The Sligo Stages Rally took place recently and similar to the Mayo Stages Rally, this event was part of the Sligo Pallets Border Championship and also a round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.
Despite a few sunny days in the lead up to the event, there were damp roads from the first few stages which deteriorated as the day went on; heavy rain in the afternoon made it a challenging event for competing crews, officials and spectators.
In keeping with previous years, Mayo and District Motorsport Club was well represented, with club members involved in six competing cars and a large number of marshals and time keepers on hand to help their neighbouring club.
Th top Mayo finisher was Brian Lavelle from Achill with Lorcan Moore on the notes were nineteenth overall and third in class 11F; Ronan Denning and Karl Egan bettered their second place finish at the Galway Summer Stages when they took first place in class 2 and 47th overall.
James McGreal and Chris Mitchell took the honours in class 15 and came 52nd overall in their Evo 6. Bonniconlon’s Trisha Greavy co-driving for Paul Crosby came 57th overall and tenth in class 11R. Sara McFadden took home her first piece of crystal after co-driving for her father Keith, they were second in class 13F and 67th overall.
Sara recently made the headlines by becoming the first visually impaired co-driver when she competed in the Imokilly Mini Stages Rally earlier this summer. Gordon Nimmo and Chrystal Culkeen got off to a good start but were unfortunate not to finish after having an off/on stage 8 in their Supermacs sponsored Ford Fiesta.
Further afield Jason Murphy and co-driver Matthew Murphy travelled to Enniskillen for the Lakeland Forestry Rally. As part of his prize for winning the J100 Forestry Championship Jason got to compete in a Ford Fiesta R2, which he brought home 11th in class 4 and 64th overall. Andrew Grennan, co-driving for Vivian Hamill in a Ford Fiesta R5 came third overall.
The final round of the Mayo Autocross takes place on Sunday September 30, further information can be found on www.mayomotorsportclub.com
