MacHale and Murphy take victory at Galway Summer Rally 

WINNERS: Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (VW Polo GTi R5) won the Bluebird Care Galway Summer Rally, the penultimate round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship. Picture: Martin Walsh.

Taking the lead on the fourth stage Dubliner Gareth MacHale (VW Polo GTi R5) and his Kildare co-driver Brian Murphy went on to win the Bluebird Care Galway Summer Rally, the penultimate round of the Triton Showers backed Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship. 

Having taken a sabbatical for a few years, it was their first win since the 2010 Cork ‘20” International Rally. With the best times on four of the eight stages of the Athenry based event, they finished 15.2 seconds in front of the Waterford/Wexford crew of Andrew Purcell/Andy Hayes (Skoda Fabia R5). Dubliner Robert Barrable (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and his Donegal co-driver Paddy Robinson were 7.7 seconds further behind in third.

Dunmanway’s David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) set the early pace with the best times on the first and third stages - the second was cancelled due to organisational issues - to lead MacHale by 5.1 seconds even though the rally leader reckoned his car struggled under braking. MacHale’s tyre choice was based on achieving the maximum from the second stage, the longest of the rally but its cancellation negated his plan. Monaghan’s Brendan Cumiskey (VW Polo GTi R5) had a steady run to slot into third from former national champion Peadar Hurson (Fiesta WRC) and Purcell. Barrable was down in fifth - ten seconds off top spot and at a loss to understand why his performance wasn’t better reflected.

As Purcell increased his pace and topped the timesheets on S.S. 4, MacHale took up the lead role from Guest, who subsequently slid off on some gravel on S.S 5 and beached his Fiesta.

MacHale assumed total control and was quickest on all bar one of the remaining stages to take victory in his right hand drive VW Polo GTi R5 with Purcell edging out Barrable for the runner up spot.

Hurson retired with differential woes on S.S. 7 where Cumiskey rolled his VW Polo GTi R5 Their demise promoted Monaghan’s Richard Moffett (Starlet) to fourth spot - 19.8 seconds ahead of his two-wheel drive rival Cavan’s Gary Kiernan (Ford Escort).

Elsewhere, Derry’s Desi Henry (Ford Fiesta Rally2) won the Dunman Centra Davagh Rally in County Tyrone where he finished 16.5 seconds in front of the similar car of Tyrone’s Jason Mitchell with Donegal’s Mark Donnelly (Ford Fiesta R5) a further 23.6 seconds behind in third.

Meanwhile, Cork karter Daniel Kelleher (12) clinched the X30 Mini category of the IAME Euro series with a commanding performance in the final round at Genk in Belgium over the weekend. Winning all his heats, the Mogeely karter qualified on pole for the final where British karter Jensen Graham was his main championship rival. While Kelleher led for most of the final, rather than risk being pushed of the track, he dropped back over the closing laps aware that a top five finish was ample to take the title. Kelleher finished on a total of 109 points from the eight rounds – seventeen points ahead of both Swiss karter Dan Alleman and Graham.

Bluebird Care Galway Summer Rally (Round 7, Triton Showers National Rally Championship) Athenry: 1. G. MacHale/B. Murphy (VW Polo GTi R5) 51m. 49.6s; 2. A. Purcell/A. Hayes (Skoda Fabia R5)+15.2 s;¸3. R. Barrable/P. Robinson (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+22.9s; 3. 4. R. Moffett/D. Kelly (Toyota Starlet)+1m. 05.4s; 5. G. Kiernan/P. Sherdian (Ford Escort)+1m. 25.2s; 6. G. Sayers/G. Gilchrist (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+1m. 40.8s; 7. T. McNulty/P. Kiely (VW Polo GTi R5)+1m. 43s; 8. J. McGonigle/C. Geaney (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+1m. 44.4s; 9. C. Murphy/S. Collins (Ford Escort)+1m. 50.9s; 10. P. McHugh/P. O'Donnell (Ford Escort)+1m. 59.2s