This year's Valvoline Championship has been the most exciting and closely fought ever. The margin of victory on each of the first four rounds was less than ten seconds. The series has been dominated by three drivers and any one them can lift the crown on Saturday night. Mick O' Brien (Focus WRC) heads the leaderboard with 115 points with fellow Corkman Owen Murphy (Evo9) second with 97 and Lisburn's Philip Morrow (Evo9) third with 80. While Morrow trails the leader by 35 points, he is the pre-event favourite, thanks to a scoring system that includes dropped scores and a bonus points scheme.
O' Brien's tally comes from finishing all five rounds. He won two rallies, finished second once and third twice. He collected 18 bonus points on round 3.The start of the year was not kind to Owen Murphy, after two rallies he had a third place and a DNF after his name. Since then the 2011 Forest Champion had a win and two second places. And he collected 19 bonus points on round 5. Philip Morrow's has competed four times, with two victories and two runners up spots. If the former Mitsubishi U.K. works driver wins today, he collects 21points for the win and 21 bonus points which adds up to 122.When dropped scores are taken into account neither O'Brien or Murphy can overtake that score. If O'Brien, or Murphy or Martin Cairns-who has an excellent record in Omagh-win today, other scenarios are possible to favour O'Brien or Murphy for the championship.
This championship won't be over until the fat lady sings and she will be surrounded by a lot overheating calculators at the finishing line.
In fourth position is John Reid (Corolla WRC) who can't lift the crown this year but he has the possibility of graduating to the podium. The Dubliner was runner up in this series in 2010 and 2011 and he had a fine result on the last round in Cork where he netted 17 bonus points. Another driver who had a big result in Cork is Shane McGirr (Starlet RWD) who put his name the 2WD trophy. Like Reid, McGirr can't win the Valvoline but the podium is not out of reach.
The young Moffett brothers from Monaghan are having a great year. Like Philip Morrow they are in contention for the Group N (Class8) award, and Josh was so competitive in the forestry and tarmac he has been nominated for this year's Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young driver Award for his performances. Sam-who is behind Josh in seventh place in the Valvoline-had a famous win in the Donegal international in June and he is also in the running for the Tarmac Rally Championship.
In the Valvoline classes the following have yet to be decided:Class2, Class4, Class 7, Class 8 and Class 20. Five classes have been claimed by the following drivers: Class 1 Pierce Doheny (Peugeot 106), Class 3 Paul Fitzgerald (Escort), Class 5 Shane McGirr (Starlet), Class 6 Danny Creedon (Impreza) and Class 9 (Juniors) Dean Raftery (Civic). Raftery dominated the juniors winning that class four times in succession and like Josh Moffett earned himself a nomination for this years Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young driver Award for his performances.
