Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson come out top in Fivemiletown Forestry

Desi Henry and Paddy Robinson made it two wins in a row at Omagh Motor Clubs Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown. Fresh off their win in Killarney, Henry/Robinson took a beginning to end lead to eventually finish 18.9s quicker than local man Cathan McCourt with Cork’s Liam Moynihan on the notes. Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore finished 3^rd, a further 17.4s behind. The event took place in the forests just over the Monaghan/Tyrone border and began with the Famous 7.1 mile Jenkin stage. On the opening pass Henry set the pace setting a time of 6:49.5 in his Fiesta R5. McCourt finished the stage 5.4s slower in his ex McKenna Motorsport USA 2.0 Fiesta. Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon also in a Ford Fiesta finished the stage with an identical time as McCourt to be joint 2^nd OA after SS1. A short trip over the road followed for SS2 Mullaghfad. The short but demanding stage seen Henry extend his lead to 8.6s. Hamill in his Mini Cooper WRC set the 2^nd fastest time to go into 3^rd after a poor stage from Donnelly where he only set the 13^th fastest time dropped him from 2^nd to 4^th. McCourt could only set a 4^th fastest stage time but still held 2^nd, just 1.2s in front of Hamill. Crocknagrally forest was the location for SS3 and Henry was the man to catch as yet again he set the fastest time to make it three stage wins from three. This increased his lead to 11.5s over McCourt who again could only set the 4^th fastest time. Hamill set the 3^rd fastest time on the stage to close the gap to McCourt to just 1s. Monaghan’s Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan set the 5^th fastest time on the stage to go into an excellent 4^th overall before a short regroup in Fivemiletown.

After Regroup it was into the 2.33 mile stage of Doon. A new stage winner emerged in Cathan’s brother Conor McCourt navigated by Caolan McKenna. They finished the stage 0.6s quicker than Henry/Robinson in their Skoda Fabia R5. Hamill only set a 5^th fastest stage time which was good news for Cathan as he increased his advantage over him to 3s. Unfortunately, Conor McCrossin/Arthur Kierans would go off the road resulting the stage being stopped. This resulted in Carbin/Mohan being dropped to 7^th OA through no fault of their own as all cars caught up with the accident received Shane McGirr/Denver Rafferty’s stage time. SS5 was a repeat run of the Jenkin stage and Desi Henry once again got back to winning ways getting his 4^th stage win of the day, Cathan set a 2^nd fastest stage time to put 5s between himself and Hamill in 3^rd place. This stage ended Carbin/Mohan’s day as an impact with a rut on the stage upset the car and caused them to slide into a drain. A very unfortunate end to what was an excellent drive up until this. From SS5 it was into service for a well needed break after five very demanding stages. At service in Fintona the top three were as follows; 1^st Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson 21:09.4, 2^nd Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan 21:24.7 (+15.3), 3^rd Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore 21:29.7 (+20.3).

Four more stages lay ahead after service starting with a repeat run of Doon. This time it was Cathan McCourt’s turn for a stage win. A stage win much needed to keep the pressure on Henry and show him that he wasn’t giving up without a fight. Hamill could only set a 5^th fastest time, a full 4.3s slower than that set by McCourt. Cathan’s brother Conor set the 3^rd fastest time to reduce his deficit from Hamill to less than 10s. On SS7 the third pass of the Jenkin stage, Cathan would once again set the fastest stage time leaving him just 10.4 seconds off the overall lead with just two stages to go. In the battle for 3^rd Hamill would beat Conor to put 13.7s between them. Henry managed to put a stop to Cathan’s charge on SS8 Mullaghfad 2 by setting the fastest time. There was to be no change in the battle for 3^rd as amazingly both Hamill and Conor McCourt set identical stage times. With a 12.3s lead going into the last stage, and it being only 3.35 miles long, one would have been expecting Henry to back off and consolidate the win but this wasn’t to be the case as Henry went on to set the 2^nd fastest stage time. Cathan could only set the 6^th fastest time to end all hope of a last stage upset. Hamill managed to hold off Conor and comfortably hold onto his 3^rd place overall.

Derek Mackarel/Thomas Wedlock would go onto finish 9^th OA and 1^st in Class 8. David Condell/Paul Kelly finished 15^th OA and 2^nd Class 7. Marty McKenna/Kaine Treanor finished 16^th OA and 2^nd Class 10. Bryan Jardine/Declan McKenna finished 48^th OA and 6^th Class 5. Unfortunately, Niall Connolly/Paul McPhillips retired on the road section between SS4 and SS5 with a broken diff while running 66^th OA.