The 2009 Awards Ceremony for The” Top Part West Coast Rally Championship” which was hosted by the Clare Motor Club took place in the Auburn Lodge Hotel last

saturday night. This very popular seven round championship consists of rallies in Birr, Kerry, Limerick, Galway and Clare.

The awards ceremony was well attended with drivers, navigators, event organisers, team sponsors, familys and friends who turned out from all over the country to honour the 2009 prize winners. MC’s for the night were the voice of irish motorsport Duggie Hughes an honoury member of the Clare Motor Club and Bill Fitzgerald, chairman of the West Coast Rally Championship Committee. John Dillane MD of Top Part Ennis also attended and presented the competitors with their awards.

The overall winners of the 09 championship Niall Maguire / Enda Sherry from Monaghan thanked the championship organising committee and all the various motor clubs for organising a fantastic championship  in such hard economical times and they also thanked the Clare Club for hosting the Awards Ceremony.

There was  a lot of Clare Motor Club Competitors among the prizewinners with local navigator Grainne McEnery from Ennis finishing second overall in the championship with kerry driver Mike Quinn in their Ford Escort Mk2. Grainne and Mike who started rallying together at the beginning of 2009 have had a fantastic year. Along with finishing second overall in the west coast championship they also won the rally.ie award for the fastest two wheel drive car in the 09 National Rally Championship and the also won the modified section in the Historic Rally of the Lakes which took place in Killarney. Third overall in the top part championship was kerry pair Thomas Fitzmaurice / Fionn Foley in their Mitsubishi Evo 9. Trevor and Kenny Bustard were the overall Group N winners while Ed Synan / Denis O’Connell won the overall two wheel drive award. The overall Junior winners were Patrick and Gerard Divilly.

Clare Motor Club members who won  awards included, Anthony O’Halloran / Charlie McEnery who won class 4 in their Mitsubishi Evo 9, Leanne Flanagan finished second in class 10. Joe Baker finished joint fourth in class eleven while navigator Jim Casey finished second in class 13. In the Junior section Martin Casey / Derek Flynn finished first in class 16 followed by Patrick Kelly who finished second also in class 16, both driving Honda Civics.

The Clare Motor Club who celebrates 30 years this year also honoured some of its members with awards. The club presented Grainne McEnery with a merit award for her achievements in 2009. Clerk of the course for the Clare Hillclimb Weekend John McNamara was also presented with a merit award for winning the prestigeous Dick Bailey Award for the best run hillclimb weekend in 2009. Tommy Flanagan was presented with The Jamie Leonard Cup as he was the winner of the club championship. Recently elected club secretary Martin Leahy from Ruan was presented with the club person of the year award for all the work he has put into the club and neighbouring clubs during the year.

The 2010  Top Part West Coast Rally Championship will start again with the first round taking place in Birr on February 28th. followed bt Kerry, Limerick, Galway, Clare and Kerry Mini Stages.

Photos taken by Dermot Kelleher/Rallyportfolio.com. Please see "gallery" section for more.

Dermot Kelleher

PRO Clare Motor Club

A Rally Timekeepers Procedures and Training Course will be held in the Auburn Lodge Hotel Ennis Co Clare on Sunday January the 24th at 1pm.

This course is being run in Conjuction with the Dunlop National Rally Championship and was requested by competitors and clubs involved in the Dunlop National Series.

However This Course is open to all clubs running Rallys
(National, International or Forestry) in 2010.

The purpose of the coures is to cover the procedures on all aspects of timing on Stage Rallys.

This course is also open and recomended to Competitors that wish to attend.

It is intended to run a number of these courses through out the country starting on Sunday the 24th to cover upcomming events such as
Galway International Rally, Birr Stages Rally
and all clubs in this region are welcome:
(Clare, Limerick, Galway, Kerry, Killarney Tipperary and any other clubs that wish to send timekeepers).

So Dont Forget The Auburn Lodge Ennis on the 24th of January at 1pm.

For More Details contact
087 2680732 / +353 87 2680732 or e mail rtalbot@eircom.net

2009 Top Part West Coast Awards Night 23rd January 2010.

@  The Auburn Lodge Hotel Gort Rd Ennis Co Clare

Tickets Now Available For 2009 Top Part West Coast Awards Night

Tickets For Awards Night Are Now Available To Purchase By Contacting;

Thomas McGarry @ 0868055884

Martin Leahy @ 0862162464.

Tickets Are Priced At €50 Each. The Auburn Lodge Hotel Are Offering A Special Rate For People Attending The Awards Night Of €85 For A Double Room Including Breakfast Or €44 Per Person Sharing Including Breakfast. Contact Numbers For The Hotel Can Be Found Below.

