National Forest Rally undecided

The Irish National Forest Rally Championship will be decided on the final round as championship leader, Eugene Donnelly failed to finish today’s penultimate round, the Birr Forest Rally.

He retired his Toyota Celica with gearbox woes on the second stage having posted fastest time on the opening stage.

Noel Driver (Mitsubishi) went on to win, albeit in a close finish with the Toyota Celica of Eddie Kinirons – a mere two seconds behind. John Donnelley (Escort WRC) was another two seconds adrift.

Elsewhere, James Murphy (Escort Cosworth) and Paul Staunton (Ford Escort) completed the top five. The latter was the top rear wheel drive exponent. Donnelly now leads Driver by 11 points.

Dictating the pace on each of the three timed runs, Philip Shaw, co-driven by Herbie Blackburn won the Monaghan Single Stage Rally.

Restricted to two litre cars, Shaw was five seconds ahead of the similar car of Seamus Donnelly with Norman Armstrong in third place – a further seven seconds behind.

The Irish Karting Championships concluded at Kartworld Watergrasshill today with Ivan Thompson (Super Pro-Karts) and Oliver Hayden (Pro-Karts) taking the chequered flags to claim national titles. Richard Tanahill’s second place in the Jica category was enough to land the national title in that category.

Second place in the Bushwhacker Rally for Derek McGarrity (Subaru Impreza) was enough to clinch the Northern Ireland Rally Championship. The rally was won by Robbie McGurk (Subaru WRC).