West Coast

Club PRO and Clare Stages Rally 2010 Clerk of the COurse Dermot Kelleher has again organised a photo shoot for all clare motorclub crews and their cars.

The photoshoot will take place this Sunday August 22nd at 3.30pm sharp in the Auburn Lodge Hotel car park.

All club members are welcome to come along with their car, navigator, suits, boots etc for the photo that will be included in this years event programme.

Press Release 1

The Clare Motor Club Rally Committee are busy with preparations for the 2010 “Irish Court Hotels Clare Stages Rally 2010” which takes place on sunday 19th, September.

Announcing details of the 2010 Irish court hotels Clare stages rally are left to right, Audry Flynn, Dermot Kelleher clerk of the course and Donie Lyne, sponsor Irish court hotels. Photo by Aidan Sweeney photography.

The event is based at the Auburn Lodge Hotel (one of the irish court hotels) on the Gort Road in Ennis again this year. This years event is a counting round of both the Dunlop National Rally Championship and the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship. Donie Lyne and the staff at the Auburn Lodge Hotel have again stepped in as the Main Sponsor  and after last years very successful event they are hoping to make this years even bigger.

Clerk of the course is Dermot Kelleher from Clarecastle, together with his organising team is offering competitors a very compact event featuring three very competitive stages which will be repeated three times. Together with the service park and scrutiny all within walking distance of the hotel the event should prove to be as successful as last years rally.

The Clare Motor Club are also celebrating thirty years of promoting motorsport in County Clare this year. The Club was founded by three motorsport enthusiasts, Dermot Kelleher, Peter Lariner and Paddy Bradley back in 1980 and after helping out as marshalls, stage commanders, Timekeepers etc for neighbouring clubs, Galway, Limerick and also running the Circuit of Ireland Stage as it went through Clare the Club finally got affilliated to Motorsport Ireland on the 23rd. of February 1982.

Once affialiated the Club members organised their first Single Stage Rally at Darragh/ Ballyea just off the Kilrush Road. This was followed by a Forestry Rally in Bodyke in east Clare, single stage events in the industrial estate in Shannon and Lisdoonvarna, a multi stage rally in Kilkee, a Hillclimb along with Autocross and Autotest events.

The Clare Stages Rally was first organised in 1988 by David Hogan and Dermot Kelleher and was based in the Roslevan Arms on the Tulla Road. The Rally has grown from strength to strength and has become one of the premier events in the Dunlop National Rally Calendar and attracts competitors from all over Ireland and England. 

Event regulations will be available to download shortly at the club’s website

www.claremotorclub.com

Dermot Kelleher

Pro Clare Motor Club

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