Fastest on all three passes of the Bigwood test Ryan Caldwell and Stephen O’Brien won the Eakin Bros Maiden City Stages by 5.9 seconds while Niall Devine scored his first maximum points in the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Rally Championship, writes William Neill.
The Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of Caldwell put a stop to Garry Jennings’ run of wins this season but a second-place finish with Dale McGettigan, before heading to Cavan, was a good start to the weekend with the Kesh driver noting Caldwell’s talent at the finish.
Despite a morning overshoot David Kelly claimed the final podium position in the first of the Volkswagen Polo R5s with stage wins on the first pass of Gortree and the final run over Ervey Cross.
Along with Monaghan’s Arthur Kierans the pair finished 9.2 seconds from Jennings’ pace but only marginally held on with Michael Boyle going faster on the last stage by 5.3 seconds to reduce the gap to 1.4 seconds with a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 debut.
2024 winner Desi Henry may not have repeated the victory but there was a stage win to note to finish 5.5 seconds from Boyle – and such was the competition only 22 seconds separated the top five.
In the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Rally Championship County Tyrone’s Niall Devine was out front following a switch to a Volkswagen Polo R5 under Liam McIntyre’s guidance. It is however round one winners Aaron McLaughlin and Darren Curran who hold a ten-point advantage with two maximum scores at Bishopscourt and Tour of the Sperrins.
Hyundai i20 R5 crew Conor Wilson and Kyle McBride remain McLaughlin’s biggest threat with two-wheel-drive headed up by Joe Hegarty. Ballymoney’s Jaye Nevin sits just two points shy while both Paul McKenna and Adrian Grant are very much within the hunt too.
Seamus Goodfellow continued a good season at the head of the FIA two-wheel-drive drivers and Eoin Kelly is top of the Junior section.
In other news, electrical problems sidelined Cathan McCourt after being among the top ten early in the day and Jordan Hone, a former Micra Challenge runner, exited in service with a broken manifold.
Round four heads to the RPM & PRM Motorsport Loughgall Stages Rally for six tests within the village’s country park on Saturday July 5 before the R Kings Down Rally rounds out the Brown & Brown Insurance supported series.
