It was wet, it was wild, and it was a drama filled day as the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship came to a dramatic end on the sixth and final round of what has been a remarkable season, the Clare Forest Rally.
The hugely anticipated return to Co. Clare after an absence of 42 years saw a real swell in support for the final event in the 2024 loose surface rally calendar, with a bumper field of 110 crews leaving the Scarriff base ready for the action that lay in store over six stages in the Forest complexes that surround the East-Clare town.
The first big bit of drama unfolded within the opening stage. As Derek Mackarel & Eamon Creedon blitzed past in a flail of gravel and stone on-route to setting the fastest time on the opening stage, things suddenly went silent, only to be broken minutes later by the appearance of Andrew Purcell & Liam Brennan in a similar Ford Fiesta R5.
Missing were David Condell & Mick Coady, their event finishing with an accident in the opening kilometres of the stage, and without knowing it at the time Eamon Creedon finished the stage a National Champion, joining his driver Derek Mackarel in claiming the 2024 crown with closest rival Coady now destined to not score. By the first service halt, Mackarel & Creedon would hold the advantage on the times.
That wasn’t to last though, as 2023 Champion Ryan Caldwell, navigated by Stephen O’Hanlon, set the time sheets alight on the mammoth 16.9km Stage 3, blitzing the field to jump into the event lead by 11.1 seconds by the stage end, although this would be slashed to 5.8 seconds later by Purcell & Brennan.
With the rain really beginning to pelt down we were sadly denied a true battle to the finish, as a cancelled Stage 4 for all crews on safety grounds coupled with a neutralised final stage for the 4WD crews meant Caldwell & O’Hanlon, in a Skoda Fabia R5, would claim victory on the Clare Forest Rally, with Purcell & Brennan second ahead of Mackarel & Creedon who wrapped up their Championship title with yet another podium finish.
While the battle for the rally victory was cut short with the final stage cancellation for the 4WD crews, it did still play host to one of the most remarkable finishes in recent times as Ioan Lloyd & Sion Williams drove themselves to 2WD victory with one of the most remarkable single stage performances of the year.
Stage by stage, the lead swung like a pendulum. Keelan Grogan & Ayrton Sherlock set the early pace in their Peugeot 208 Rally 4 before Craig Rahill & Conor Smith edged past in their Ford Fiesta Rally4. As the conditions deteriorated, the experience of Hugh McQuade & Declan Casey saw them briefly hold the lead in their Ford Escort, but the young Welsh stars lay in waiting.
With torrential rain easing and 16.9km ahead of them, Lloyd & Williams left nothing out there as they wen full attack. They pulled time out of some rivals at more than a second per kilometre, and it would be worthwhile as they returned to Scariff GAA complex as 2WD winners, ahead of Grogan & Sherlock and Rahill & Smith, making it a front wheel drive lockout on the final event of the year for the second successive season.
In the J1000 battle, it was true domination as Oisin McShane & Fabian McShane romped home to a 37.3 second victory ahead of Danny Brady & Darren O’Brien, with David Travers & Andy Purser in third. It was a heartbreaking finish for Tommy Cronin & Derek Butler as they retired within sight of the finish line, handing the 2024 J1000 title to McShane, who with it also claims the inaugural Craig Breen Foundation prize package.
Joy and despair were the theme across many of the Class battles, none more so than the highly anticipated showdown in Class 11F. Ian McCarthy & Patrick O’Sullivan made a bright start, just a few seconds off Christy Butler & Ann Hutchinson, but the engine in McCarthy’s Honda Civic, affectionately known as ‘Bitsy’, would expire on Stage 2 handing the 2024 title to great rivals and friends Eugene Ward & Patrick Heaney.
The success of Eugene isn’t the only thing to celebrate in the Ward household though, as his son John and navigator Brian Martyn became the very first Class 2A winners, pipping young gun Jack Harris by just a single point after a great battle right across the season, with another young star grabbing third in Jack Kennedy. The race for the 2A title is set to be even more exciting next season as a number of J1000 graduates are set to enter the class.
Lukasz Czapnik & Piotr Szadkowski won Class 4 on the event and did enough to get into third place in the 2024 Championship, while second in class was enough for James Lowry & Shaun Forde to grab the second place in the standings. Mike Garrahy & Iarla McCarthy would win Class 10 as well to secure their Class Title for 2024.
With the competitive season now over, the final event in the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship season is the Official Prizegiving which will take place on Saturday, November 23rd at the Sligo Park Hotel. Tickets are available to buy now at www.irlforestrally.com/shop
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