Peadar Hurson and Damien Connolly clinched the Donegal Harvest Rally title today with a comprehensive win.
Warrenpoint man Hurson and co-driver Connolly, from Monaghan, had over a minute to spare on their nearest challengers, Muff’s Joseph McGonigle and Ciaran Geaney of Falcarragh after the nine stages.
In the WRC Fiesta, Hurson and Connolly were fastest on all of today’s stages.
The defending Harvest Rally champions, Declan and Brian Boyle (above), crashed out of the event after just 2 kilometres in the wet, slippery conditions.
The Lettermacaward cousins paid the price for wrong tyre choice and the Fiesta WRC slid off. While the car wasn’t damaged and the pair did come through the stage, the absence of spectators to aid in their plight meant they’d lost too much time.
The Boyles had been aiming for an unprecedented fourth Harvest Rally title in a row, but their bid ended in the latest disappointment of what has been a difficult 2017 for them.
There was a further blow for local rally fans as Damien Gallagher and Mac Walsh – the National Rally winners from June’s Donegal International Rally – suffered engine trouble last night and couldn’t make the start line today.
Hurson set the tone with the fastest time on the opening stage, when he was 17.6 seconds faster than McGonigle.
When they rolled into service for the first time, Hurson had stretched that advantage out to 29.3 seconds.
At the second service of the day, Hurson was 46 seconds in front with McGonigle having a comfortable advantage of over a minute-and-a-half to Ryan Loughran.
The lead was beyond the 50-second barrier after the seventh stage and at the conclusion he had one minute and 1.4 seconds to spare.
Brian Brogan and Damien McGettigan were fifth overall in the Mk2 Escort, while John Bonner and Rory Kennedy finished in eighth.
Johnny Jordan and Gary McNern were tenth overall and won class 11R.
William McFadden/Daniel McBride, Kyle McGettigan/Dale McGettigan, Trevor Bustard/John McCafferty and Kevin McLaughlin/Patrick Gallagher all finished inside the top 15.
And there was a return to action for John O’Donnell and Aidan Friel, who were 16th overall and fifth in class 13 in their Mk2 Escort.
Aaron McLaughlin and Enda McBride won class 20 while the Carr brothers, Shane and Ciaran, took the spoils in class 10 while Adrian Cannon and Bernard Gallagher topped class 3.
Another of the day’s highlights was one of the 00 cars, an iconic Opel Ascona driven by Donagh Kelly, the car done up like James Cullen’s famous machine from the late 1980s.
