Great start for McEnery

Ennis navigator Charlie McEnery’s first outing with Monaghan driver and 2010 West Coast rally champion, 21-year-old Shane Maguire, saw them score maximum points on last weekend’s Birr Stages Rally, round one of the 2011 West Coast Rally Championship.
The rally, which was based in Abbeyleix, was also the opening round of the 2011 Dunlop National Rally Championship. The pair were also awarded the Dunlop National Drive of the day in their Subaru N11. The pair worked very well together on their first rally and apart from being held up by slower drivers on some stages, their Subaru ran perfect all day and they eventually finished ninth overall.
Charlie’s sister Gráinne, who navigates with Kerry driver Mike Quinn, slotted into second place overall in the West Coast Rally Championship after finishing 13th overall in Sunday’s event in their Mk2 Escort.
Leading from the start, Tim McNulty (Subaru WRC) and co-driver Paul Kiely won the rally, the first round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship.  They finished 59 seconds ahead of reigning champions Mel Evans and Patrick Walsh, also in Subaru WRC.  Colm Murphy and Don Montgomery in a Group N Subaru were third.  The Group N category was won by Monaghan’s Sam Moffett and James Reilly and the rally.ie two-wheel drive category was won by Tommy Doyle and Liam Moynihan (Renault Clio R3).
Wexford’s. James Stafford (Darrian) led the two-wheel drive category and he was seventh in general classification.  The remaining places in the top 10 were taken by Steve Simpson (Subaru), Derek McGarrity (Mitsubishi) and late entry Sam Moffett (Mitsubishi).