17 April 2011Dunlop Junior Championship 2011 Round 1
Round 1 of the Dunlop National Junior Championship took place in a sunny County Monaghan. 11 junior competitors entered the event with 6 of them signing up for the junior championship. The championship will take place over 6 rounds around the country with the best for results to count. Previous winners include Craig Breen & Darren McKenna. The victor of this year’s championship will receive a nomination for the Billy Coleman Award worth €50,000.
The juniors took part in 6 out of the 9 very challenging, fast stages with lots of blind crests which the Monaghan Motor Club had decided to make use of this year.
Local man David Moffet was seeded at No.1 in a Toyota Starlet and probably started a favourite on his home stages. Johno Doogan in a Ford Escort Mk II was at No.2 also for Monaghan. The first front wheel drive participant was Christopher Snow in a Honda Civic from Co Meath. Damien Whoriskey was at No.4 in a MkII. Damien finished 7th last year. And Cal McCarthy is also back for another year in his Honda Civic. Cal made the long trip for Clonakilty to Monahan.
David Moffet conformed his favourites tag with some blistering times on the opening loop of stages. Moffet set all three fastest times over the Monaghan crest and jumps. And holding a 22 second advantage heading back in to service. At service Moffet said “no real moments at all this morning. And with this good weather the only problem is tyre choice. x12's on the front and x04's on the back!” Christopher Snow was in second place after the open loop. Johno Doogan was in third and going well to be so close to the leaders by what he said in service “had trouble from the word go , the gearbox was playing up. I had to hold it in gear all time but was putting in good times. I had a over shout on stage 5 and a big moment on 6 at the finish were the car just broke and hit a bale and landed on d ditch but d car was prefect so keep going”
Cal McCarthy was fourth a minute behind Moffet after 3 stages. McCarthy said “very hard to get used of all the blind crests”
With only 3 stages remaining it was Moffet to lose but the chasing packs were unable to close the gap. Moffet set 3 more fastest times to prove he was the King of Monaghan. “Stages were brilliant and was lovely to get a result on home soil!”
Christopher Snow finished the event in second place 50 seconds behind Moffet. Justin Smyth moved from 6th to 3rd on the final loop after Doogan retired with a broken half shaft on stage 7 “we pushed very hard on 7 but broke a half shaft before the finish , so that ended our day”. Damien Whoriskey retired with gearbox trouble. And Cal McCarthy had the misfortune of having two punctures on stage 8 forcing him to retire” had two punctures on that stage, we couldn’t continue with 3 wheels”
At the end David Moffet claimed the 10 points for the championship ahead of Christopher Snow, who was the only other registered competitor to finish.
The next round takes place in Carlow on the 8th May
