Quality Hotels West Cork Rally 2004

Look back over the last Quality Hotels West Cork Rally

McElhinney Masters Opening Citroen Racing Trophy Rounds

Round One:
Donegal driver Adrian McElhinney emerged victorous on the opening two rounds of the Citroen Racing Trophy, on the double header event in West Cork.
The Trophy for the Citroen Sport C2 R2's was frenetic right from the drop of the flag in Clonakilty. Tipperary's Paul Manton was rapid right from that flag, with some fast times on the opening stage to lead after three stages, but a rare engine failure was to finish his weekend, resulting in no scores on the opening two rounds. Soon into the round one lead however was Adrian McElhinney. He had been held up on stage one when he caught five cars that had been bunched together because of an accident, but a very fast time on stage two proved he meant business, and he took up the front running. In second was young Monaghan driver Sam Moffett, who admitted to being a little rusty on the opening loop, but was still marginally ahead of last years championship runner up, Barry Evans. Barry was getting used to new co driver Alister Wylie on the first tests, and also admitted to have picked the wrong tyres on the opening loop, but fastest time on stage four meant he had Moffett in his sights.
Clones driver Martin Tynan admitted also to making a slow start due to a lack of seat time, and he also wasn't happy with the rear suspension in the middle loop of stages. Cork's John Quill made a welcome return to the series, and came off the famous Ring stage in West Cork euphoric! "That was just absolutely brilliant" he said, the fast flowing West Cork roads a pleasure to drive in the dry conditions. John had a dramatic start to the day with a costly spin on stage one. New C2 recruit Stephen Baxter overtook John only to go off into a field on down the stage, rejoining in front of John, before crashing into bank on the next corner, letting the startled John Quill through once more. But by the end of the stage they had swopped positions once more! Perhaps they were taking the new Citroen Racing branding too literally! Baxter and Mark Kane where two newcomers to the Citroen C2 R2's and despite the odd drama, both where setting impressive stage times on their debut. Mark Kane's early dramas included a lack of intercom, and an engine limiter fault that was cured by borrowing an ECU from Paul Manton's stranded machine, but both of these drivers were making an impression.
On the final tests of the day, Adrian McElhinney was building on his lead, and also now having to revise his braking distances, as the new Carbon Lorraine pads he fitted at service where seriously shortening the C2's stopping distance. Behind him Sam Moffett had a spin on stage 5 and also a major moment when the C2 took to the grass at high speed on stage 8, but held onto his second place despite Barry Evans rapidly closing.
Round One Results
1 Adrian McElhinney/ Shane Buckley Citroen C2 R2
2 Sam Moffett/ James O'Reilly Citroen C2 R2
3 Barry Evans/ Alister Wylie Citroen C2 R2
4 Martin Tynan/ Andrew Greenan Citroen C2 R2
5 Mark Kane/ Don Montgomery Citroen C2 R2

