Carrick forest rally returns valvoline national forest rally championship
Round six of the 2014 Valvoline National Forest Rally Championship takes place in Carrick on Suir this Sunday October 12th. The rescheduled event was originally to run last February. However due to the damage caused by storm Darwin the club had to postpone the rally. Thankfully CoC Barry Duggan and his team at Carrick on Suir motor club have worked very hard to find a suitable date to ensure that the event goes ahead this year. The Suir Valley is steeped in forest rally history as it hosts the longest running gravel rally in Ireland.
The rally returns to its’ traditional territory of Gurteen, Slievenamon and Anner Forests. This year’s rally consists of 6 stages (3 repeated) with a lunchtime service in the Mill River Business Park in Carrick on Suir. The curtain raiser in Gurteen is usually a high speed test with a variety of deceptive surface changes. Stage 2 & 5 “Slievenamon” is an absolute classic that offers a bit of everything. The third stage in the loop is “Anner” famous for the big jumps. Anner is running a new format which has the jumps early in the stage with a new start/ finish location. The event starts at 10:45 Sunday morning with a loop of three stages before and after service. The first competing cars are due at the finish ramp at 16:00 outside the Carrick Hotel (Rally HQ).
As business end of the Championship beckons all the regulars are entered for this penultimate round. Current leaders Josh Moffett/ Jason McKenna (Evo 9) face another epic encounter with Owen Murphy/ James O’Brien (Evo 9) and Desi Henry/ Liam Moynihan (Evo 9). Andrew Purcell/ John Rafter (Evo 6) are on home ground and certainly have the speed for a podium result. Niall Henry/ John Rowan (Evo 9) and Sam Moffett/ Karl Atkinson (Evo 9) will battle for Gp N spoils. Marty McKenna (Impreza) and John Reid (Corolla) should be in the hunt with their WRC machines.
Shane McGirr/ Jackie Elliott (Starlet) head the 2WD contingent followed by the Escorts of Micky Conlon and James Coleman. Sean Benskin currently leads class 4 from Alan Atcheson, and Mick O’Sullivan who are all entered. Add in Alan Commins, Ray Benskin Jnr and Ray Benskin Snr and class 4 could stage the battle of the day. The Corolla’s of Damien McGauran and Allen Treacy will vie for class 5A and class 3 honors respectively. However the latter will have to fend off the Peugeot 206 of Douglas Stewart. Conor McCarthy/ Dan O’Donovan (Civic) lead the Junior championship and could wrap it up in Carrick. However Dungarvan’s Shane Kenneally/ Jer Connors (Mk2) are on home soil and could be hard to beat.
The Seeded Entry List is due to be published Wednesday 8th October on www.carrickonsuirmotorclub.com. Further information including time & distance schedule, final instructions & live results during the rally are available from the club website.
Further Championship information, points update etc. are available at: