 Browne +3.224s; 3 Kieran Curran (Vauxhall Corsa); 4 Grimes; 5 Damien Cruise (Renault Clio); 6 Kelly.
Rally Cars Final: 1 Thomas O’rafferty (Vauxhall Nova); 2 Coly Loughlin (BMW Mini) +1.807s; 3 P J Doyle (Peugeot 205); 4 Gary Hade (Peugeot 206); no other finishers.
Ford Fiesta Zetec Final: 1 Denis Mccrudden;
2 Willie Peacham +14.719s; no other finishers.
Junior Final: 1 Jack Byrne (Ford Fiesta); 2 Christopher Grimes (Fiesta) +2.451s; 3 Brendan Mccaughan (Fiesta); 4 Loughlin Farrell (Fiesta); 5 Seanie Bellew (Fiesta); 6 Michael Ryan (Fiesta).
Buggy Final: 1 Padraic Mchale (Casmat);
2 Paul Nolan (Yacar) +2.277s; 3 Pat Bellew
(Semog); 4 Robbie Allen (Semog); no other finishers.
Round 7
Super Final: 1 Tohill; 2 Greene +0.612s; 3 Gavin O’connell (Ford Fiesta); 4 Shane Stanley (Honda Civic); 5 Peter Mcgarry (Vauxhall VX220); 6 Browne.
Supercar Final: 1 Tohill; 2 Greene +12.822s; no other finishers.
Modified Final: 1 O’connell; 2 Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) +0.486s; 3 Mcgarry; 4 Andrew Twomey (Citroen C2); 5 Browne; 6 Curran.
Rally Cars Final: 1 Stanley; 2 Hade +11.516s; 3 O’rafferty; 4 Loughlin; 5 Doyle; no other finishers.
Ford Fiesta Zetec Final: 1 Mark Meenehan;
2 Oisin Keane +3.829s; 3 Mccrudden; 4 Peacham; 5 Ruth Nugent; 6 Eoin Dooley.
Junior Final: 1 Ryan; 2 Mccaughan +3.186s; 3 Grimes; 4 Farrell; 5 Bellew; 6 Byrne.
Buggy Final: 1 Bellew; 2 Allen +1.742s; 3 Nolan; 4 David Parks (Semog); 5 Mchale; 6 Owen
Skelly (Semog).
Retro Final: 1 David Crockett (Vauxhall Chevette); 2 Paul Swords (Ford Escort) +1.851s; 3 Brian Keegan (Vauxhall Nova); no other finishers.