Spectacular action on May Day stages

A packed entry list gave the spectators a treat, with Eugene Donnelly leading the cars away on Easter Monday.

Sam Moffatt was expected to start at number two but his Ford Fiesta WRC had to go back to M-Sport following his win at the Killarney Rally of the Lakes the previous day so he was a non-starter, as was local driver Johnny Leonard. There was still plenty to keep the crowds entertained however, with the damp conditions providing some spectacular action.

Eugene Donnelly, the multiple Irish Tarmac Rally Champion, took the lead of the Enniskillen Motor Club organised event after the third stage and went on to post fastest times on each of the final three tests to ease ahead of nearest challenger Gareth Sayers in his Mitsubishi. Darren McKelvey, also in a Mitsubishi, grabbed the lead of the rally with a time three seconds faster than anyone on stage two, but a poor time on the following run saw him slip to fourth and the Subaru of James Gillen came through to snatch the final podium position.  The battle for the often Escort dominated class seven is always a hotly contested one around the airfield and this year was no exception, with Brookeborough’s Chris Armstrong eventually taking the honours and with it the prize for the top two wheel drive finisher.  Shane McGirr and co-driver Emlyn Burns were the early pace setters with the quickest time on the first run in their Toyota Starlet, but they were overtaken by the Escort of Armstrong on the second test. Damien Tourish made a slow start but he had reeled in McGirr by the end of the third stage, and a poor time from the Starlet driver on stage four consigned him to third in class. Tourish took time out of early leader Armstrong on each of the last three stages but the early deficit was too much to haul back, and he eventually finished five seconds adrift of class winner Armstrong.  Trillick’s Brendan Campbell was locked in a battle with Andrew Bracken for fourth in the class, but he finished just over a second adrift and had to be content with fifth.

One of the most impressive drives of the day came from Kyle White. In his Citroen C2 he matched the pace of the top two wheel drive Escorts for much of the event, eventually winning class five and claiming third in the two wheel drive category.  The local crews of Neil Harron and Gary Mills both had ambitions of winning class three, and Harron with co-driver Stacey Bothwell made a great start, posting the fastest time on the first stage. Gary and Nigel Mills were just three seconds adrift in third but their rally was to end on stage two. Harron in his Suzuki Swift lost the lead on the second stage to a hard charging Ruairi Maguire but he was maintaining second place until the final stage, when he dropped almost three seconds to Raymond Dennison and was relegated to third in class, 0.8 seconds adrift of the runners up spot.

The fight for overall Group N honours produced a thrilling battle between the Mitsubishis of Mark Massey and Ashley Dickson. The lead switched several times during the six stage event before Massey overhauled his rival on the final stage to win by little more than a second.

Class one was won by Stephen Dickson and Wendy Blackledge. The pair were seven seconds quicker than any of their class rivals on the first stage and never looked like losing their early advantage, eventually winning by over 20 seconds.

Darryl McCanny edged a tight battle to win class four in his Peugeot 205, and in class six Andrew Bustard led from start to finish. In the Junior class William Creighton claimed a comfortable 20 second victory in his Citroen.