A Corking run for Cal & Eamonn!

For the Carbery Plastics Rally team crew of Cal McCarthy and co-driver Eamonn Dullea, the Cork 20 Rally at the weekend will be one to remember. After a superb weekend in their 1600cc Honda Civic, they ended up second overall in the National section behind Declan Gallagher’s Toyota Starlet, and on an overall finishing time which put them fifth overall when the International and National rallies are combined. Another bonus at the finish was a haul of points that brought them second place in their class in the Clonakilty Black Pudding Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

“It was a massive weekend!” said Cal “We didn’t have any major problems all weekend, the car ran faultlessly and we really enjoyed the stages. The conditions were appalling at times especially with the driving rain on Sunday. The wipers couldn’t really keep up, but it was the same for everyone, just a matter of getting through as fast as possible. We had one moment on Sunday morning too, on the corner were Josh Moffett slid off. It was a square corner, but very slippery, and I had to handbrake to try and get round. The back wheel clipped a bank and we bent the rear arm, and we had no spare. The service crew did excellent work with a sledge hammer and packed it out with some washers to get the tracking back and it worked fine. Finally it seems that we have come through the gearbox problems we had in the middle of the season, and it’s a great lift after a difficult year. ”

The expected class 11F battle didn’t come off as unfortunately Jason Ryan retired with engine failure on stage two, which left the Carbery Plastics Honda to take a commanding class victory. Indeed Cal was swopping seconds with the Peugeot 208 R2 of Billy Coleman Award winner Stephen Wright, and was consistently just 10-12 seconds per stage behind the rapid 2 litre Starlet of Declan Gallagher.

At the finish they received the Ted O’Connell Cup as the best all Cork crew which topped off the celebrations. “It was nice to get that, and join on the list names such as Liam O’Callaghan and Frank O’Mahony, drivers we watched growing up.” Now the focus is on the Skibbereen Car Club’s Fastnet Rally. As a Skibbereen Car Club member, Cal eagerly wants a superb result to end the season, and after a fine drive on the Clare Stages, and this Cork 20 success the team can’t wait to start this traditionally flowing rally.

The other Carbery Plastics Honda, driven by Conor McCarthy will be out first however on next weekend’s Carrick on Suir round of the Irish Forestry Championship. The Junior championship title is very much the target with just two rounds remaining.

Keep up to date with the team’s progress on their website www.carberyplasticsrallying.com Facebook page- Carbery Plastics Rally Team and Twitter @CPRallying.

Issued by Andrew Bushe Promotions- www.andrewbushe.com