Elliott wins again - in Mayo

Three Cavan crews made the top ten of the Mayo Rally, the second round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship last week, including the overall winners and defending national champions, Patrick Elliott and Paul Goodman. The Cavan crew took their Subaru WRC to a six-second win over Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry in a similar car and now lead them by four points in the 2009 championship. The other Cavan MC crews were Patrick"s brother Paul Elliott with Brian Doherty alongside, who were ninth, and Russell Woods/Martin Byrne, tenth and best RWD in their MkII. The first stage was cancelled because hail had made it treacherous but Elliott set the pace on the second, 13s clear of Maguire with Gareth MacHale a further ten seconds behind in third. Elliott was also quickest on the third stage, despite an overshoot that cost him some ten seconds, and arrived at the Westport service with a 16s advantage. Trevor Mulligan suffered with a poor handling Escort and was in 46th. Elliott increased his lead on SS4 but spun on five and lost the front bumper of his Subaru: 'I really don"t know why it happened,' he said. 'I touched the brakes approaching a left hand bend and it just spun around. I didn"t see any oil, I was lucky and I reckon I only dropped about ten seconds.' The damage affected the handling of the Subaru on the following stages and Maguire set fastest times to cut the gap to three seconds. Elliott fought back on the penultimate test and gained a single second on Maguire to lead by four. He added two more on the final test for the six-second win. 'Niall and myself had the wrong tyres for the final stages; we had full wets and the roads were dry. It was far from being a foregone conclusion, I had to battle hard against Niall. It was a hard rally to win and I suppose I didn"t make it any easier on myself either,' said Patrick at the finish. Paul Elliott and Russell Woods had to be separated on a tie-break at the end, and the Mitsubishi gained the place as it was quicker on the final stage, but Woods was delighted with his result even so: 'My last outing was in August and I wanted to bed myself in handy enough,' he said last week. 'We had a steady start, not the quickest at the beginning, but we upped the pace and on the second last stage set a fast time. We had a big moment at the end of it, flat out in sixth. We filled the road on both sides, it was dead straight over bumps. We were definitely doing 120+mph... it tightened me!' said the Virginia man. The time was 20s faster than class 13 rival, Victor Hunter from Donegal: 'We left the balls in the toolbox as they say! We just said we"d attack it.' Woods and co-driver Martin Byrne from Bailieboro eased back a bit on the last stage and dropped a few seconds to their rival, but they had enough to win the class, finish in the top ten and were in the first RWD car home. They had such a good run that Terry Dent and Clive Woods didn"t have much to do in service. The crew have signed for the Border Championship, thanks to the support of Wilton Waste, Kenny McCullagh Construction, Jimmy Dry Cleaners, Geraghty Auto Repair, Brian Lynch Construction and Irish Car Auctions. Mark Wedlock and Adam Kinkade were 17th overall and third in class in Mark"s father"s MkII. Mark had driven it at Latton and likes it: 'I enjoyed it, though it was a bit hard to get the hang of it, to step up the extra horsepower and 15-inch wheels,' said Mark. 'In my car you"re waiting - you see a junction a couple of hundred yards ahead and you"re waiting to get to it; in this car it"s just coming at you all the time.' The lads were seventh quickest on SS6 and quickest 2WD. They have also signed for the Border Championship and hope to do Monaghan and Cavan. (Mark thanked Mark Smith and Gerry Buckley for doing service). Trevor Mulligan and Lisa Roe eventually worked their way up to 16th overall and won class 14; Peter Wilson/Domhnall Lennon finished 21st and third in class 11, just a second behind Jim McKenna. The first stage went well and they were fighting for the class lead with Anthony Hand from Monaghan but on the second loop of stages the heavens opened and the windscreen heated up - Wilson has a heated screen on order but it hadn"t arrived on time - and they lost 50s. Declan Quigley and Adrian Foley were 11th in class 11 after a steady run and a trouble-free day. There were three Cavan club crews in class nine; Thomas Carlon and Declan Smith were second after a battle with Simon Evans in a Mini; Pa and Jimmy Bellew were third; and Brendan and Damien O"Reilly were fourth. Noel O"Reilly and Dara Little had a heavy crash in their Peugeot 205. A Co. Cavan Motor Club autocross is scheduled for this Sunday (March 22) at Latton. • Thanks to Co. Cavan Motor Club PROs Gerry Buckley and Seamus Cooke.