Enniskillen Motor Club’s hugely popular May Day Stages Rally sponsored by Maxol@ McAleers has been hailed a success yet again proving all the hard endeavours of the club members and competitors alike have made the event into a success story.
Despite the damp opening conditions, last years victor Eugene Donnelly was back to retain his crown, however a few other drivers had also their eye on the top prize. Fastest on the opening stage were the pairing of James Gillen and Ken Sproule who opened the event with a time of 2mins37.5 seconds only two tenths faster than Gareth Sayers and Gareth Gilchrist who in turn held a mere one tenth of a second over Donnelly and his competition winning co-driver Vicky Blaney.
The potent two wheel drive machinery was also well up the leader board with Kyle White in a Citroen C2R2 leading the way on the opening loop from Jim McKenna, Chris Armstrong and Shane McGirr.
The class battles also raged furiously throughout the day class1 was solely dominated by Stephen Dickson/ Wendy Blacledge with Marty Collins/Michael McGrath a further 23 seconds back whilst Damien Conlin/Paul Mimnagh took third in the class 11seconds adrift of second.
Class two was won by Mark Massey/D McDermott whilst Ashley and Ruth Dickson finished a fine second by 1.4 seconds with third position going to Aiden Wray/Kieran McGrath and Nigel Hodgins Marc McMenimin 4th .
Class three victor Ruairi Maguire/Darren Connolly had a sensational drive to 30th overall whilst the tussle of the class was resumed on the last stage to see Raymond Dennison/Laura McGuigan second albeit by 0.6 of a second over Neil Harron/Stacey Bothwell with Declan and Martin McGarrity in 4th position. class4 was won by Darryl McCanny/Damien Duffy by seconds over Dean Humprey/Conor Maguire, whilst Gerard and Paul Hughes where 11second further back in 3rd and Travis Humphrey/Tanya McGrath 4th.
Kyle White/Alastair McKee edged out Alan Smyth/Andrea Sproule for top Citroen honours in class5 with Stephen and Gloria Smith taking a deserved 3rd place from Glenn Irwin/Gordon Burke
class6 was no different to the lower classes with Andrew Bustard/David Leitch taking victor by a slender three seconds from Brian Tolan/Colin Irvine, whilst Jonathan and Michael Hall claimed third a mere four second back.
The largely supported class7 and top 2wd class was won by Chris Armstrong/Tom Forde with a five second margin over Damien tourish/Brendan McElhinney and Shane McGirr/Emlyn Burns in third, whilst Andy Bracken/Tara Bothwell took 4th.
Class 8 was won by Darren McKelvey/Denver Rafferty from JIm McKenna/Thomas Treanor with Dermot O’Hagan /Pierce Doheny a fine third on the debut of there new Evo6.
The top three overall positions had been hard fought for all day with ever changing grip levels due to the unfavourable weather.
However Gillen/Sproule claimed third for their efforts coming in eight seconds adrift of the flying Gareth Sayers and Gareth Gilchrist who had a momentous tussle with Donnelly and Blaney who in the end came out victors and for the second year Eugene Donnelly adds his name to the victors trophy. Enniskillen Motor club would like to thank all who made the event possible from land owners to club members and all the competitors who supported the event. next on the club calendar is the clubs annual Autotest on 24th May
