Clare crews prominent in Galway

Twenty three-year-olds Darren Gass/Enda Sherry won last weekends Safety Direct Galway International Rally in their Subaru with just over six seconds covering the top three at the finish.
Tim McNulty led the rally for more than half the distance but then his Subaru collided with a straw bale chicane and bent the steering. From that moment on, Tarmac champion McNulty struggled. Eugene Donnelly drove superbly to survive a puncture in his new Colm Quinn-backed Mini WRC and he recorded some stunning times which brought him into second place, just 1.3s behind Gass.
McNulty finished four seconds behind Donnelly in third. 
Clare Motor Club crews who featured in the results included Michael Fitzgibbon from Darragh with Newmarket man Pa Baker calling the notes and they were the winners in Class J2 in their Honda Civic. Steering problems for the earlier stages which were eventually sorted out in service and they finished ahead of another Ennis crew Niall O’Sullivan and Chris Horan, who had a great run in the Junior class finishing second in their Citroen C2.
Tommy and Keith Flannagan brought their escort home in 54th place overall in the national rally.
Michael Canny finished 8th in class and 30th overall in the rally, while Keith Naughton/Brendan Behan failed to finish in their Ford Escort.