Marty McCormack, David Moynihan bosses in Ballyvourney

Although four crews were within a two-second time frame after the opening stage of the Abbey Hotel Munster Moonraker Forest Rally in Ballyvourney, (round three of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship), all changed a stage later as Derry’s Marty McCormack and his Mallow co-driver David Moynihan powered their Tiger Risk Partners Skoda Fabia R5 into a 28.9 second lead which laid the foundation for overall victory.

They ultimately finished 25.3 seconds ahead of the Ford Fiesta R5 of new series leaders New York-based Barry McKenna and co-driver Leone Jordan with Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Fiesta R5) and his Killarney co-driver Ger Conway 46.3 seconds back in third.

The short stage at Gleanndav in the Mullaghanish Mountains was close with Moffett a second up on both McKenna and pre-event championship leader Andrew Purcell (Fiesta R5) and McCormack another second behind. A stage later proceedings changed dramatically: top seed Moffett lost his four-wheel drive, Purcell had a steering rack and differential problems and McKenna’s Fiesta stalled twice.