Junior Joy for Jenna
Jenna McCann became the new Irish Tarmac Junior Champion in style in the Cork 20 International Rally when she took outright victory in the category. It has been a remarkable season for the Cavan driver as she not alone finished all six rounds she competed on but also took maximum scores on three of them culminating with the win in Cork. Her distinctive Fiesta R2 never missed a beat all season and despite a brave effort from Justin Ryan over the last three rounds in particular, she kept a cool head to win the series. It was heartbreak for Justin Ryan from Mayo who finished runner up in the series for the second year running but left with a lot of credit after taking the championship right down to the wire. Eric Calnan was forced into Rally 2 early on and the pre event favourite finished third overall in the championship despite only scoring on three of the rounds. Diarmuid Hallahan was the only other registered driver to finish the event and took fifth in the championship behind Jenna’s other half, John McCabe, who gave up the driving duties mid-season to co-drive Jenna!
Eves unstoppable in Modified
Nobody can dispute Kevin Eves credentials as Tarmac Modified Champion as he once again won the National section of an event in style. When it comes to bravery there are few equals having taken won four times over the season, usually in wet conditions. The only blip came in Donegal when he crashed heavily and was side-lined for a few weeks, only to come back and win Ulster eight weeks later. It was more of the same in Cork as he and co-driver William Lynch fought off a strong challenge from Padraic Duffy to win the National Rally by just over 30 seconds. John Devlin was another to put in a consistent challenge over the season and got quicker with each passing event to take second overall in the championship just ahead of Eugene Meegan who took the final podium position. An excellent result also for Art McCarrick & John McCay saw them win their class and the championship in Cork. Sean Moynihan was another young driver to show a lot of potential over the year despite being forced into Rally 2 in Cork after an off on Sunday and he took a well-deserved second overall in the championship in his class behind John Devlin.
McIvor dominates Historic
With Barry Jones already winning the Historic Championship and opting to do Cork in a ‘modern’ Escort, Keith McIvor was out to clinch second overall in the championship. This he did in fine style as he won the category by over five minutes and entertained the spectators as well with some flamboyant driving. Ernie Grahams bad luck with the BMW shows no sign of abating and he was forced into another early retirement as was Philip McKibbin in the Escort Mk1. Duncan Williams, Alan Watkins & Shawn Rayner from England are great supporters of rallying in Ireland and all three finished. Rayner finished having had to drop into Rally 2 when a driveshaft broke on Stage 2 and pushed the car for much of the latter half of the stage while his co-driver Declan Dear did the steering! James Hall in his distinctive Audi also finished the event which gives him second overall in his championship class.