Meath men do best for Cavan

Meath men who are prominent members of County Cavan Club got the club's best results on the ALMC Stages Rally on Sunday, appropriate enough as the stages were mostly in the Royal County. Trevor Mulligan and Sean Hayde took their 2.5 litre Escort to fourth overall and a class win having battled with English crew Simon Mauger/Ashley Trimble and finished 42s behind them (Mauger won the class but forfeited it as he finished top three overall). Next Cavan crew home were Jonathan Pringle and Martin Byrne, who had a steady run through difficult conditions to 23rd overall, learning the ropes as they went along. James Cassidy and John Norris also took a steady approach and avoided heroics, but ended up first in class and 31st overall. Alan Keena navigated Mullingar driver Alan Whelan to 33rd overall, their first finish in their new Escort. Pa Bellew was one of the happiest men at the end of the day, thanks to an excellent run to second in class nine and 34th overall after a close battle with Damien O'Reilly and Gene McDonald (who finished 37th overall and third in the same class). "We had a good run from the start, but we were cautious enough on the first run," said Pa. "Then it dried up nicely and we got a good cut on the last run." Pa and with his new co-driver, Andres Reid from Kildare, were eight seconds ahead of O'Reilly and McDonald before the last two stages and they finished the nine tests 15s in front, so the dry roads suited the Wilkinstown driver. "Luckily it dried up or we wouldn't have put on as much of a push - it was hard to find the grip under braking on the first couple of loops." Pa is driving to defend his class nine Border Championship title, and is leading it again at this stage, along with its national equivalent. "We'll continue both," he said, "follow them through anyway see if we can get something out of it..." By the way, Pa's Cavan connections extend to more than membership of the motor club, as one of his most loyal supporters is Doughty Filling Station in Wilkinstown, whose owner is Ballyjamesduff native Brendan Doughty. Peter Wilson and Brian Daniels were going as quickly as ever but a puncture dropped them out of contention, while Anthony Masterson kept his winning streak going, this time with Chris Armstrong navigating, and took another class seven win. Philip and Finbar Smith came out best from a great battle with Stephen Kellett and Russell Waller to secure third in class two. Ballyjamesduff men Dan and Sean Daly finished second in class 12 with their Peugeot, and Mark Monahan and Daniel Donnelly were 54th overall in their Civic. Regular Latton competitor Shane Marron with the ever busy Damien McCabe navigating took third in class despite a trip into the scenery during the day, and Mullingar men Alan Bardon and Ed Dunne took victory in Junior Rally. Non-finishers from Cavan Motor Club included: Paul Clarke and Gary Copperwaite; Jonathan Thompson and Finbarr Boyle; Nicky Brunton and Paul Calwell; navigators Niall Monahan who was co-driving for Monaghan's Paddy Reilly; and Sean Brunton co-driving for Gerard Hodgins. Mervyn Wedlock finished sixth overall in Enniskillen Motor Club's Brougher Mountain Rally Time Trial on Saturday. • With thanks to County Cavan Motor Club PRO Seamus Cooke.