THERE was drama aplenty at the Waterford-based Raven's Rock Rally, the fourth round of the National Rally Championship, for several West Cork crews.
Clonakilty's David Guest and his Bandon co-driver Stephen Quin were the highest placed County Cork crew – they finished 12th overall in the Clonakilty Engineering Ford Fiesta Rally2.
‘Overall, I was happy enough and we enjoyed the day,’ Guest said.
‘We had a few issues, the dash readout was freezing and we had to stop and reset. I clipped a bank on the fourth stage. The car didn't feel right on the fast stuff and it transpired the anti-roll bar link on the front was broken.
‘To be honest, I am lacking seat time and pace, and it seems to be getting faster each time we go out.'
Those next outings, while a little far off at the moment, are likely to include the Wexford Rally, the Cork '20' and the Fastnet Rally.
Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy, Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin, both in Citroen C3 Rally2 cars, and Dunmanway's Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5) had all retired before the completion of the opening loop of three stages.
McCarthy and his Donegal co-driver James McBrearty, who was set to experience a Rally2 car for the first time, didn't even get to the start of the nine-stage event when their Carbery Plastics/Clonakilty Park Hotel liveried Citroen C3 Rally2 caught fire on the road section just a few kilometres from the start.
‘It was a small fuel fire beneath the bonnet resulting in light damage,’ said Cal.
‘We were fortunate that the crews that followed behind us used their extinguishers as well to quench the fire. If the fire was on a stage (as the time gaps would have been longer), the damage could have been much worse. The fire was actually burning the fuel, the paint wasn't even damaged.’
The incident has forced McCarthy to change his plans. He said: ‘I had intended to compete in the R Kings Competition Down Rally on Saturday week but that's not going to happen now.' The Clonakilty driver will reassess the situation before deciding what's next.
Meanwhile, Daniel Cronin and his East Cork co-driver Padraig O'Donovan retired some 500 metres into the opening stage near Mooncoin when their Citroen C3 Rally2 hit a bank.
‘I actually don't know what happened,’ Cronin said.
‘It was the first real corner, it could have been cold tyres, the car got away from me on the gravel and hit a bank on my right. I was lucky enough, the impact threw the car across the road.’
While Cronin is undecided about the rest of the national championship, he added ‘I have pulled the entry for Sligo (round five, July 20th), the car has to be fixed first and then we will see.' He confirmed that he will compete in the Fastnet Rally, his home event.
Of the aforementioned West Cork trio, Dunmanway's Jason McSweeney and his Blackpool co-driver went furthest but an electrical issue forced them out during the third stage. He explained: 'It was an electrical fault. We let the car cool down for a while before we restarted and drove out of the stage. There was no point in continuing. Disappointing for sure, but as they say, that's rallying.'
Elsewhere and having led Class 11F up to the final stage, the Clonakilty husband and wife crew of Eamonn and Lisa McCarthy (Honda Civic) were denied a class win when they were edged out by Youghal's Jason Ryan and The Pike's Peter Keohane (Toyota Starlet), who overturned a 13.5 second deficit to win by four seconds.
Macroom's Barry O'Brien (Honda Civic) and his Rossmore co-driver Declan Buttimer finished sixth in the same class. On what was their first outing in the car that was damaged when they crashed on the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally last March, O'Brien commented that the car cut out due to a faulty sensor that was reset to sort the problem.
Dunmanway's Ger O'Connell and co-driver John Murray (Ford Escort) were third in Class 12. Also, Ballylickey's Robert Cronin (Opel Corsa Rally4) and his Kilkenny co-driver Adam Heffernan were fifth in Class 2. The Kilkenny/Cork duo of Conor Ryan (Ford Fiesta Rally4) and Ardfield's Gary Lombard were ninth in the same class.
The rally was won by Monaghan's Josh Moffett and his Limerick co-driver Keith Moriarty (Hyundai i20 R5), who finished 14.2 seconds ahead of Derry's Desi Henry and Donegal's Dean O'Sullivan (Ford Fiesta Rally2),
Pre-event series leaders Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy led the rally through the opening six stages, however on their way to SS7, their Skoda Fabia R5 developed a power steering problem that led to them arriving later than their due time for SS7. They incurred a six-minute penalty that ultimately cost them victory. Although they protested the decision, it was rejected by the clerk of the course and they were eventually classified 27th.