Round Two:
Round two of the Citroen Racing Trophy was day two of the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally.The opening test, stage 9 in the overall rally presented a delay for Adrian McElhinney as he stopped to render assistance to a crashed Evo in front of him, and admitted to being off the boil on the next stage, before once again taking up the front running. Stage 10 was quite dramatic as Sam Moffett spun and got wedged at a hairpin, and Barry Evan's co driver Alister Wylie was using hand signals after their intercom failed! The newcomers where getting it tough too, Mark Kane having two spins, and getting stuck in a ditch, whilst Stephen Baxter was also in the wars. He had ripped the front bumper off with his previous day's incident, and was kindly loaned a bumper by the retired Paul Manton only for it to be ripped off as spectators hauled him out of a ditch on stage 10. Adrian McElhinney was having brake trouble, but a change in compound on the brake pads soon sorted this and Adrian was commanding the front running. Martin Tynan sadly fell foul of the infamous jump on stage 11, crashing out of the event.
The battle for second was heated however with Sam Moffett ahead of Barry Evans by just a few seconds after stage 14, where Barry had set a storming stage time. But the final loop presented problems for both crews, with Sam Moffett retiring with a broken engine mount and Barry Evans losing considerable time stuck up an escape road after an overshoot. Indeed enough time was lost to let newcomer Mark Kane into a fabulous second ahead of Barry, with the other newcomer Stephen Baxter third. Indeed both of these drivers showed pace, with Kane fastest C2 on the final test ahead of Baxter who finished fifth. John Quill had a trouble free run to fourth, happy with his C2 after changing the airflow meter on Saturday.
Another C2 in the running was Marty McCormack's new C2 R2 Max. Last years champion was delighted with his new machine, and ran as high as eighth overall, scooping Citroen prize money for being first A6 car home on Saturday evening. On day two however he hit a bank and bent the rear suspension, and retired, but not before learning a lot about his new mount. "The suspension, brakes and turn in are unbelievable. I love driving this car, and it's actually easier to drive than the R2, but a lot faster!"
The fastest driver in the Citroen Racing Trophy for the R2 cars was Adrian McElhinney however, with another superb drive, showing his speed in 2008 was no flash in the pan. With two maximum scores it's a perfect start to the series for Adrian in his self prepared C2 R2. "It's a dream start to our year, and it's great to be in the prize money. Our aim this year is to contest the Trophy, as it's such a great series, and this weekend has given us the perfect start. As ever the competition was tough, but the camaraderie was equally as good, and we can't wait for the next round."
Round Two Results
1 Adrian McElhinney/ Shane Buckley Citroen C2 R2
2 Mark Kane/ Don Montgomery Citroen C2 R2
3 Barry Evans/ Alister Wylie Citroen C2 R2
4 John Quill/ Alan Hartigan Citroen C2 R2
5 Stephen Baxter/ James Allman Citroen C2 R2.

Cronin storms to victory in rounds 1 and 2 of Irish Mitsubishi series

Liam Egan overcomes mechanical maladies to end in second place - Excellent showing by Stanley Ballantine nets third in series, albeit with 11th hour transmission troubles.
The Clonakilty-based Quality Hotels West Cork Rally is one of Ireland's classic rallies and this year hosted the first two rounds of the 2009 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Ireland, with Saturday's eight stages representing round one and Sunday's eight stages round two.
On both days, Keith Cronin and co-driver Greg Shinnors dominated the Evolution Challenge field and such was their pace in the dry and sunny conditions, they recorded a total of six fastest overall stage times, finished fourth overall and won Group N.

Round One:
Cronin/Shinnors were quickest of the Mitsubishi runners on the first stage and were on blistering form, posting a time that was good enough to see them third overall. However, on the very next stage they slid into a ditch when the wipers smeared the windscreen and Cronin momentarily lost visibility. After losing over a minute extricating the car they were on their way again, but a broken intercooler pipe meant the car was down on power.

For the remaining three Evo Challenge competitors, who were seeded further down the field, it was to be a frustrating day, with three stages cancelled due to accidents taking place ahead of them, the first of which was on SS1.

After completing just one stage before the first service halt, Stanley Ballantine/Donnacha O'Callagan were second of the Evos, with Liam Egan/Colin Harkness third after suffering a loss of power towards the end of SS2 due to a split turbo pipe. Tom White/ Robert Murphy were in fourth, but concerned about their car's transmission as the driver was having to hold the gear level to stop it jumping out of second.

A repeat run of the first two stages followed and Cronin/Shinnors extended their Evo Challenge lead to a margin of over two minutes minutes before the second service halt, whilst for the others there was another hold up when stage three was cancelled.

Ballantine/O'Callaghan were consolidating second place and having a good run in their first rally together. But for Egan/Harkness is was not their lucky day: the power steering stopped working on SS4 dropping them over ten minutes when they tried to fix the problem in the stage. White/Murphy's transmission troubles were getting no better as they had now lost fifth gear.

The next pair of stages almost saw Cronin/Shinnor's run come to an end, when they survived a "flat in fifth" spin on SS6 and found themselves going backwards down the stage at high-speed. Thankfully, they came to a halt unscathed, although it took over a minute to restart the stalled engine. After a good run through SS5, the remaining trio of Evos were to miss yet another stage when SS6 was also cancelled.

