Greer defends Killarney Historic crown despite Kelly charge
Jonny Greer and Kirsty Riddick braved wet and frosty Kerry stages to seal a slender 3.7-second victory over Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy on the 2023 Killarney Historic Rally.
A sub-zero start in Killarney’s Parc Ferme provided an early test for the historic timepieces before thoughts turned to how the road conditions would be.
A surprise rain shower left most of the crews stranded on slick tyres and it was Greer’s four-wheel-drive Ford Sierra Sapphire that set stage one’s early benchmark despite a few lock-ups under braking. Kelly’s BMW at least had wet tyres across its front axle and he utilised the grip to steal 16.7 seconds and the Killarney Historic Rally lead from Greer on the second test.
Caragh Lake would be the last spectators would see pre-rally favourite Alan Ring as his Subaru Legacy succumbed to engine gremlins.
Ring joined Paul McDevitt and Ernie Graham in Killarney’s early list of victims. The latter’s engine blew on the Dromin opener.
Reigning Historic Irish Tarmac Champions Duncan Williams and Guy Weaver had a nightmarish start as well. They overshot a junction in their Ford Escort RS1800 and had a couple of spins, losing a minute on Killarney’s slippery first stage.
Ray Breen put his bad Caragh Lake memories from two years ago behind him to slot his Legacy into third overall, 18 seconds behind Greer.
2.2 seconds separated Melvyn Evans and Denis Moynihan who completed the top five positions.
Greer wasted no time in retrieving some of his time lost to Kelly. The Sierra roared through Shanara to set the fastest time by 5.3 seconds.
3.2 seconds covered the next five cars through Shanara. Two-time Killarney Historic winner Moynihan showed his class to pip Breen, Evans, and Tom Clark through Shanara and move into fourth position.
Upping the ante after service, Kelly and Kennedy muscled their rear-wheel-drive BMW through the mucky lanes of Dromin to secure their second fastest time of the day. It stemmed Greer’s fightback and increased Kelly’s lead to 11 seconds at the rally’s halfway point.
Michael McDaid and Declan Casey found their form on stage four to set the third-fastest time. It promoted their Escort RS1800 into fifth overall just one second behind third-placed Evans.
Greer and Kelly’s intense duel for rally honours meant Evans was over a minute behind the rally leaders but the battle for third was incredible.
12 seconds covered the seven crews from third to Neil Williams and Anthony O’Sullivan in ninth. Williams had found his sweet spot on Dromin after a difficult start to the rally. Tomas Davies was another Welshman finding form as the seven-strong fight for third was also a fight for top Historic ITRC points.
Greer bettered his Caragh Lake time by 28 seconds on stage five to increase the pressure on rally leader Kelly. Another fastest time on Shanara put the Carryduff driver within 5.2 seconds of Kelly with two stages to go.
McDaid and Casey jumped into third overall despite nursing alternator issues as Moynihan maintained his grip on fourth.
Breen and Morrissey slipped out of the fight for third when they dropped four minutes on Killarney’s fifth test. Their Subaru Legacy returned to service a damaged front bumper but fought on to finish the rally’s eight stages.
Neil Williams rounded out his impressive loop to end stage six in fifth overall, top ITRC registered driver, 6.6 seconds ahead of rival Clark.
With just two seconds between Clark, Evans, and Davies – it was still all to play for heading into Killarney’s deciding Rockfield double-header.
Davies was hoping he could make an impact on the top five. Driving a fresh Ford Escort, Davies admitted he struggled with his pacenotes on Caragh Lake but took hope from the fact he wouldn’t need to complete it again.
Greer and Riddick finally overhauled the BMW of Kelly and Kennedy on Killarney’s penultimate test. Eight-tenths of a second was Greer’s advantage although Kelly was determined to give it everything on Killarney’s night-time decider.
Tomas and Eurig Davies’ hopes of challenging their ITRC rivals took a hit on stage seven when they overshot their Escort through a gate. They held onto eighth at the end of the rally, just ahead of Melvyn Evans and Sean Hayde who suffered a gearbox issue on the Rockfield finale.
Wayne Evans and John Smithwick benefitted from Davies and Evans’ woes to finish joint-eighth with Davies. In seventh, Tommy McDonagh and Paul Murphy completed a great drive missing out on sixth to Williams and O’Sullivan by six-tenths of a second.
Tom Clark and Alistair Wyllie pulled out all the stops in the dark to take 17.7 seconds out of Denis Moynihan and Martin O’Brien on the final running of Rockfield. The tremendous effort rewarded them with a fourth-placed finish and top drivers’ points on the opening round of Irish Tarmac’s Historic series.
Michael McDaid and Declan Casey claimed third overall, giving Casey an early lead in ITRC’s co-drivers standings.
Despite an almighty push through Rockfield’s night-time roads, Kelly’s BMW ran out of traction to finish 3.7 seconds behind the imperious Greer, Riddick, and four-wheel-drive Sierra combination.
“We struggled a bit at the start of the day,” explained Greer, “and had to make a bit of a fight back.
“We had a good battle with Donagh all day and it is great to get over the line with Kirsty back as well.”
Rob Duggan and Ger Conway came out on top of an equally close fight for modified honours. They grabbed the lead from Kevin Eves and Chris Melly on stage seven and extended it in the darkness on stage eight to finish with a 3.4-second victory.
Declan Gallagher completed the top three in his Toyota Starlet. Conor Murphy and Sean Collins had set the modified pace from most of the day but a crash on a fast stage six left-hander ended their rally.
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