Superb Weekend for Cal and Conor on West Cork Rally!
For 25 year old Cal McCarthy and Carbery Plastics employee, 21 year old Conor McCarthy, it was an excellent weekend’s rallying on their home event the Quality Hotel West Cork Rally.
Cal and Eamonn Dullea in their newly built class 11 Honda Civic finished a fine 8th overall and first in class, an ideal start to their Irish Tarmac Championship Modified campaign, whilst Conor secured second place in the Junior rally after a late power steering problem cost him the lead.
It was a rewarding weekend for Cal and the team, as the Cork driver had failed to finish an event for almost twelve months, and therefore it was a somewhat nervous debut of this new car built by Donal Healy. As with any new car there were teething problems, but these were rapidly cured by the team. “On the first stage the handbrake fell forward in the car, and we had to borrow a gearbox before the rally which kept popping out of second” commented Cal. “It cost us some time, and the handling didn’t feel great, but just good to make the first service was an achievement after breaking down on the first stage last year. I had the car too stiff and as we softened it off during the weekend I became extremely happy with it, and that reflected on Sunday’s stages.”
Indeed overnight they were lying 14th and second in class, but on Sunday morning started to make in-roads on the class leader Vincent McSweeney. “The car felt much better on day two, and we took eight seconds off Vincent on the first test. Sadly he broke down soon afterwards, so we didn’t get the chance to catch up on the time-sheets. We had a moment of our own on my home stage, when the car got out of phase in 5th gear, but we got away with it!” At the finish just eight seconds separated 6th to 8th places, but with a full haul of Tarmac Championship points for the Carbery Plastics team it was a significant result. “It definitely gives us more confidence, especially in the new car, and it’s great to get a good result on our home event.”
For Conor McCarthy and co-driver Dylan Coffey contesting the Junior Rally in their EK4 Honda, it was nearly a completion of a team double, as they finished second, despite a time consuming power steering problem on the final stages. The 21 year old finished just nineteen seconds behind British Championship regular Alex Parpottas in his R2 Fiesta. “It was a pity we couldn’t make the team double, but we are very happy with the result” quipped the 21 year old whose father Liam was once an outright winner of the event. “Maybe next time we can go one better!”
Keep up to date with the team’s progress on their Facebook page- Carbery Plastics Rally Team and Twitter @CPRallying. A new website is also in progress, as this exciting new two car rally team takes to the stages in 2014!
Issued by Andrew Bushe Promotions- www.andrewbushe.com