Motorsport Ireland Weekend Report

Donagh Kelly / Kevin Flanagan

National Rally Championship and Formula Ford 1600 Championship

Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan continued their 2015 winning streak taking their fourth consecutive win of the season on Sunday’s Midland Moto Stages Rally based in Roscommon.

Kelly swooped in to take the win on the ninth and final stage after leader Declan Boyle suffered a puncture. Boyle would eventually finish in eighth. Kelly’s win elevates him to the top of the points in the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.

Behind Kelly former national champion Niall Maguire finished second overall with Alan Ring and co-driver Adrian Deasy taking the final position on the podium, both driving Subaru Impreza World Rally Cars. Gary McPhillips brought his Mark 2 Escort home in fourth overall and finished top 2 wheel drive after a day long battle with Cavan’s Chris Armstrong who took fifth position. In the Group N category Aidan Wray was the victor in his Mitsubishi. The Strabane driver finished eighteenth overall while Niall Keane and James Bradley won the historic and junior sections respectively.

Declan Boyle / Brian Boyle before they collected a puncture

Several overseas drivers used the event as a test session for next weekend’s Circuit of Ireland Rally. The Scottish crew of Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton finished ninth overall in their Fiesta S2000 while the Opel Adam mounted Emil Bergkvist, Marijan Griebel and Julius Tannert finshed twentieth, thirtieth and thirty third. The next round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship will be the Monaghan Stages Rally on April 26th.

Meanwhile, Motorsport Ireland Young Racing Driver of the Year Jonny McMullan got his season off to a mixed start at Kirkistown race track this weekend. The Newtownabbey driver won the opening race of the meeting but was involved in a collision of the final lap of the day’s second race seeing him retire. McMullan’s next outing will be the Silverstone International meeting next weekend, the first round of the British National Championship.