McNulty/Kiely complete four in-a-row in Cavan

WITH little room for error, Tim McNulty (Subaru WRC) and co-driver, Paul Kiely were pushed all through the Hotel Kilmore Cavan Rally before claiming their fourth successive victory in the Dunlop National Rally Championship.

At the conclusion of nine hard fought stages, they were 24 seconds ahead of the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly. Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Subaru WRC) were a further 25 seconds adrift in third.

The Group N award went to Sam Moffett (Mitsubishi) and Damien Gallagher (Escort) was the top performer in the two-wheel drive category.

Barrable, who was a late entry, led after S.S. 1. However, McNulty was only a second behind and then pushed hard through S.S. 2, finishing the test eight seconds faster than Barrable, who took the third stage by a margin of two seconds.

At the Cavan service that followed the three stages, McNulty led Barrable by five seconds with Maguire 17 seconds further behind in third. The Subaru pair of Kevin Barrett and Seamus Leonard were next. The latter lost a few seconds when he stalled at the start of the second stage while Liam McCarthy (Toyota Corolla) was untroubled in sixth. Niggling problems failed to deter Sam Moffett (Mitsubishi), who was only a second behind the Cork driver. In the two-wheel drive category, Washington James (Darrian) was three seconds ahead of the Escort of Damien Gallagher.

McNulty was best in two of the three stages of the second loop where tyre choice was crucial. Barrable reckoned his selection wasn’t the best option for the fourth stage but they worked well on the other two stages.

At the final service halt, McNulty led Barrable by nine seconds. Maguire was third while Barrett and Leonard maintained their respective positions before Moffett moved into sixth at the expense of McCarthy.

Having stretched his lead in the two-wheel drive category to 13 seconds, James lost time on stages five and six and Gallagher took over the mantle as category leader – 12 seconds in front of Michael Conlon (Escort).

McNulty dominated stages seven and eight and went onto take the toughest of his four wins of the current Dunlop series. Barrable and Maguire, who survived a major moment at the finish line of the final stage, completed the top three. Barrett took fourth and although his Subaru developed a gearbox problem, Leonard hung on to take fifth.

A change of tyres saw McCarthy regain sixth. Moffett, despite a little skirmish with a bale on the final stage, won the Group N category and the two-wheel drive award was taken d by Gallagher.

Scottish driver, David Bogie (Mitsubishi) took victory in the Jim Clark International Rally, the fourth round of the Dulux Trade British Rally Championship. Bogie finished 17.6 seconds ahead of the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Northern Ireland’s, Jonny Greer. Adam Gould (Subaru) took third place. Marty McCormack and his Mallow co-driver, David Moynihan, won the R3 class and finished fifth overall, McCormack, who lost time with a puncture on S.S. 10, won the nomination for the Pirelli Star Driver shootout, he also won the Formula 2 category.

The R2 class was won by Alastair Fisher (Fiesta R2) while Waterford’s, Craig Breen, an earl leader, crashed and burst the radiator of his Fiesta.

Robert Barrable (Skoda Fabia S2000) stopped at the end of the third stage with an alternator problem while Mark Donnelly crashed his Renault Clio on the opening stage.

In Kirkistown, pole sitter, Ray Moore won his first race of the season in the Pony Express Formula Vee National Championship finishing ahead of Kevin O’Hara and Lee Newsome. On his debut race at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Irish driver, Peter Dempsey finished sixth in the Firestone Freedom 100 race.