Juniors in Carlow!!
Website office(Wexford)
John Dier
Sunday 20th May
By Gary Nolan
For the third time, Carlow hosted a junior rally, that saw the crew’s tackle the final four stages of the event. The event has been good to Wexford crews, the past two years seeing Wexford winners, with Seamus O’ Grady and Oonagh Roche taking the honours in 2005 and Kenny O’ Brien and Enda Kennedy taking the honours in 2006. And it was Kenny, partnered by Jason Mernagh, who led out the twenty juniors on what was sure to be a fast and furious race.
With stage 1 cancelled, stage two was the first time where the juniors crews got to stretch there legs and it was indeed a Wexford crew aboard a blur Opel Corsa that led, but it wasn’t Kenny. John Stafford, with Anne Marie Kennedy on the notes, flew through the opening stage a full 19 seconds clear of his closest junior rival and a whopping 58 seconds clear of his closest 1400cc rival. The Nova was on it’s second outing since John fully re-built the car, and the Clonmines man was on the pipe from the word go, although a huge slide towards a telegraph pole saw a few grey hairs appear! Closest to the Kitchen Solutions Nova on the opening stage was the Mivec engined Escort of another Wexford pairing, Neil Hickey and Richie Codd, the pair settling into the slipper stages, Neil at his sideways best! Two northern crews, Johnny Hegarty and John McQuaid held third and fourth with next Wexford crew, Kenny O’ Brien and Jason Mernagh lying fifth, Kenny struggling to get on the pace of the leading crews after a long lay off. Tommy Kelly and Emmet Cleary were having a good run and lay sixth in their Swift, Paddy Carroll and Dale Kirwan lay seventh followed by Declan Stafford and Robert Power. Mark Furlong and Neil Cummens rounded out the top ten.
Stafford left the service with this 19 second lead, but Hickey was on a charge and with himself and Richie getting to know and love each other rapidly, the pair took 14 seconds back off the Stafford-Kennedy Nova on the fast stage 7, despite the Escort nearly parking itself on a bank on a tight hairpin. He was now 20 seconds clear of Hegarty, with McQuaid lying fourth. Kenny lay fifth, the 2006 winner looking very unlikely to repeat his success of his previous year. Paddy Carroll and Tommy Kelly were having a great battle for sixth, Paddy, with Dale Kirwan on the notes reversing a two second deficit to take a two second lead over the Kelly-Cleary Suzuki Swift into the final stage. Declan Stafford lay eight while Mark Furlong rounded out the Wexford challenge in ninth.
Into the final stage and everything to play for. Front wheel drive versus rear wheel drive, 1400cc versus 1600cc, one lunatic versus another! In the end, despite another huge slide by that very same telegraph pole, it was John Stafford and Anne Marie Kennedy who took their first junior rally success by a margin of 12 seconds from the Ford Escort of Neil Hickey and Richie Codd. Neil and Richie were also delighted with the result, pity Neil’s father Mick isn’t a junior, he always seems to go quicker!
John Hegarty and Kevin McFadden took third in their Corolla followed by the Escort of Johnny McQuaid and Gareth Quinlan while fifth and first in class were Kenny O’ Brien and Jason Mernagh, last years winner just not able to reproduce the speed of the previous year. Tommy Kelly and Emmet Cleary re-took sixth on the final stage to take second place honours in class while Paddy Carroll and Dale Kirwan finished seventh and also second in class. Next up was the Honda Civic of Declan Stafford and Robert Power who finished eight junior and third in class while Mark Furlong rounded out the Wexford finishers, ninth overall and third in class, making it a highly successful weekend for Wexford’s juniors competitors.
But the day belonged to John Stafford and Anne Marie Kennedy, John has had rotten luck in recent times was at last able to show his true colours. Lets hope this is the start of the good times.
JD