Murphy/O’Brien put boot down

Valvoline National Forest Rally Champions, Cork pair, Owen Murphy/James O’Brien (Mitsubishi) won the Mallow-based Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally, the fourth round of the series after finishing 6.3 seconds ahead of Colin Britton/Arthur Kierans with former champions, Pat O’Connell/Mark Wiley just nine tenths of a second behind to complete a Mitsubishi top three.

There was controversy just before the start, however, when series leader, Garry Jennings (Subaru 555) was prevented from competing due to the compliance of the bag tank with regulations. Meanwhile, another competitor, Martin Cairns (Subaru WRC) was eventually allowed compete — after confusion about homologation details.

In a closely fought opening stage, Britton topped the time sheets with a mere three tenths of a second ahead of Murphy with O’Connell a further six tenths of a second back. Murphy reckoned his Mitsubishi was down on power but produced a fastest time on the second stage for a 5.7 second lead over the flu-stricken Pat O’Connell with early leader, Britton, a tenth of a second further behind.