Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty reverted to their trusted Hyundai i20 R5 for the Stonethrowers Rally and delivered a start-to-finish victory. The result put their Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship title defence back on track. They arrived in Clonmel in fourth place in the championship standings but head to the penultimate round in Galway next month in joint third place in the championship standings. The Monaghan/Limerick crew started the year in a Citroen C3 Rally2 but never really came to terms with the new car. Moffett decided to wheel out the older Hyundai, to see if it was himself or the car that was causing the issues all year. Although he did not quite say it, he very much implied the Hyundai fitted like a glove and recorded his third win in the series. His brother Sam and co-driver James O’Reilly were another crew to put a recent run of bad luck behind them. Driving the newer Rally2 version of the Hyundai, they slotted into a solid second place on the second loop and kept his younger brother honest over the final loop. Just 3.4 seconds was the gap at the finish and he now shares third in the championship with his brother.
Third-placed Daniel Cronin and Donnchadh Burke rued a poor tyre choice for their Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 in the middle loop. The Carlow Rally winners admitted they never got fully into the groove of the fast-flowing South Tipperary stages. Their third-place finish will do their championship aspirations no harm at all. They are the new Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship leaders after six of eight rounds. Dropped scores are going to prove decisive over the final two rounds. Citroen C3 Rally2 crew Desi Henry and new co-driver Andy Hayes improved their pace as they went on and snared fourth place on the rally's final test. They also won the Citroen Trophy element of the rally. Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy led the Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship ahead of the Tipperary Light Car and Motorcycle Club organised event. They had a troubled run to fifth place. An electrical problem on their Skoda Fabia R5 meant they were unable to read the dashboard all day and they retained dropped to second in the championship standings.
Gary Kiernan did not start the Tipperary event and the Cavan driver has dropped from third to fifth, crucially the crew will have to drop their two worst scores and that too will be a deciding factor at the season's end. Triton Showers boss Paul Barrett and his co-driver Darragh Kelly were second in the Citroen Trophy category and were sixth overall. A pop-off valve issue hampered progress on the middle loop. Third in the Citroen Trophy section and seventh overall and the top overseas driver was Steve Wood and his co-driver Kenny Hull. Cal McCarthy took a stage or two to gel with new co-driver Stephen Quinn but once they settled in they had a steady run to eighth place in another Citroen C3. Tom Jnr Holton and Stephen Joyce recorded their best result of the season by bringing their Ford Fiesta home in ninth place. The top ten was completed by Michael Carbin and Dean O'Sullivan. The Ford Escort crew recorded their maiden Modified category win and now lead the Ford Escort Challenge in the Triton Showers National Rally Championship. Championship leader David Armstrong won the historic category in his Ford Escort. Galway’s Brian Martyn and Liam Callaghan were the Junior category winners in their Honda Civic.
TOP FIVE OVERALL AFTER ROUND 6
1 Daniel Cronin 87
2 Eddie Doherty 85
3 Josh Moffett 76
3 Sam Moffett/ 76
5 Gary Kiernan 57
Calendar
Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Championship Rounds 2024
1. Mayo Stages Rally 3rd March
2. Monaghan Stages Rally 7th April
3. Birr Stages Rally 21st April
4. Carlow Stages Rally 19th May
5. Circuit of Munster 2nd June
6. Stonethrowers Rally 14th July
7. Galway Summer Stages 1st September
8. Donegal Harvest Rally 12th October
