KELLY BECOMES NEW JBRC CHAMPION
Eamonn Kelly claimed the 2022 Junior
British Rally Championship title with two rounds to spare after beating Kyle White to the Rali Ceredigion win.
A win was enough for Kelly to seal the deal, but the 23-year-old had to work extremely hard for it in Wales. Things started smoothly enough as he went to bed with a small lead over rival White, but there was a big scare on Saturday morning’s opener.
“I nailed a church and bent the back axle,” Kelly said. “I was late for mass, and I just really, really wanted to get in the church! We were having a good push, and just ran wide on the slippy stuff.”
But White cut a familiar figure, sitting alone in his Peugeot 208 Rally4. Far from the first time this season, luck had deserted him: “We haven’t been able to use stage mode,” he said. “It’s been intermittent, but on that last one we had nothing. Out of the corners it’s a real problem and without the power you can’t slide.”
An SS10 puncture could’ve swung the battle out of Kelly’s grasp, but a confident drive allowed him to wrap up the title.
Johnnie Mulholland was third.