Young Cork driver Keith Cronin produced another stunning drive on last weekend’s International Isle of Man Rally, round six of the Irish Tarmac rally Championship (ITC) and round four of the British rally Championship (BRC). Driving his usual Mitsubishi Evo 9, Cronin finished top ITC driver and were it not for delays with diff failure on Friday and a puncture on Saturday he could have won the rally outright. Just four Irish drivers have won the Manx International: Adrian Boyd (1973) Cathal Curley (1974) Frank Meagher (1995) and Eugene Donnelly (2006 and 2007).
Cronin’s rallying focus for 2009 is the BRC, and on the Manx he locked horns once again with his great rival Mark Higgins. Higgins is native of the Isle of Man and four times winner of this rally. Yet Cronin was fastest driver on ten of the twenty stages on his first visit to this rally. Cronin and Higgins were demonstrably the quickest drivers on the island, and the lead changed hands between them on several occasions. While Higgins was delayed by an off and gearbox maladies, Cronin was delayed more by his diff problems and the puncture and had to settle for a very honourable second. The warring duo are now level on BRC points, as they head to the next month’s Ulster rally, another double header.
Alastair Fisher had another fine drive. The Fermanagh driver had a big fight on his hands with Adam Gould, but he survived to finish a fine third and collect fourteen valuable ITC points. Fisher is now fifth overall and he moves into lead of the Group N class. With Alan Carmichael and Ger O’Donovan non-starting the Manx, the leader board is now very tight: Fisher has 36 points ahead of Carmichael with 35, O’Donovan 34 and Cronin 30.
In the classes, there were some fine results for ITC drivers. Jason Pritchard had a really good drive in the Citroen C2R2 to win class six and finish eighth overall. Pritchard is now second in this class. In class three young Kilkenny driver Craig Breen starred in the Fiesta. Although he crashed out of the main rally on day two, he won the U.K. Fiesta Sporting Trophy on day one and now leads that series as well as the Irish Fiesta Sporting Trophy. Winner of class three was the Astra diesel of Steve Graham, a result that now elevates him to joint second in the championship class. Joseph Mc Gonagle finished 15th overall in his Honda Civic, winning his class ad extending his class lead in the championship. With another fine win in the Historics in his Porshe 911, Derek Boyd further extended his championship lead in the Historic class
At the prize-giving Mark Higgins was relieved the rally was over and he admitted that the 2009 Manx International was the most difficult of his five wins-a new record on this classic event.
· Leaders Stage 1 Higgins, Stages 2-4 Cronin, Stages 5-17 Higgins, Stage 18 Cronin, Stages 19,20 Higgins.
· Championship points after round six (Isle of Man):Eugene Donnelly 60, 2 Gareth Mc Hale 46, 3 Tim Mc Nulty 36, 4 Eamon Boland, 5 Alastair Fisher 30.
· Next round Toddsleap Ulster Rally August 21st/22nd.
Austin Shinnors.
