Ryan Caldwell and Arthur Kierans win Carrick on Suir Forest Rally
Took Loughman Final Championship Willie Forest Sligo Kierans Pic: His Fabia Caldwell Skoda Their R5 Forest Co Rally In The Win: Round Ryan Irish Carrick Driver The Pallets Strabane’s Of To Monaghan And Walsh Arthur On Suir Martin The Rally, Victory
Newly crowned Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Champions Strabane’s Ryan Caldwell and his Monaghan co-driver Arthur Kierans took their Skoda Fabia R5 to victory in the Willie Loughman Carrick on Suir Forest Rally, the final round of the Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship. The event’s final stage was cancelled due to heavy fog. The winners finished a minute and 9.9s ahead of the Ford Fiesta R5 of Carlow’s David Condell and co-driver Michael Coady.
Derry’s Jordan Hone (Ford Fiesta R5) was best through the three stages of the first loop across counties Kilkenny and Wexford. On the first, north of Mullinavat, where the fog dwelled on parts of the stage, he was 1.5s faster than Caldwell with Carlow’s David Condell (Fiesta R5) 4.7s further behind followed by late entry Monaghan’s Derek Mackarel (Fiesta R5) with the similar cars of Niall Devine and Waterford’s Keith Power completing the top six.
In the two-wheel drive category, Monaghan’s Mickey Conlon (Escort), who was trying to retain his third place championship position, retired when an alternator bracket snapped, he returned under Super Rally. Hugh McQuaid (Escort) was the leading two wheel drive exponent but only 1.3s ahead of Billy Coleman award nominee Keelan Grogan (Peugeot 208 Rally4).
Stretching his lead to 9.4s Hone reckoned the second stage near Graiguenamanagh was the best of the loop, he gained 2.2s from the third stage where heavy fog near the stage end made it difficult. He arrived at the Bellview Port service park with an 11.9s lead with rival Caldwell reckoning he should have chosen a medium compound tyre instead of a soft compound.
Meanwhile, Condell couldn’t understand why he was 25.5s further behind in third before reckoning he was probably too aggressive on SS2. A puncture early on SS2 dropped Keith Power well down the order while Derek Mackarel retired with a burst radiator following an impact with a bank. Devine and Dunphy rounded out the top five. Kyle McBride (Ford Fiesta Rally4) was sixth followed by Hugh McQuaid (Escort), who was experiencing clutch troubles.
Out on SS4 Caldwell took a fraction of a second from Hone but moved into the lead after the latter retired with a sensor issue on SS5 that transpired to be the final stage as SS6 was cancelled due to heavy fog. Both Condell and Devine punctured on SS4 but they retained their respective second and third places. Grogan in fifth was the top two-wheel drive. Power, despite a puncture on SS4, clawed his way back to finish seventh while McQuaid dropped down to fourteenth, still enough to win the two-wheel drive modified category. In the J1000 and following Tommy Moffett’s retirement with engine woes, Down’s Cameron Crozier (Nissan Micra) took the spoils.
Motorsport Ireland Academy driver Josh McErlean had a short-lived experience on Rally Hungary, round eight of the European Rally Championship when he clipped a bale and damaged the front right wheel of his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 on Friday’s short Super Special opening stage. The event was won by Mads Ostberg (Citroen C3 Rally2).
In the Sanremo Rally Storico, Derry’s Marty McCormack (BMW M3 E30) took second overall 46.8s. behind Lucio Da Zanche. Killarney’s Alan Ring in a similar car was fourteenth; Donagh Kelly (BMW M3 E30) and Ray Breen (Subaru Legacy) were respective retirements on SS7 and SS2.
In the final three races of the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB series at Brands Hatch, Ballylickey’s Robert Cronin took a pair of fifth place finishes and a sixth place as he completed his motor racing debut season. He set the best lap time in the penultimate race.