Lap of honour for Donagh Kelly in Cork

October 05, 2015
Lap of honour for Donagh Kelly in Cork Donagh Kelly & Conor Foley on their way to winning the Cork 20
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Donagh Kelly rounded out his 2015 Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Rally Championship with another flawless drive to take victory on the Cork 20 International Rally.


Kelly, who had already sealed the Tarmac title on the previous round in Ulster, renewed his partnership with co-driver Conor Foley for the season finale.

Kelly was to face strong competition from local ace, Daragh O'Riordan. The Middleton driver was in the hunt for a 5th consecutive Cork 20 win and he started well, taking a slim lead on the opening test. O'Riordan held on to his lead for 3 stages until Kelly hit the front on stage 4 with a scintillating time. Kelly and O'Riordan swapped times for the remainder of the opening day seeing Kelly arrive at the overnight halt with a 5.2 second advantage. Behind the top 2, Keith Cronin was holding 3rd in his R5 Citroen DS3.

Kelly stamped his authority on the rally on the opening stage on Sunday morning with a time 11 seconds faster than O'Riordan. In an effort to keep with Kelly, O’Riordan slipped off the road on stage 11 and retired. With O'Riordan out, Keith Cronin inherited 2nd place and held that position all the way to the finish. Just behind Cronin, Welsh visitor Melvyn Evans enjoyed a successful weekend taking the final spot on the podium in his Subaru Impreza. But it was Donagh Kelly's rally, and indeed his year as this was his 5th win in his Irish Tarmac Chanpionship season. His final winning margin was 1 minute 49.5 seconds.

Behind the leaders, Clonakilty driver David Guest won the Group N category in his Mitsubishi Lancer but it was Aaron MacHale and Paul McGee who would be crowned Irish Tarmac Group N Champions with a 10th place finish giving them the necessary points to take the crown. Finishing 5th overall with Joe McGonigle in a Skoda Fabia S2000 meant that Ciarán Geaney was crowed champion co-driver.

In the national section of the rally, it was once again Declan Gallagher and Ryan Moore who took the spoils with a stunning drive in their Toyota Starlet by almost 2 minutes ahead of Eugene Meegan. Rob Duggan continued his winning ways taking a convincing win in the junior rally.
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