Lynch takes victory in Carrick on Suir forest rally

There was a dramatic late finish to the Willie Loughman Forest Rally.

The opening round of the McCauley Trailers Irish National Forest Championship, saw Derry ace, Kevin Lynch and his co-driver, Frances Regan (Subaru WRC) take a five second win over the Subaru 555 of Brian Murphy/Joe Downey (Subaru 555) with Pat Norris/Declan Tumulty (Subaru 555) third.

Murphy led after the opening stage that claimed two of the favourites. Both John McCarthy (Toyota Corolla WRC) and Dermot Kelly (Escort WRC) crashed out.

After three stages of a very close contest, Murphy led Lynch by some eleven seconds with Norris a mere second in arrears.

A repeat loop of the stages, saw Murphy extend his lead to eleven 12 seconds with Norris still very much in contention some eleven seconds behind.

Entering the final four stages, Lynch, despite a differential problem, sliced Murphy's lead to five seconds. On the day's penultimate stages, they both recorded identical times and in a final stage showdown, Lynch traversed the short stage some ten seconds faster than Murphy and won out by a mere five seconds.

Pat Norris (Subaru 555) was third with top Group N performer, Paul Barrett (Mitsubishi) taking an impressive fourth.

1. K. Lynch/F. Regan (Subaru WRC) 49m. 02s.

2. B. Murphy/J. Downey (Subaru 555) 49m. 07s.

3. P. Norris/D. Tumulty (Subaru 555) 50m. 26s.

4. P. Barrett/D. Colgan (Mitsubishi) 51m. 15s.

5. B. Lawlor/P. Kavanagh (Escort) 53m. 24s.

6. P. Mulcahy/K. Baumawn (Starlet) 53m. 33s.

7. B. Scanlon/P. Keohane (Mitsubishi) 53m. 55s.

8. P. Elliott/S. Moriarty (Mitsubishi) 54m. 07s.

9. J. Reid/B. Greene (Escort) 54m. 58s.

10. A. Mackarel/R. Cassidy (Ascona) 55m. 08s.

Victory in Round 13 of the Hewison Autotest series in Rathcoole, Dublin, went to Eddie Peterson, who capitalised on the unfortunate Eamonn Byrne, who led until the final test where he had gear problems.

1. E. Peterson (Mini Special) 607.6 seconds.

2. J.J. Farrell (Mini Special) 619.1 seconds.

3. E. Byrne (Mini Special) 625.2 seconds.

4. C. Evans (Westfield) 630.3 seconds.

5. P. Power (Mini Moke) 634.9 seconds.

6. C. Grimes (Mini Saloon) 647.6 seconds.