Astute Cronin on top after wet West Cork Saturday
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin produced another wet weather masterclass to build a one-minute, 18.8-second advantage after the West Cork Rally’s second day of action.
The Ford Fiesta Rally2 duo started the day 6.3 seconds behind reigning Irish Tarmac Rally Champions Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan. A foggy Clogagh opener tested the crews early on Saturday morning and Cronin seized the rally lead with a storming effort 8.9 seconds faster than any of his rivals.
Struggling to see through the fog, Devine was lifting off the throttle in fast sections of the stage and dropped a further 12.3 seconds on the next Castletown test.
Set for a fightback after Saturday morning’s service halt, Devine’s day got even worse on stage seven when he punctured his Volkswagen Polo R5’s front-right tyre near the start of the 14-kilometre test.
Devine drove through the stage, pulling in for Cronin, Matt Edwards, and William Creighton behind. He dropped almost two minutes and found himself sixth overall.
Cronin’s lead was now over a minute from Edwards and David Moynihan’s similar Rally2 Fiesta. With more than half of West Cork’s route still to go, the Galway winner knew that West Cork honours were far from decided.
The 37-year-old showcased his years of experience to extend his lead by a further 14.4 seconds over Saturday’s remaining five stages.
Matt Edwards will be delighted to finish an intense day in the West Cork elements with a strong hold on second overall. The Welshman stayed out of trouble to consistently set top three times throughout the deluge of rain that befell the Clonakilty stages.
31.8 seconds behind, William Creighton and Liam Regan have impressed on only their second day behind the wheel of a Rally2 Fiesta on asphalt stages. Their World Rally Championship experience came in handy when faced with desperately difficult conditions as they chalked up their maiden Irish Tarmac fastest time on stage nine.
Creighton seemed to take a liking to Ring as he posted another fastest time on the next pass over West Cork’s iconic stage.
After Devine’s puncture on stage seven, Josh Moffett and Jonny Greer found themselves locked in a battle for fourth. That challenge seemed to pale to insignificance when it came to surviving Saturday afternoon’s washout.
Moffett had a topsy-turvy day, setting a brace of second-fastest times on Clogagh but struggling to find any pace on the other tests. The two-time West Cork winner surrendered to the conditions on Dunworley. He drove through with the sole intention of survival but dropped 30 seconds to Cronin’s stage ten benchmark.
That allowed Devine to move within a second of Moffett before jumping ahead of his Irish Tarmac rival on the next test.
Devine’s charge back through the pack was dealt a cruel blow on Saturday’s final Dunworley stage though when an impact damaged his Polo’s rear-left suspension. The retirement marked a disappointing end to a rally that looked so promising for Devine one day earlier.
Meanwhile, Greer was losing count of the moments he was having on the West Cork stages. One spine-tingler included a fifth-gear snap slide through stage eight’s farmyard section. His Citroen C3’s windscreen wipers struggled to keep up with the rain on stage ten and the Carryduff man eventually finished the day in fifth, 50.9 seconds behind Moffett.
Kevin Eves was a man on a mission on Saturday morning. The Toyota Corolla driver forgot about the foggy conditions and kept his throttle pinned to the floor through the day’s tricky opening stages.
Jonathan Pringle had led overnight but Eves took an incredible 26.9 seconds out of his rival on stage five and six.
Eves continued his charge, briefly stalled by a slide and heavy impact on a bank on stage eight. Left undeterred, albeit without a rear bumper, Eves extended his lead over second-placed Pringle to 40.2 seconds ahead of West Cork’s final day of action.
West Cork’s epic Rally4 storyline continued on day two as several of the frontrunners encountered issues on the tough eight stages.
Ryan MacHugh and Declan Boyle stayed out of trouble despite maintaining a high pace to build their overnight advantage to one minute and 9.9 seconds by the end of day two.
Lying in third, Keelan Grogan was the first to drop out of the running at the start-line of stage seven. His Peugeot 208 Rally4 stalled and refused to start the Clogagh test. Grogan managed to resurrect his front-wheel-drive charger but it was too late as he was already over the stage’s time limit. The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver made it back to service before re-entering under super-rally regulations.
Kyle McBride and Craig Rahill dropped out of contention on the next test as the roads started to resemble rivers twisting through the Cork countryside.
After struggling to get up to speed on earlier stages, Ioan Lloyd found his mojo with a string of fastest times to climb from sixth in the Rally4 class to second.
Cian Caldwell kept the Welsh visitor honest, ending the day 18.6 seconds behind in third.
The Historics started their rally on Saturday morning with Neil Williams grabbing the lead after the first two stages. 3.5 seconds separated the top four crews with Tomas Davies and Gareth James completing the top three.
Galway pacesetter Meirion Evans posted the fastest time on stage six to move into fourth, a perfect reply to an overshoot on the stage before.
Williams struggled in the wet on the next two stages and dropped to third, 21 seconds behind leader James. He described his Ford Escort’s front wheels following the puddles and hoped a switch to narrower tyres in service would help.
Winner of the last round, Evans, retired on stage seven when his Escort fell off the road on the same corner that caught out Declan Boyle and historic compatriot Tommy McDonagh.
A rapid fastest time on stage ten pushed James’s lead over Davies to 19.8 seconds but James’s high was crushed on the next stage when his West Cork bid ended.
Meanwhile, Williams recorded the fastest time to close up to within 14 seconds of new leader Davies.
Davies responded on Saturday’s final test to keep a 16.9-second category lead over Williams ahead of Sunday’s six stages.
Ray Breen completed the Historic top three in his Subaru Legacy, a further 41.2 seconds back.
Photos by D Harrigan Images
