King Kelly of Clare!

Since acquiring his ex-Mikko Hirvonen Ford Focus RS WRC from John Joe Fleming just before the Donegal International Rally back in June, Donagh Kelly has struggled to get used to the Left Hand Drive Focus. A winner in Right Hand Drive Subaru's, many wondered when (and a small few even wondered if) Kelly would get the hang of the new car.

But today on the Clare Stages Rally, the Donagh of old reappeared. Blindingly fast from the start, he was never troubled once over the six tough stages. It sets him up perfectly for the Cork 20 Rally, the final round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship in two weeks time.

Clare wasn't a round of the Irish National Rally Championship this year as part of the rotational system employed by the Championship. But it still attracted a massive entry, two stages repeated three times was the order of the day. A titanic scrap for the overall win was maybe lost with the withdrawals of Niall Maguire and Peadar Hurson before the rally, but this can't take away at all from the impressive performance of Donagh Kelly.

After SS1, Kenny McKinstry initially held second place behind Kelly, in his Subaru Impreza WRC S14. Having been involved in rallying for almost 40 years he's certainly showing no signs of slowing up! But it all went sour when a damaged radiator was the result of an overshoot on SS2, putting the Banbridge man out.

Stephen and Susanne Wright brought their ex-Garry Jennings Mitsubishi Lancer Evo home in an impressive second place, almost a minute down on Kelly. Stephen is having a very rewarding full-time switch to Tarmac this year, having almost solely competed on gravel in previous years, with some really spectacular performances in the new car!

Another man with a new car for this year is Kevin Barrett, switching from an S11 Subaru to an S14 model. Kevin is gradually getting to grips with the new car, finishing in third place overall in Clare. Just behind him was the 2WD winner, Edward O'Callaghan in his 2 litre 16v Mk2 Escort. Ed also scoops up the award for Class 13 winners and fourth place overall.

With Stephen Wright forefitting his award for being the fastest Group N car, Shane Maguire takes the Showroom class in his Subaru Impreza N11. Maguire, son of former National Champion Niall Maguire, took fifth place overall by a slender 4 secs over Ed Synan in sixth place, who also won Class 14.

Second in Class 14 was Mike Quinn, also seventh overall. Ninth place went to Jack Maguire, who swapped from a Class 13 Mk2 Escort to a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 during the summer. With Andy Hayes on the notes, the pairing once again won Class 20.

Sandwiched in between these two in eighth place was the mightily impressive Noel Kelleher. Piloting his Honda Civic, Noel hasn't been on the stages for two years but you'd certainly not think it from the times he was putting in! Seeded at Number 91, he certainly proved the surprise of the rally and in GRN's view, was certainly the drive of the rally. Michal Fitzgibbon rounded out the Top 10.

Perhaps the hard luck story of the rally was of Frank Kelly. With 'trainee navigator' (a sticker found on the back window of Frank's car) in the shape of Gary McElhinney in the hot seat for the weekend, the pairing sat third overall for a time. But, a reported fuel pump problem dropped Frank and Gary loads of time, then running repairs gained them massive time penalties, both of which transpired to send them to dead last. As deflating as it was, they still managed to have a “savage days craic”!