Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy win Killarney Towers Hotel Killarney Historic Rally
MOTORS: Donegal’s Donagh Kelly/Rory Kennedy (BMW M3) won the Killarney Towers Hotel Killarney Historic Rally. Picture: James Burke.
Donegal’s Donagh Kelly and his co-driver Rory Kennedy took their BMW M3 to a strong victory in the Killarney Towers Hotel Killarney Historic Rally where they finished 23.7 seconds ahead of the Ford Escort of Welsh ace Tomas Davies and his Killarney co-driver Shane Buckley. Another Donegal crew, that of John O’Donnell and Paddy Robinson (BMW M3), were 20.5s further behind in third. Huge crowds attended the event, many to watch last year’s World Rally champions Finland’s Kalle Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen compete in a rear wheel drive Toyota Starlet (belonging to Armagh’s Jason Black) within the Modified category.
They suffered disappointment on the opening stage when the car stopped as it approached the summit of Moll’s Gap due to an electrical glitch. With the help of some locals, they car fired up but they had lost over five minutes. Locals heroes Rob Duggan and Ger Conway in a Ford Escort led the category all through despite a throttle sensor issue and finished 18.6s ahead of the Toyota Starlet of Donegal’s Declan Gallagher and his Kerry co-driver John McCarthy. Rovanpera, who set a few fastest stage times, went on to finish fifteenth overall.
In the main event and seeking a hat-trick of wins Belfast’s Jonny Greer struggled through the classic Molls Gap when the turbo pipe of his Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4 loosened itself and he finished the stage down in fourteenth spot - 35.4s off the lead.
That role was occupied by Donegal’s Eamonn Kelly, who powered his BMW M3 to the fastest stage time eight seconds ahead of Davies with Kelly’s father Donagh, a double winner of the Rally of the Lakes, two seconds further adrift in third. Welsh ace Neil Williams (Ford Escort) and his Ardfield co-driver Anthony O’Sullivan were another 6.3s further behind.
It was a Kelly 1-2 after another classic Ballaghbeama where Donagh was quickest to slot 4.7s behind son Eamonn with Davies staying in touch, a further 8.3s back.
Unfortunately, Eamonn Kelly’s bid came undone when he crashed at high speed near the end of the Caragh Lake stage.
Meanwhile and in the continuing wet conditions Donagh Kelly arrived the Fossa service park with a 16.5s advantage over Davies with the Escorts of Williams and Glounthaune’s Denis Moynihan completing the top quartet. The BMW M3’s of O’Donnell and Kerry’s Fergus O’Meara followed, all receiving the stage interrupted time following Eamonn Kelly’s demise.
On the repeat of the three stages and coping with the very wet conditions, Donagh Kelly continued to stamp his authority on the rally to move 37.9s ahead. Davies remained in second as Killarney’s Alan Ring (BMW M3) gave a strong performance moving from eighth to third where he was followed by the similar cars of O’Donnell and O’Meara.
The double run over Kilcummin brought a conclusion to the event with Kelly guiding his BMW M3 safely through to secure the spoils. The only change to the top three came when Ring, who seemed to struggle on both stages that had copious amounts of standing water, lost two places that were taken by O’Donnell and Cathan McCourt (Ford Escort) respectively. Mark Falvey (Ford Escort) was sixth. Having sorted the turbo issues at the service park, Greer, who punched in the best time on the repeat of Moll’s Gap, moved up the leaderboard to finish seventh.
Meanwhile, Rathfarnham driver Alex Denning and his British team mate Tom Emson took their Elite Motorsport with Entire Race Engineering run McLaren Artura GT4 to a second and tenth place in the final pair of races in the GT4 European Series in Jeddah.
Elsewhere, victory in the Midland Navigation Trial, round three of the National Navigation Trial Championship went to the Longford/Monaghan duo of Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru). Pre-event series leaders Monaghan’s Andy Mackarel and Limerick’s Greg Shinnors were fifth.
:1. 1. D. Kelly/R. Kennedy (BMW M3) 1h. 02m. 06.4s; 2. T. Davies/S. Buckley (Ford Escort)+23.7s; 3. J. O'Donnell/P. Robinson (BMW M3)+44.2s; 4. C. McCourt/B. McNulty (Ford Escort)+1m. 15.0s; 5. A. Ring/A. Deasy (BMW M3)+1m. 20.1s; 6. M. Falvey/J. O'Brien (Ford Escort)+1m. 42.2s; 7. J. Greer/N. Burns (Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4)+1m. 42.4s; 8. F. O'Meara/M. Galvin (BMW M3)+1m. 44.4s; 9. J. Bonner/D. McGettigan (Ford Escort)+1m. 51.4s; 10. D. Moynihan/M. O'Brien (Ford Escort)+1m. 55.0s.
1. R. Duggan/G. Conway (Ford Escort) 57m. 12.3s; 2. D. Gallagher/J. McCarthy (Toyota Starlet)+18.6s; 3. C. O'Donoghue/K. O'Donoghue (Ford Escort)+ 1m. 29.6s; 4. D. McKenna/A. Grennan (Ford Escort)+2m. 01.0s; 5. G. Kiernan/J. McCabe (Ford Escort)+2m. 08.2s; 6. J. Doogan/P. Lennon (Ford Escort)+ 2m. 51.4s; 7. C. Armstrong/C. Smith (Ford Escort)+3m. 13.7s; 8. D. Moffett/M. Connolly (Toyota Starlet)+3m. 33.9s; 9. P. McHugh/R. Cleary (Ford Escort)+4m. 23.3s; 10. C. O'Callaghan/K. Treanor (Ford Escort)+4m. 52.9s.
