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A weekend full of dramas ended successfully for Brendan Cumiskey when he claimed the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Champion driver’s title for the second time, he and co-driver Conor Foley surviving a frought second day of the Riverbank House Hotel Dick Bailey Stages Rally. Saturday’s round seven and Sunday’s round two were both won by Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly, the results securing the co-driver’s title for O’Reilly. Pre-event favourite and last year’s Champion Neil McCance, with co-driver Jonny Hart, saw his title bid grind to a halt when a fuel pump problem brought his rally to an end on the last stage of the first day.
After a night of persistent rain, competitors were more than pleased to awaken to clear skies and dry roads for the first of Saturday’s three stages ran three times. McCance/Hart were immediately on their usual front-running pace and, even though admitting to slow start, were first of the Mitsubishi’s by four seconds ahead of Moffatt/O’Reilly and seven in front of Cumiskey/Foley after stage one.
Positions remained the same for the next two stages and, when they reached the service halt after SS3, the drivers reported that although they had a few moments due to the differing levels of grip, their cars were going well – so much so they were lying 4th, 5th and 10th overall. The margins were now 16-seconds between McCance/Hart and Moffett/O’Reilly, who were a further 20 ahead of Cumiskey/Foley.
The second run though the same loop of three stages saw the pace increase, with Cumiskey/Foley fastest of the Evos through SS4 (a re-run of SS1) having found more power from their car’s engine, whilst McCance/Hart were still not happy with their grasp on the stage. However, they put the record straight by again being the quickest of the Evos on SS5, but succumbed to a charging Moffett/O’Reilly by six seconds on SS6.
Therefore, at the next service halt the time sheets showed the gap was still 16 seconds between first and second crews, with Cumiskey/Foley 25-seconds behind in third. But there was now a twist, as heavy rain started to fall whilst the cars were in the service park at Wexford Racecourse where the question was: was the rain localised or were the stages also wet?
After frantic activity selecting the right tyres, it turned out that the stages were still bone dry. However, McCance had opted for slicks on the front and inters on the back, whilst Moffett had gone for inters all-round and Cumiskey slicks, although this mixture of tread patterns made little difference to the margins between the Mitsubishi crews.
Then, just when it looked like McCance/Hart were going to claim their third Evo Challenge victory of the season, disaster struck when their car’s engine suddenly cut out halfway through the final stage of the day. Coasting to a halt, the 2009 Champion did all he could to re-start it, but to no avail and his and Hart’s rally came to end –as did the chance of McCance’s second title win in succession.
The fault was later traced to a small grommet in the fuel pump, which had split and therefore, there was no pressure in the system to draw petrol from the tank. It was a disappointing conclusion for a crew who had been consistently the fastest of the Irish Evolution Challenge field all season.
This left the battle for the title down to the remaining two crews in a scenario that meant that all Cumiskey/Foley needed to do was finish, Moffett/O’Reilly only able to win if their rivals retired. Whilst that sounded easy, in rallying it isn’t and the drama started right from the first of Sunday’s stages.
As Cumiskey/Foley left the start line of the very first stage, something broke in their car’s transfer box. With only two-wheel-drive - and the transmission making a lot of strange noises - they limped through the stage, just making it to the finish.
After checking things in the following road section, they also made it through the next stage and back to service halt in Wexford, where the mechanics did what they could to fix the problem. Meanwhile, Moffett and O’Reilly were having a trouble-free run and concentrating on not making any mistakes in order to ensure they got to the finish – just in case their rivals did not!
Cumiskey/Foley managed to get through the next loop of two stages at a steady pace and, when they reached the next service halt, with help from a few other Mitsubishi teams, they were able to fit a new transfer box. Therefore, they had four-wheel-drive for the final pair of stages. However, the shock of having power and the rear wheels driving again saw Cumiskey almost throw it away at the first corner of the day’s fifth stage, when he clouted a fence with the back of the car, but luckily the damage was just cosmetic.
Having not put a foot wrong, Moffett/O’Reilly crossed the finish line in Wexford to make it a double-victory by winning Saturday’s round seven and Sunday’s round eight, the results providing O’Reilly with the 2010 Evolution Challenge Ireland co-driver’s title. His and Moffett’s pace was also good enough to see them finish fourth overall and first in Group N.
A very relieved Cumiskey/Foley eventually made it to the finish for the driver to claim his second Evolution Challenge title (his first being in 2008) and take his place alongside Sweden’s Jimmy Joge - and a yet to be decided driver from the UK – to battle for the European Evolution Challenge title in Cyprus on the final round of the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge) at the beginning of November.
“What a day’, said Cumiskey. “when we broke the transfer box as we left the start line this morning I thought we would never get to the finish, but with a bit of luck and help from our team and others, we made it. I can’t believe that I’ve become the first driver to have won two Evolution Challenge Championship titles and added to that, I also can’t believe I’m going to be competing for the European title in Cyprus. I better brush up on my gravel driving!'
For the first time this season, the winner of the Evolution Challenge in each of the three countries it takes place, UK, Ireland and Sweden, will win the same prize: A supported drive in the FxPro Rally Cyprus, the final round of the IRC. Then, whichever of the three teams are first home on this event, will be crowned European Evolution Challenge Champions.
The 2010 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Ireland is supported by: Mitsubishi Motors, Pirelli tyres, Sunoco fuels, JRM, Cyprus Automobile Association, Fairways Mitsubishi, Donnelly Group, James Foley Rallysport, Speedline Corse wheels, Murray Motorsport, CL brake pads, Sparco racewear, Pacenotes and PIAA lights - who sponsor the junior award for under 25-year old drivers.
Round seven results
1 Sam Moffett (Monaghan)/James O’Reilly (Monaghan) 1:04:53
2 Brendan Cumiskey (Dundalk)/Conor Foley (Ballinode) 1:05:19
Retirements
SS9 Neil McCance (Comber)/Jonny Hart (Carryduff) Fuel pump
Round eight results
1 Sam Moffett (Monaghan)/James O’Reilly (Monaghan) 0:48:06
2 Brendan Cumiskey (Dundalk)/Conor Foley (Ballinode) 1:13:54
Final Series Standings
Drivers
1 Brendan Cumiskey 64
2 Sam Moffett 62
3 Neil McCance 44
4 Geoff McMahon 22
5 John McGlaughlin 17
6 Stanley Ballantine 15
7 Willie Mavitty 5
Co-drivers
1 James O'Reilly 62
2 Conor Foley 62
3 Jonny Hart 24
4 Rob Graham 22
5 Sean Ferris 20
6 Crawford Henderson 17
7 Donnacha O'Callaghan 15
8 Brian Daniels 5
ENDS
Photo Caption
Brendan Cumiskey/Conor Foley (left)
Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly (right)
(copyright free images).
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