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Maguire and Sherry impress in Clare Stages Rally


NIALL Maguire and his co-driver Enda Sherry won last weekend’s Auburn Lodge Hotel Clare Stages Rally in their Subaru Impreza.

They finished over two minutes and 14 seconds ahead of Mike Quinn and Gráinne McEnery, with Ed O’Callaghan and Ger Clancy in a similar Escort finishing a further 10 seconds behind in third, despite having fuel pressure problems towards the end. Young Craig Breen and his co-driver Gareth Roberts did a superb job to bring their 1600cc Fiesta into fourth overall.
Trevor and Kenny Bustard won Group N and were fifth overall in their Lancer. Brian Brogan, with Dermot McGettigan on the notes, brought their Escort into sixth overall, following a trouble-free run.
There was huge disappointment for Clare fans when local crew Anthony O’Halloran and his co-driver Charlie McEnery were forced to retire due to a problem with the throttle mechanism.
Speaking after the rally, second place co-driver Gráinne McEnery said, “We are delighted but it is just a pity my brother Charlie didn’t make it to the finish to celebrate as well.”
Maguire was fastest on stage one, Lickeen Lake, and opened up an 11-second advantage over Kerry’s Mike Quinn, with local man Anthony O’Halloran a further four seconds behind in third. Local Ruan crew Richard Casey and Brian MacNamara were the first retirement when they crashed their Mk 1 Escort towards the end of special stage one.
Maguire, who was having brake problems in his S10 Subaru Impreza, also set the pace on SS2, while O’Halloran used his local knowledge to best effect by posting the best time through SS3, his home stage Ruan.
At the Ennis service halt, where Maguire was sorting his brake problems, he had built up a lead of 21 seconds over O’Halloran, while Mike Quinn, who was having tyre problems, was third, a further seven seconds behind.
Maguire stretched his lead to 35 seconds on the fourth stage and Quinn closed to within four seconds of second-placed O’Halloran, who hit a chicane bale, slightly damaging his Mitsubishi. Brogan moved up two places to fourth, while O’Callaghan’s Escort suffered fuel starvation.
Maguire completed the second loop of stages 52 seconds ahead of O’Halloran, with Quinn a further 25 seconds in arrears.
O’Callaghan reclaimed fourth at the expense of Brogan, while Trevor Bustard completed the top six and Craig Breen was seventh in his Fiesta.
With O’Halloran picking up a puncture on the penultimate stage and deciding to withdraw his Mitsubishi to avoid doing further damage, Maguire went on to take a comfortable victory. Quinn finished second, while O’Callaghan, who had further fuel starvation problems, finished third.
The top Clare crew on the day were Michael Fitzgibbon and Keith Tierney, who had a fabulous run in their Ford Puma s1600. They finished 11th overall and second in class six. As they were also the fastest Clare crew on the day, they also won the Noel McCullagh Award and the Dermot Molly Award.
Other Clare crews who finished in the awards included Keith Naughton/Jane Cogan, who finished third in class four in their Subaru Impreza and Pat and Al Meaney, who finished third in class nine in their Suzuki Swift.
John Lernihan/Shane Ryan finished third in class 15 in their Mitsubishi Evo, while Martin and Maureen Kelly got the best-unplaced Clare Motor Club crew.
Martin Casey from Ruan, with Kerry’s Katie Quinn, finished second overall in the Junior Section.
Up against some serious competition, Martin kept up the pressure in his Honda Civic and this result now takes him to second overall in the junior section of the Top Part West Coast.

 

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