2003 Moonraker Rally Report

19 September 2003

The Northern Ireland Navigation Rally Championship returned to action with Dungannon Motor Club putting on a typically well run event on the tight and bumpy lanes of Co Tyrone. It was another well attended rally, with 31 cars in the starting line-up, including 13 crews in the Novice Class.

Phil and Alan Dorman were in top form and were never challenged all night. The Vauxhall Nova crew were free from any penalties right up until they missed a road on the very last section. The time to correct this cost them 3 minutes, but even this was the least penalties of any crew on that difficult last section.

Eddie Murphy/Barry Taggart came in runners up after a strong second half brought them up from 5th place. Trevor and Richard Reid had their first run in a Peugeot 205, after campaigning in Mk II Ford Escorts for so long, and had a good run to finish in 3rd spot on 26 minutes.

Leslie Young/Lewis Boyd pushed their Sierra hard all night, but a series of errors late on dropped them to 4th place. Willie McKeown/Patrick McCollum surprised a few crews, meeting them as they had retraced their steps after missing a loop in the last section before the mid-way halt. The round trip cost them dear, and totally put them out of contention. Even a reasonably clear second half could not remedy the situation, and they ended in 5th place.

Stephen Wishart/Jonathan Charlesson won the Semi-Experts class and were 6th overall, despite losing most of their exhaust system and only having 3rd gear by the end of the event. They had been lying in 2nd overall until the car started suffering the effects of the rough roads. Gerard Green/Michael McElwee were 2nd in class, while David Gibson/William Hamilton didn't finish the event.

The debris falling from the Wishart 106 caused mayhem behind in the Novice Class, as Paul Gray/Jim Smith went off the road trying to avoid its exhaust and got stuck. It took about 10 minutes and required help from several following cars to get them moving again.

Clifford Auld/John Lindsay had their first Novice Class victory of the year in their Triumph 2.5Pi, finishing on 34 minutes. John Adams/Mervyn Elder had their best run yet, getting second place in their road-going Vauxhall Vectra, as their normal Peugeot 205 was not MoT'd.

Eddie Robinson/Alan Shilliday were out in the Novice Class for the first time this year, and beat many of the regulars with a good run to 3rd place. When Gray/Smith got going again, they were able to finish and claim 4th place on 63 minutes, just ahead of the Skoda Favorit of Patsy Branney/Andy Gilmore.

Laurence Christie/Andrew Whale, who had been leading the class championship until this rally, had a disastrous night, with three maximum 30's before half way and several other bad sections to leave them finishing in 12th place.

Nigel Campbell/Colin Harkness won the non-championship Beginners' Class ahead of the 3-times winners Alistair/Jonathan McKane.

The Dormans have now moved to the top of the overall championship.

Patrick McCollum

Results

Overall

  1. Phil Dorman/Alan Dorman Vauxhall Nova 3 mins
  2. Eddie Murphy/Barry Taggart Vauxhall Nova 19 mins
  3. Trevor Reid/Richard Reid Peugeot 205 Gti 26 mins
  4. Leslie Young/Lewis Boyd Ford Sierra 36 mins
  5. Willie McKeown/Patrick McCollum Vauxhall Corsa 43 mins
  6. Stephen Wishart/Jonathan Charlesson Peugeot 106 50 mins
  7. Gerard Green/Michael McElwee Vauxhall Nova 126 mins
  8. David Gibson/William Hamilton Ford Focus - mins

Experts

  1. Phil Dorman/Alan Dorman Vauxhall Nova 3 mins
  2. Eddie Murphy/Barry Taggart Vauxhall Nova 19 mins
  3. Trevor Reid/Richard Reid Peugeot 205 Gti 26 mins
  4. Leslie Young/Lewis Boyd Ford Sierra 36 mins
  5. Willie McKeown/Patrick McCollum Vauxhall Corsa 43 mins

Semi-Experts

  1. Stephen Wishart/Jonathan Charlesson Peugeot 106 50 mins
  2. Gerard Green/Michael McElwee Vauxhall Nova 126 mins
  3. DNF David Gibson/William Hamilton Ford Focus - mins

Novices

  1. Clifford Auld/John Lindsay Triumph 2.5Pi 34 mins
  2. John Adams/Mervyn Elder Vauxhall Vectra 45 mins
  3. Eddie Robinson/Alan Shilliday Peugeot 106 48 mins
  4. Paul Gray/Jim Smith Ford Escort Mk I 63 mins
  5. Patsy Branney/Andy Gilmore Skoda Favorit 69 mins
  6. William Todd/Maurice Cresswell Vauxhall Corsa 88 mins
  7. John Stafford/Morris Kyle Mini Clubman 101 mins
  8. Declan Conlon/Peter Conlon Vauxhall Nova 106 mins
  9. Chris Ragg/James Woods Mini 107 mins
  10. Ivor Barker/Arnold Telford Mini Clubman 133 mins
  11. George Wallace/Stephen Wallace Ford Sierra 134 mins
  12. Laurence Christie/Andrew Whale Peugeot 205 146 mins
  13. John Henderson/Jonathan Henderson Talbot Sunbeam 193 min
Posted by PMcCollum on 26/9/2008; Last updated by PMcCollum on 26/9/2008