Cronin opted for a slightly more cautious approach on the final two stages and, other than a loose turbo pipe, he and Shinnors made it back to Clonakitly to scoop top points in the first round of the Irish Evo Challenge. Ballantine/O'Callaghan finished a strong second and, just when it looked like third was in the bag for White/Murphy, their car's gearbox finally expired on the last stage of the day, allowing Egan/Harkness to fill the final podium position.

Round one results
1 Keith Cronin (Bantry)/Greg Shinnors (Limerick) 1:16:55.2
2 Stanley Ballentine (Strabane)/Donnacha O'Callaghan (Mallow) 1:20:23.8
3 Liam Egan (New York)/Colin Harkness (Beragh) 1:37:38.3

Retirements
SS8 Thomas White (Foulksmills)/Robert Murphy (Campile) Gearbox

Round 2
With White/Murphy's Lancer repaired overnight by the James Foley Rallysport team, the full complement of Evo Challenge crews set off for another eight stages on Sunday. Again, it was Cronin/Shinnors who set the pace and pulled out a margin of nearly a minute by the time the cars reached the first service halt after the first pair of stages.

Ballentine/O'Callaghan assumed second place once more, but for Egan/Harkness and White/Murphy history started to repeat itself: the turbo-charger on Egan's car lost its boost at the end of the second stage of the day, whilst White was seeing his gearbox issues return.

Cronin/Shinnors continued to forge ahead, their four fastest overall stage times on Sunday raising a few eyebrows amongst the other competitors in both Mitsubishis and WRC cars. In contrast, White/Murphy's rally came to an end on stage 11 when the gearbox finally cried enough, whilst for Egan/Harkness, the character-building issues still persisted, their car now overheating due to a leaking radiator.

Then, just when it looked like Ballentine/O'Callaghan were assured of a comfortable second place, a problem with their car's centre differential saw them coast to a halt on SS14, allowing Egan/Harkness to inherit the position. But it was Cronin and Shinnors' weekend, their impressive performance being the talk of the rally.

"I'm very pleased with the way things went this weekend", said Cronin. "We were lucky to get away with a few things on Saturday, but Sunday went really well and the car was fantastic. The result is just what we wanted."

Round two results
1 Keith Cronin (Bantry)/Greg Shinnors (Limerick) 1:00:29.4
2 Liam Egan (New York)/Colin Harkness (Beragh) 1:12:00.5

Retirements
SS11 Thomas White (Foulksmills)/Robert Murphy (Campile) Gearbox
SS14 Stanley Ballentine (Strabane)/Donnacha O'Callaghan (Mallow) Transmission

Rounds three and four of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Ireland take place on April 12th & 13th, when the series heads north to Dundalk for the Circuit or Ireland Rally.

The 2009 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Ireland is also supported by: Pirelli tyres, Sunoco fuel, James Foley Rallysport, Carbone Lorraine brake pads, Murray Motorsport, Speedline Corse wheels, PIAA lights, Pacenotes, Sparco racewear and Mitsubishi Motors Ireland.

Series standings after round two

Drivers: Keith Cronin 24; Liam Egan 18; Stanley Ballentine 10.

Co-drivers: Greg Shinnors 24; Colin Harkness 18; Donnacha O'Callaghan 10.

