Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan claimed their first win of their Irish Tarmac campaign with victory in the Milburn Concrete Circuit of Ireland Rally.
In a two way showdown between himself & the defending champion Josh Moffett, their big break came at the halfway point of Saturday’s meeting, when their closest pursuers Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes went off line over a fast crest and collected a front left puncture.
What was a 0.8-second gap between the top two crews before the stage immediately mushroomed to 14.1 seconds and despite a brave and spirited fightback in near perfect conditions by Moffett and Hayes through the County Tyrone countryside, it was not enough to elevate them back to the head of the timesheets.
In the battle for third, Meirion Evans got the better of Jonathan Greer in a grandstand finish by pipping him on the closing ‘Shanmaghry 2’ test, 3.2 seconds separating them after 70 hard-fought miles.
Turbo-related issues with Desi Henry’s recently-acquired Citroen C3 Rally2 at junctions and hairpins opened the door to Evans early on and the Welshman made no mistake in extending his run of trophy finishes with Jonathan Jackson.
The top five was rounded out by Sam Moffett. Robert Barrable’s inexperience of Northern Ireland’s rural lanes counted against him and he struggled to build on his runner-up display on last month’s West Cork Rally by coming home sixth in his Citroen C3 Rally2 alongside Gordon Noble, last year’s Circuit of Ireland Rally winning co-driver.
In the other classes, Jason Black claimed the RWD honours finsishing 10th overall and the JWRC team of William Creighton & Liam Regan was the highest 2WD finishers with a 13th finish respectively.
