Before he made the jump to the top
level of Irish rallying, Donagh Kelly was already a very successful
driver in the showroom Group N classes. However, since the purchase
of an ex-Chris Atkinson and PJ McDermott Subaru Impreza S11 WRC, he
has been nearly on the pace of the established top men.
However, today he proved that he is now
on the pace of the regulars by winning the Circuit of Kerry Rally by
1 min 28.5 secs over the legendary Kenny McKinstry, his first
closed-road rally in his latest purchase, an Impreza S14. Kevin
Barrett took another of the Impreza's from the McKinstry stable home
in third place.
At the start, Declan Boyle lead the
rally in his Subaru Impreza S12 WRC after some stunning driving over
the first stage, only 2.8 secs ahead of Kelly but an amazing 30.8
secs ahead of McKinstry, who was struggling to get used to the
left-hand drive car. Boyle set an even more impressive time over the
next stage to increase his lead to 11.5 secs.
On the very next stage, it was all over
for the Glenties driver. He was caught out by a square right and the
S12 slid off the road into the ditch, rolling once before coming to a
rest on its wheels. Both he and co-driver Brian Boyle were ok, and
luckily the car only suffered mostly panel damage. However they were
out of the rally, and Kelly took over the lead, which he held to the
end.
Alan Ring won Group N and took fourth
overall in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, just ahead of Frank Kelly.
Kelly, with Stephan Quinn on the notes, was fastest 2WD and winner of
Class 14 in his Ford Escort Mk2 in fifth place overall. Eugene Meehan
and Jonathan Treanor took rounded out the Top 6.
John McQuaid pushed Frank Kelly hard in
the 2WD stakes, but the alternator belt slipped and he wisely decided
to back off, but still managed to take seventh place. James Laverty,
Frank Sweeney and Cal McCarthy rounded out the Top 10.
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