Looking back at the 2008 Quality Hotels West Cork Rally

The Quality Hotels West Cork Rally reached a significant milestone over St.Patricks Weekend as it celebrated its 30th running. Based in Clonakilty Co.Cork as usual, this year the rally was the opening round of the 023 Tiles Southern 4 Rally Championship & the 2008 Rallysport Cup. The event also counted for rounds 1&2 of the C2 R2 Irish Cup and the second round of the Irish Mitsubishi Evolution Challenge. Modified cars weren’t forgotten either as the Bones O’Connor Modified Challenge Trophy was up for grabs too with a very strong entry of Darrians and Escorts. 151 cars were to start in the main field with 20 historics joining in on the fifth stage. The juniors were to take part in the last five stages of the rally.
With top seed Melvyn Evans having withdrawn his entry the week before, it was left to Stephen Murphy / M.J.Morrissey with number 2 on their door to lead the field away in their Impreza WRC S12b. They were followed in turn by Donie O’Sullivan / Paul Nagle and Liam McCarthy / Kieran Murphy in their Impreza WRC and Corolla WRC respectively. Inaugural winners of the modified challenge in 2007 John Dalton / Gwynfor Jones were at 5 in their Darrian T90 GTR followed by Phil Collins / Derek Brannigan in their red Mk2 Escort. Leading Evo Challengers Colm Murphy / Ger Loughrey and Owen Murphy / James O’Brien were next up in their Evo 9s. Bob Fowden and Conor McCloskey were to be at 9 & 10 but both had to withdraw, so J.J.Fleming / Robbie Ward in their Focus WRC were next up. Alan Ring / Adrian Deasy were at 12 in their Evo 9, while Kevin O’Donoghue / Joe O’Leary at 14 rounded off the top ten starters. Martin Laverty / Trevor Payne and Marty McCormack / Liam Moynihan were the top seeded C2 R2 competitors at numbers 75 & 76 respectively. There were a total of 17 stages over the two days, with eight stages on the Saturday and nine on the Sunday. Service was centralised in Darrara Agricultural College for the two days while there were 155 stage miles to 112 road miles making the event excellent value for money.

Day 1 (scroll down)

Heavy rain and saturated roads greeted the drivers as the cars took to the start of the first stage. Stephen Murphy found the going difficult and after a spin and a stall on Stage 1 lost 25 seconds to Donie O’Sullivan. Liam McCarthy was penalised for a jump start and lost 30 seconds. Colm Murphy went into second place immediately while Phil Collins held third despite conditions being very unfavourable towards two wheel drive. Adrien Heatherington was flying in the awful conditions and was using his forestry expertise to good effect. Washington James was off the road for around 90 seconds while Ashley Field was very rusty after a long lay off from rallying. Kevin O’Donoghue was complaining of bad handling in his Escort as Wesley Patterson almost caught up with him on the first stage. On Stage two came the first real drama, the retirement of Stephen Murphy. Running first on the road the conditions took their toll and he went off the road early on the stage damaging the front of the car. Although he made it to the end of the stage, the car was too damaged to continue. The car was fixed up overnight and Stephen went out as a 00 to get some more testing done.
Stage three and four brought more drama as the bad conditions were compounded by petrol on the road all through the stage. Donie O’Sullivan lost 30 seconds with a puncture, while Phil Collins went off the road and damaged an oil pipe but was able to continue. Owen Murphy also collected a puncture and when he stopped to change it the jack wouldn’t work with the result almost six minutes were lost. J.J.Fleming slid off the road and out of the rally. Colm Murphy was fastest on stage 3 to go into an eight second lead, but O’Sullivan fought back on Stage 4 to retake a lead he was never to lose. Pat Donegan also went off the road for a while and Guy Woodcock lost four minutes with a puncture on this loop and dropped down the leaderboard while mechanical problems forced Kevin O’Donoghue out at service.
With the roads drying and summer-like conditions appearing John Dalton began to up the pace and move into fourth place in his Darrian which was revelling on the drier roads. James Stafford was also beginning to move up the leaderboard as the Darrians began to make their power / weight ratio tell. O’Sullivan still led from Colm Murphy with Liam McCarthy making no impression on the leading two in third place. Neil Williams and Wesley Patterson were in a battle for fifth place as the action got fast and furious. Owen Murphy had a big off on stage 5 as a result of braking problems which necessitated his removal to hospital as a precaution. He was later released none the worse for his experience. Brian O’Mahony had a puncture and lost some more time.
On the final pair of stages of the day, Donie O’Sullivan lost fifth gear and had to back off a little to avoid damaging the car but was still able to maintain his lead over Colm Murphy who was comfortably leading the Evo Challenge. Liam McCarthy was overtaken for third place by John Dalton who set an amazing fastest time on the last stage of the day as he really got the Darrian wound up. Wesley Patterson was in fifth despite some worries over the diff with James Stafford up to 6th overall. Alan Ring held seventh in his Lancer with Neil Williams, Gwyndaf Evans and Conor Curley making up the top ten overnight. In the C2 R2 Cup, Marty McCormack took full points in the first round. Tommy Mason won the Historic Rally in his Mk1 Escort while Noel Kelleher won the Junior Rally in his Honda Civic.

