Boland makes big waves in "The Lakes".

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John Dier

Friday 16th May

Local rally driver Eamonn Boland’s quest for victory in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship took another step closer over the May bank holiday weekend. Eamonn, with Damien Morrissey navigating, took his Subaru S12B to Killarney to compete on round three of the championship. The Wexford man would leave Killarney on Sunday evening having taken victory on the Rally of the Lakes and would also extend his lead in the tarmac championship to 14 points following his second successive international victory.

Eamonn would let his intentions be known on the very first stage of the event when he posted fastest time over the very demanding Moll’s Gap stage in very wet conditions. Over stages two and three Tim McNulty did enough to take the lead from Eamonn and would hold onto a slender lead until his car left the road on stage seven and he was forced to retire. Eamonn was now returned to the lead position. He was to take just a ten second lead into the overnight halt with, would you believe Gareth MacHale holding second place and Donie O’Sullivan in third just 12 seconds further back. Would day two be yet another repeat of the close battles these two have had on the Wexford rally last year and yet again on the Circuit of Ireland at Easter?

Other Wexford crews featuring in the top results after day one were PJ McGrath and Billy Collins, who were in ninth place in their Subaru WRC. James Stafford and Frank Dwyer were leading the National section of the event in their Darrian.

Day two of the rally started with dry and warm conditions, a welcome relief from the torrential rain of the previous day and over the first stage, a repeat of the famous Moll’s Gap, it was to be Gareth MacHale who posted a time five seconds quicker than Eamonn to bring the lead down to five seconds. The battle was well and truly on and there was still another 8 stages to go. It was going to be a battle of the bravest.

The ‘Gap’ would see the end of Donie O’Sullivan’s challenge when he left the road and retired near the end of the stage which promoted Derek McGarrity to third. It was on this stage also where James Stafford and Frank Dwyer were to lose their lead in the national section having picked up a puncture. PJ McGrath and Billy Collins were also up to 8th overall.

On the next stage, Ballaghbeama, Eamonn and Damien increased their lead back up to 7 seconds with another fastest time ahead of Gareth MacHale with McGarrity now nearly 2 minutes and 30 seconds back in third place.

At service after stage 13, Gareth MacHale had reduced Eamonn and Damien’s lead to just 3.8 seconds and there was still five stages left to complete.

It was on the stage service, stage 14, a repeat of Carragh, where it went completely wrong for Gareth when he crashed out of the event. This left Eamonn and Damien leading McGarrity by almost 2 minutes 30 seconds and unless there was a major problem would surely see him claiming the win.

Instead of taking it easy over the last stages, Eamonn was to continue putting in good times and at the end of the last stage his winning margin was to be 3 minutes from Derek McGarrity with Dessie Kennan 3rd and Aaron MacHale in fourth. In the tarmac championship Eamonn and Damien now hold a 14 point lead from Aaron MacHale with Tim McNulty a further four points back.

PJ McGrath and Billy Collins finished a very creditable 7th place overall. Ciaran Cloke and Robert Power in a Subaru Impreza was 33rd overall at their first attempt at an international rally.

In the national section, James Stafford and Frank Dwyer finish in 7th place after the time lost due to their puncture on Sunday morning while Niall Fortune and James Kelly in their Mark II Escort were third in their class. In the historic section of the event, local men Martin Kehoe and Barty Daye in their Morris Mini were first in their class.

In the Junior section, where they compete on just the last four stages of the event, Robert Leech and David Nolan driving a Nova finished 7th in class on their first event. Liam Howlett and Leo Tector finished 16th in their class after suffering mechanical problems all afternoon.

JD