Motorsport: Greer edges Moffett to clinch Loughgall Rally win
Carryduff's Jonny Greer and his Sligo co-driver co Niall Burns (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) won the Loughgall Rally, the third round of the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Rally Championship. Picture: William McNeill
Carryduff's Jonny Greer (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) took a 4.1s victory in the Loughgall Rally, the third round of the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Rally Championship where he battled hard with Monaghan's Sam Moffett (Hyundai i20 N Rally2). Strabane's Niall McGonigle (VW Polo GTi R5) took third, 17s further behind.
Two notable features of the event saw the cars run at 30-second intervals (usually a minute interval in MSA run events) and for the first time in the history of the rally it had two closed road stages, the second actually finishing within the confines of Loughgall Country Park.
On the morning's first stage where conditions were slippy and tricky due to a slight mist, Greer topped the time sheets even though he reckoned he made a few mistakes. Moffett was 2.6s behind with former Irish national champion Warrenpoint's Peadar Hurson (VW Polo GTi R5) a further 1.9s back. McLaughlin had a huge moment on a downhill approach to a left-hander when his car slid in fifth gear and pirouetted several times, he was fourth quickest - and only 5.9s off the lead.
Barry Morris (Darian T90 GTR) occupied fifth and led the two-wheel drive category as top seed and last year's winner local driver Marty Toner (Ford Fiesta R5) completed the top six.
Greer was fractionally quickest on SS2 to move 3s ahead of Moffett, who was trying to get a better rhythm. McGonigle completed an unchanged top three.
McGonigle had a great run through on a wet third stage to move into second just half a second behind Greer even though he caught the similar car of Derek McGarrity.
Then Moffett posted the best time on SS4 to regain second and close to a mere tenth of a second of rally leader Greer, who won the final pair of stages to seal his second batch of top championship points to maintain the championship lead - four points ahead of Moffett.
Meanwhile, Moira's William Creighton (Citroen C3 Rally2) finished fourteenth in Rally di Roma Capitale, the third round of the European Rally Championship He was ninth entering Saturday's SS6 where he dropped out of contention when he had to stop and change a damaged tyre. Italian Roberta Dapra won the event by 13.8s from Finland's Teemu Suninen with Italian Abvbelj Bostjan just half a second further behind to complete a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 top three.
In the ERC3 category Cavan's Craig Rahill took a famous victory. Having taken four stage wins on Saturday leg to close to within 4.9s of category leader Ville Vatanen, he posted another three stage wins on Sunday's leg to reel in the Finnish ace and win by 14.8s. Tipperary's Casey Jay Coleman was fourth - a minute and 20.4s adrift, all three Ford Fiesta Rally3's.
Elsewhere, Armagh's Jason Black (Toyota Starlet) took a start to finish victory in the Rose Hotel Kerry Summer Rally where at the end of the day's six stages he had 10.2s in hand over the Ford Escort of Limerick's Chris O'Callaghan. Top seed Monaghan's Johno Doogan, also in a Ford Escort, was 31.2s further behind in third.
Black led after the first pass over Mount Eagle and Headley's Bridge stages where O'Callaghan, who was best on the second stage, moved from fourth to second and equal with Tommy Mason - both 6.3s behind Black.
On SS3 Black stretched his advantage and although O'Callaghan was best on SS4, Black had a 10.7s advantage entering the final pair of stages that proved to be enough.
In motor racing, Offaly's Alex Dunne finished fourth in the F2 Feature Race at the British Grand Prix and has lost ground in the championship to the outstanding Bulgarian Nikolay Tsolov, who became the first driver in FIA Formula 2 history to win three consecutive races as he completed a historic Silverstone double over the weekend. Driving for the Campos Racing outfit, Tsolov took the lead late in the race before taking the chequered flag 3.2s ahead of Mexican Rafael Villagómez with ART Grand Prix driver Kush Maini third. Dunne qualified P2 but lost a place on the opening lap as Tsolov made a great start. Dunne received a warning as he had exceeded track limits on three occasions by Lap 9. In Saturday's Sprint Race Nikola Tsolov took his fifth victory of the season by overtaking Gabriele Mini on the final lap. Dunne finished outside the points in ninth place and although still fourth in the series, he trails Tsolov by 49 points.
1. J. Greer/N. Burns (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) 39m.10.0s; 2. S. Moffett/P. O'Callaghan (Hyundai i20 N Rally2)+04.1s; 3. N. McGonigle/C. McKenna (VW Polo GTi R5)+21.4s; 4. M. Toner/C. McNulty (Ford Fiesta R5)+1m. 04.5s; 5. A. McLaughlin/D. Curran (VW Polo GTi R5)+1m. 17.6s; 6. B. Morris/D. Rafferty (Darrian T90 GTR)+1m. 20.1s; 7. A. Smyth/M. Brady (VW Polo GTi R5)+1m. 28.5s; 8. J. Black/K. Egan (Toyota Starlet)+1m. 40.2s; 9. S. Wood/K. Hull (VW Polo GTi R5)+1m. 49.7s; 10. S. Murray/G. Hade (Ford Fiesta)+2m. 12.0s.
1.J. Black/K. Egan (Toyota Starlet) 40m. 32.9s; 2. C. O'Callaghan/C. O'Brien (Ford Escort)+10.2s; 3. J. Doogan/P. Lennon (Ford Escort)+41.4s; 4. V. O'Shea/E. O'Donoghue (Darrian T90 GTR)+57.1s; 5. S. Faughnan/R. Farrell (Ford Escort)+58.5s; 6. F. Kelly/L. Kelly (Ford Escort)+1m. 01.5s.