Overnight Top 5
1 – Donie O’Sullivan / Paul Nagle – Subaru Impreza WRC – 1:04:06.0
2 – Colm Murphy / Ger Loughrey – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo – 1:04:20.0
3 – John Dalton / Gwynfor Jones – Darrian T90 GTR – 1:05:15.4
4 – Liam McCarthy / Kieran Murphy – Toyota Corolla WRC – 1:05:16.3
5 – Wesley Patterson / Ruth Guest – Ford Escort – 1:06:38.2

Day 2

Dull, misty weather greeted the drivers as they started the second day and in two stages Donie O’Sullivan put the hammer down to stretch his lead from 14 to 48 seconds. Despite the greasy conditions Dalton was able to pull further away from McCarthy, while Stafford had overtaken Patterson for fifth. Conor Curley crashed out on the first junction of stage nine, with the car landing a long way off the road inside in a river, thankfully with out injury to the crew. This moved Pat Donegan up the leaderboard but only for a short time as he too crashed out on stage 11. Phil Collins was back inside the top ten after his mishaps of the previous day.
After the second loop of the morning stages O’Sullivan was able to relax a little to conserve the car. Murphy was all alone in second place and comfortably leading the Evo challenge part of the event. Dalton & McCarthy were still having a battle for third place while Stafford was in fifth. Patterson was coming under increasing pressure from Ring to hold onto sixth place. Terence O’Shaughnessy was well inside the top 20 in his 1600 Corolla and mixing it very well with the much more powerful Escorts and Darrians. Collins suffered a puncture and lost some time while Stafford had some mechanical problems with the car.
The classic Ring stage was stage 13 and it proved to be very unlucky for Colm Murphy who crashed into the wall after the harbour in Ring village and out of the event. This promoted Alan Carmichael to the lead in the Evo Challenge which he was to hold until the end. Dalton was now in second but still coming under pressure from McCarthy. Stafford was now if fourth place with Alan Ring in fifth ahead of Wesley Patterson. Gwyndaf Evans retired from a top ten position just before Ring village ending a fine drive as the car just stopped and refused to fire up again.
More drama was to follow on the following stage in Dunworley as Neil Williams crashed after a jump and vacated seventh place to Phil Collins who still wasn’t giving up. After this sudden flurry of events things seemed to settle down once more as drivers realised that the end of a long tough event was in sight and nothing more was to be gained by pushing too hard. Donie O’Sullivan extended his lead to over two minutes as John Dalton increased his lead on Liam McCarthy.
There were no more mishaps and Donie O’Sullivan and Paul Nagle safely negotiated the final spectator stage in Clonakilty to claim their second victory on this event. John Dalton and Gwynfor Jones took their best West Cork Rally result to date with a superb second overall. Liam McCarthy and Kieran Murphy were third with James Stafford and Frank Dwyer fourth in the Darrian. Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy came fifth overall and won Gp N in their Evo 9. Wesley Patterson, Sean Flanagan, Adrien Heatherington, Edward O’Callaghan and Washington James completed the top ten. Alan Carmichael won the Irish Evo Challenge while Barry Evans won round 2 of the C2 R2 Irish Cup after Marty McCormack went off the road on Stage 12.
Once again the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally was a hard and challenging event that was enjoyed by competitors and spectators alike. Considering the toughness of the event, the fact that 88 of the 151 starters made it to finish was a surprise. Credit must go to Brian O’Connell (who was clerking the event for the final time) and his team who made sure the event ran on time all weekend.

Overall Top 5
1 – Donie O’Sullivan / Paul Nagle – Subaru Impreza WRC – 2:11:15.9
2 – John Dalton / Gwynfor Jones – Darrian T90 GTR – 2:13:39.9
3 – Liam McCarthy / Kieran Murphy – Toyota Corolla WRC – 2:14:13.5
4 – James M.Stafford / Frank Dwyer – Darrian T90 GTR – 2:16:43.2
5 – Alan Ring / Adrian Deasy – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 – 2:16:59.3

Go to the Results Page for a Top 10 since the start of the rally back in 1977