Maguire wins Monaghan Rally

The local crew of Niall Maguire and Enda Sherry onboard their Subaru WRC took a start to finish victory in the Monaghan Rally yesterday.

It was Maguire's first victory in almost a year and his sixth on his local event.

After the day's nine stages, Maguire/Sherry were over a minute clear of fellow locals, Adrian McElvaney/Paul Kelly, also in a Subaru WRC.

The Maynooth/Limerick duo of Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Subaru WRC) were third.

A ten second lead on the opening stage was cut in half by the second test when Maguire failed to have the anti-lag settings set correctly.

However, Maguire led by 17 seconds after the completion of stage three as McElvaney struggled with transmission problems.

Barrett (Subaru WRC) held third from Sean Gallagher (Subaru WRC) with Maurice Moffett (Toyota Starlet) leading the two-wheel drive category.

Maguire had a major moment on S.S. 5 when his Subaru slid sideways at high-speed.

At the final service, Maguire led by 27 seconds with McElvaney continuing to struggle with transmission problems.

In wet conditions over the final loop of three stages, Maguire strengthened his position and won by a minute and eleven seconds.

McElvaney was second with Barrett and Gallagher third and fourth respectively.

Gary McPhillips (Escort) won the modified category after Moffett lost over two minutes with an off road excursion and a puncture.

1. N. Maguire/E. Sherry (Subaru WRC) 1h. 21m. 23s.

2. A. McElvaney/P. Kelly (Subaru WRC) 1h. 22m. 34s.

3. K. Barrett/S. Mullally (Subaru WRC) 1h. 23m. 15s.

4. S. Gallagher/M.C. Gallagher (Subaru WRC) 1h. 24m. 17s.

5. G. McPhillips/M. Tierney (Ford Escort) 1h. 26m. 00s.

6. D. Moore/A. Kierans (Ford Escort) 1h. 26m. 34s.

7. M. Moffett/J. McKenna (Toyota Starlet) 1h. 27m. 08s.

8. D. MacBride/R. MacBride (Mitsubishi) 1h. 27m. 10s.

9. J. Cairns/J. Cairns (Subaru) 1h. 27m. 18s.

10. R. Conlon/J. O'Reilly (Toyota Corolla) 1h. 28m. 09s.

Meanwhile, James Stafford (Darrian) won the Wexford Restricted Mini Stage Rally at Rathcormac.

At the conclusion of the four stage event, he was a minute and a second ahead of Alan Boggan (Vauxhall Nova) with Mark Kennedy, also in a Vauxhall Nova, 20 seconds behind in third.

Stafford was fastest on all four stages.

1. J. Stafford/A. Ryan (Darrian GTR) 33m. 38s.

2. A. Boggan/B. Boggan (Vauxhall Nova) 34m. 39s.

3. M. Kennedy/I. O'Leary (Vauxhall Nova) 34m. 59s.

4. P. Purtill/A. Kane (Ford Escort) 35m. 15s.

5. T. O'Rourke/J. Smithwick (Honda Civic) 35m. 21s.

6. D. James/A. Kent (Ford Escort) 35m. 29s/

Portadown's, Colin Turkington (Team RAC BMW 320si) won the second of today's three races in the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton to maintain second place in the series - six points behind series leader, Matt Neal (VX Racing).