Josh Moffett recorded his third straight win in the Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally championship by taking by a start-to-finish victory in the Waterford City Ford Raven’s Rock Rally on Sunday.
Armed on this occasion with his brother Sam’s upgraded version of the Hyundai i20 Rally2, the Monaghan driver’s win was never in doubt.
He and his co-driver Keith Moriarty arrived back to finish ramp at the Viking Hotel with a 42.4-second advantage over Declan Boyle and stand-in co-driver Paddy McCrudden.
Moffett is unsure if he will stay with the upgraded version of the car for the rest of the season or if he will revert to his older model.
“A lot of people have been asking me that, but we will wait and see,” said Moffett.
It was a special victory for Moffett on Craig Breen’s home rally.
Breen carried the number 42 on the doors of his World Rally Championship cars and Moffett took his 42nd win by 42 seconds.
The Triton Showers National Rally Championship has now reached its halfway point and Moffett has won three of the four rounds run so far.
Round one winners Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan are expected to return to the championship fray for round five, the Connacht Sligo Stages on July 16 after skipping Waterford.
Former champion Boyle has not enjoyed the best of luck in recent times, but his mid-season switch from a Volkswagen Polo to a Citroen C3 has paid dividends.
His second-place finish in Waterford was his first visit to a National Rally podium since 2015.
Another surprise package on Sunday’s rally was the pace of Cal McCarthy and Eric Calnan. They were right on the pace early on and arrived at the first service halt at the Bell Vue Shipping Port outside Waterford City in second place.
A fastest time on stage four showed his new -found pace but, unfortunately, the Citroen C3 crew crashed out on stage five.
This promoted another newcomer to the final podium position.
English visitors James Ford and Neil Shanks usually ply their trade in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship but entered the Carrick-on-Suir Motor Club-organised event to test a new Citroen C3 ahead of the Cork ’20’ and the Ulster Rally later in the summer.
Their efforts paid dividends and recorded their best Irish rally result to date.
Declan Boyle’s son Michael continued his run of top-ten National Rally finishes and his fourth-place finish in Waterford was a season-best to date.
Like his father, he and co-driver Dermot McCaffery felt they picked up a puncture in the middle loop.
Despite dry roads, there was a small film of dust on the roads and the Volkswagen Polo crew were complaining of a strange feeling with the handling of the car – not unlike a puncture – on the surprisingly slippery stages.
Daniel Cronin and Donnachadh Burke were ruing their lack of seat time. Their last event in their Volkswagen Polo was the Circuit of Kerry in April and while they felt they were trying very hard but said their efforts did not reflect in stage times on their way fifth.
Championship sponsors Paul Barrett and Kevin Reilly recorded their best result of the season so far and despite an altercation with a stage-six chicane, they ensured that there were three Citroen’s in the top six.
The all-important modified battle looked like it was going the way of local crew Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy in their Ford Escort until the final stage.
Fresh from their win in the Laois Heartlands Rally and three days of the Donegal International Rally action they were able to keep Rob Duggan at bay over the seven stages (stage three did not run).
However, disaster struck on the final stage when, with just 2kms to, they picked up a puncture after a heavy landing off a jump.
The long-time category leaders dropped to tenth overall and third in the class.
Duggan and his co-driver Ger Conway were back in their usual Ford Escort for the first time since the 2022 Donegal International Rally and they finished seventh overall after a tight battle with their Kerry neighbours.
Conor Murphy and Sean Collins were second in the Modified rally, in their similar Escort.
Despite an overshoot in the morning loop they reported a drama-free afternoon and enjoyed the battle with Doherty and Duggan.
The top three Modified crews were not registered for the championship so national honours and top points in the Ford Escort Challenge went to Chris Armstrong and Darren Curran.
They spent the day trying to get a grip on the rear of their car but after a recent run of bad luck, they were more than delighted to make the finish and take top championship points.
The top ten was completed by the Ford Fiesta of David Guest and Jonathan McGrath.
This was their first rally since West Cork in March and Guest was also recovering from an arm injury.
Like their West Cork neighbours, Cronin and Burke, they felt that they were trying very hard but the stopwatch told a different story.
John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor won class 13 in their Toyota Corolla and were presented with the Pual Mulcahy Memorial Trophy, in memory of one of Carrick-on-Suir Motor Club’s most popular members.
Historic Rally
Welsh visitors Wayne Evans and Martin Henry won the historic section from Phillip Rogers and Sion Willians but neither crew are registered for the Triton Showers National Rally Championship so the top points went to Paul McDevitt.
The London-based Donegal man and his co-driver Ray Fitzpatrick endured a host of transmission problems in their Escort.
Their service crew changed the gearbox during the first service halt and they returned to the second halt with clutch issues on their way to third place.
Junior Rally
Jack McKenna and Damian Doherty took their fourth maximum point haul from four starts in the Triton Showers National Junior Rally Championship. They finished nearly a minute clear of the similar Honda Civic of Mikey Ryan and Eoghan Doherty.