All Award Winners Will Receive 1 Complimentary Ticket And Will Receive A Letter Of Notification By Post This Week.

Auburn Lodge Hotel Gort Rd Ennis Co Clare

Tel 0656821247 - 0656843888

You can now download Clare Motorclubs 2010 membership form here.

Membership this year is €25 and completed forms should be sent to;

Gerry O Brien, 34 Clondrina, Crusheen, Co.Clare.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Hillclimb C.O.C for 2010 as Richard Casey. This isnt Richards first attempt at running the Hills either! Richard was C.O.C on the hills for two consecutive events in the last ten years. Everyone at Clare Motorclub wishes him the very best. Im sure Richard will have a strong team working with him in the organising of the event and that as many CMC members row in and help out as much as possible.

This year the Clare Hillclimb weekend reached new heights by being awarded best event throughout the year in the Hillclimb championship. This was achieved through plenty of hard work by outgoing C.O.C John McNamara and his team.

Pictured here is Richard trying his hand at priesthood...

Donegal Motor Club is dismayed to learn of the resignation of the Rallies Committee of Motorsport Ireland arising from an incident at an International Rally in 2009. 

We call on all parties to act quickly and sensibly to resolve these difficulties. 

However, as the Motor Club concerned, we support the stand taken by the Rallies Committee, and our nominee to it, and we applaud its determination to secure fair play for the competitors, officials and motor club caught up in the incident. 

Our complaint to the Motorsport Commission and the Rallies Committee, which we delivered last July, remains unanswered and this is not satisfactory. 

We note that the Dunlop Rally Championship sub-committee has resigned in support of the Rallies Committee. We thank both committees, and the National Forest Stages committee, which has also resigned, for their principled stand in the investigation of our complaint and we invite other motor clubs to do likewise. 

We call on M.I. to properly address these issues and to reinstate the Rallies Committee, and to do so quickly.

"We refer to a statement issued by Motorsport Ireland on 11th December 2009.

It is with regret that we note that Motorsport Ireland has accepted the resignation of the Chairman, Secretary and individual members of its Rallies Committee.

The TROA would like to put on record it’s appreciation to Mr. James Coleman ( Rallies Committee Chairman) , and to his Committee members, for their efforts in endeavouring to bring a fair and just conclusion to matters arising in relation to an incident at one of the Irish Tarmac Championship counting rounds in 2009.

The TROA is concerned that despite the work done by the Rallies Committee over many months, the matter has not been resolved within Motorsport Ireland to the satisfaction of the Rallies Committee.

The TROA Chairman, Bobby Clinton, attends Rallies Committee meetings in his capacity as TROA representative. He has observed at first hand the work being done by its chairman and committee, can vouch for their integrity, and supports the officers and committee members in their efforts to properly administer rallying in Ireland.

In the light of confusion that has arisen regarding TROA's representation on the rallies committee, the matter will be considered by the members of TROA at it's AGM in January."

"Arising from the resignation of individual members of the Rallies Committee the President of Motorsport Ireland has convened a special meeting of the Motorsport Commission (Ruling Council) on the 11th January to discuss the matter. 

A full airing of the issues outlined in the letter of resignation will be given at this meeting. 

However, Motorsport Ireland has, and will continue to act, in accordance with its rules and regulations while continuing to maintain at all times the highest standards in the sport and the principles of natural justice. "

Word is coming through of a huge amount of resignations from various committees in Motorsport Ireland.
The full Rallies Comittee, I am led to believe, have resigned in mass today (Thursday, December 10, 2009). And the story that is breaking is that many more sub committees members are following the same line. And while no official communique has been issued by Motorsport Ireland, the problem seems to have stemmed from the appointment of Mr John Naylor, outgoing President of Motorsport Ireland, to a place on the Rallies Committee. John Naylor has just two days ago been presented with the Ivan Webb Memorial Trophy at the Dunlop Awards gala lunch for what Motorsport Ireland described as an 'Award for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Irish Motorsport.'  While it is difficult to put a definite number on the resignations, the amount of people involved is well over 20.

This, I believe is the first time that such a revolt has happened.

Article Courtesy of Cork Motorclub Website..

There was a draw held at the AGM for a free entry to a MINI Stages rally. People included in this draw were members who had marshalled/assisted the club from Kerry Mini Stages 2008 up to (not including Clare Stages 2009). The criteria was that members who had marshalled or assisted in 3 or more events in this period.

The winner of the draw was Ross Kenny.