O'Connell & Wiley win the Moonraker!

It was like watching the years roll back as Pat O’Connell & Mark Wiley swept to victory on this weekends Moonraker Forest Rally, the result leaving the 2010 Champions now leading the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship standings thanks to their first victory in fourteen years behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta R5.

It was a dramatic day on the stages as the event made a welcome return to Waterford and some incredible stages in Coolatoor, Scart Mountain and the legendary Vee. It was top seeds Derek Mackarel & Eamonn Creedon who would go fastest on the opening stage, but their event would finish on the next test, and another fancied pairing of Andrew Purcell & Liam Brennan retired early with power steering failure in the opening miles of the first stage.

By the halfway point as crews returned to Dungarvan, it would be Niall McCullagh Ryan McCloskey in the VW Polo GTi R5 who held the lead, but with only 1.8 seconds from O’Connell & Wiley. It was a dramatic mid day halt for O’Connell as he needed medical attention for a hand injury sustained clipping a chicane on Scart Mountain, but the niggle seemed to have no lasting effect as the victory would be decided on an incredibly exciting final blast over The Vee.

Heading into the stage, McCullagh held a 4.6 second lead, but by the end it had been turned on its head, allowing Pat O’Connell & Mark Wiley to win by 3 seconds from McCullagh McCloskey, with Vivian Hamill & Gary Nolan bringing their Ford Fiesta Rally2 home to a great third after a tight day racing JWRC star Eamonn

Kelly & Conor Mohan.

The 2WD battle was just as exciting to watch as the battle at the front of the field, as top seeds Shane McGirr & Denver Rafferty held a small advantage at the service halt, but this would mean little as the Lada ground to a halt on Coolatoor 2 allowing Hugh McQuaid & Declan Casey to race home to a second successive 2WD victory

in the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship, backing up their victory on the season opening Carlow Forest Rally.

Claiming second place in the 2WD battle, and rounding off an incredible week that also saw the pair compete in Spain for the opening round of the European Rally Championship, were Craig Rahill & Conor Smith in the MI Rally Academy supported Peugeot 208 Rally4, with Damien Tourish & Domhnall McAlaney once more

impressing by bringing their Historic spec Ford Escort Mk2 home in third place.

In J1000, it was once again Danny Brady & Adrian Foley who set the early pace going quickest on Stage 1 & 2, but their day would end when their VW Up got stuck in a gully. 2024 Champions Oisin McShane & Fabian McShane were in the top-3 at half way, but they too failed to finish due to a mechanical issue. Impressing massively though once more were David Travers & Andy Purser, the pairs dream start to the season continues as they romped home to claim a second successive victory, this time with 7.1 seconds to spare.

Keeping the pressure on right to the end were Kyle Drury & Karl Egan, a class win on the second pass over the legendary Vee stage a nice touch for the youngster who has really become a force to be reckoned with this year, while it was the first time we have had a Skoda on the podium in J1000 as Rhys McElhinney & Conor Morrisson finished third.

After the dusty lanes of Co. Waterford, the series hasn’t far to travel as the Sean Conlon Forest Rally brings crews to Mitchelstown on May 11th, before the very exciting prospect of a first trip West in quite a long number of years with the Ballina based Mayo Forest Rally on May 31st.