McGarrity in seventh heaven at Down rally

McGarrity in seventh heaven at Down rally

19 October 2016

SEVERAL local riders were in action at Saturday’s Down Rally, but the honours went to Derek McGarrity who finished third to clinch his seventh MSA ANICC McGrady Insurance Northern Ireland Rally Championship.

The Rathfriland Motor Club event provided a fitting climax to the Northern Ireland Rally Championships year. 

Clerk of the course Paul Biggerstaff and his team had laid on six closed road special stages, which would decide the title between Derek McGarrity in his Fiesta WRC, and Camillus Bradley in his MK2 Escort. 

For McGarrity, seventh or better was all he needed to ensure his record breaking seventh title, but after two stages he was a lowly 26th, suffering from a severely misted windscreen in the saturated opening stages. 

With Camillus Bradley leading from start to finish, the pressure was on McGarrity as the driver from Mossley on the outskirts of Belfast climbed back to an eventual third overall, claiming that amazing seventh title. 

“It’s fantastic to get the Northern Ireland Championship title again. The stages were very good on this rally, but it’s hard to describe how much water was on them this morning,” he said. 

“Even so, a car like this shouldn’t have misted up, but at least we had none of our engine problems on this event, and once we could see where we were going, we could make our move back up. A big thanks to James O’Reilly in the co-driver’s seat and to the team for their efforts all year.” 

Bradley drove valiantly all day, his 2.5 Escort skimming through the initial wet tests, to fend off a day long challenge from the similar machine of Damian Toner. Just over eight seconds after six stages was the margin. 

“I didn’t even think about the championship until the third stage and it nearly put me off my stride!” said Camillus. “We had a good battle with Damian, the car ran perfectly and it was great to get the win.There was nothing more we could do about the championship. 

Holding third until the final loop was Brendan Cumiskey in his R5 Fiesta, but he got stuck in a ditch on stage five, whilst Kenny McKinstry ended the event in fourth, despite serious gear-change issues afflicting the S14 Impreza. 

Davy Armstrong had held third for the first three tests in his MK2 Escort, before going off the road on stage four. Another early casualty was Wesley Patterson who crashed on stage two. 

Surviving all the drama to take a fine fifth was John Devlin in his two litre Sunbeam, with Alastair Cochrane in his MK2 Escort sixth a result which sees him clinch the championship class. 

It was a fine result for the Bushmills farmer, whose farming duties meant that he had no time complete a pre-event recce. 

Gilford’s Marty Taggart ended the day in seventh, just ahead of Omagh’s Alan Smyth in the Swift S1600. Alan clinched class four in the McGrady Insurance NI Championship, despite a few dramas during the day including bending the rear suspension badly on stage two and re-arranging a front corner on stage three. 

However, he held on with championship rival Kyle White also a fine 11th overall in his C2 R2 Max. Another challenger, Adam Bustard retired his Fiesta R2 on the road section between stages three and four. 

Keith White in his 2.5 MK1 Escort, and Marty Toner in his rebuilt Sunbeam completed the top ten, as Clive Kilpatrick ped out of ninth when he went off on the final test. 

This provisionally means that the Group N NI Champion is Colm McFall who ended the rally in a competitive 12th overall and first in the class. 

Another Group N runner to show well was local driver William Herron, up to 11th at one point, and finishing the day 17th, just behind championship sponsor Fintan McGrady.

Andy Johnson in the Vauxhall Chevette HSR took historic honours ahead of Drew Wylie’s MK2 Escort RS1800. However, Drew clinched the championship title. Class three winner Colin Price also clinched his championship class in the nimble Vauxhall Corsa.

Other important class winners on the Down Rally included Janice Magee, who won class eight with the big Audi, and Malcolm Pedlow, who took class 11 historic honours on the day and in the series in his BMW 2002 tii.