Caldwell’s Maiden Tarmac Win

Young Strabane Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver Ryan Caldwell and his Omagh co-driver Stephen O’Brien won the Eakin Bros Rally on Saturday 24th May. The event, organised by Maiden City Motor Club consisted of seven new closed-road stages close to Londonderry City and was the third round of the 2025 Northern Ireland Rally Championship. A huge entry of 96 cars started the event and 84 of them made it to the Maydown finish. This was Caldwell’s first tarmac rally victory and he will surely be one to watch in the future.

Garry Jennings continued his recent run of good results by finishing second, just 5.9 seconds, down in his Ford Fiesta Rally2. The Kesh man had Donegal’s Dale McGettigan on the notes this time out. Unfortunately, Jennings had a huge high speed accident the following day on the Cavan Stages Rally in which the Fiesta was TOTALLY DESTROYED! Both Gary and his co-driver Brian Hoy were seriously injured and hospitalised. We wish them both well and hope they have a speedy recovery.

Third place on the Eakin Bros Rally went to David Kelly and Arthur Kierans in a VW Polo GTI R5, one of no less than nine of these machines to start the rally. Michael Boyle/Dermot McCafferty were fourth overall. This was the Lettermacaward driver’s first time out in a new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 similar to that of his father Declan who appeared on the Circuit of Ireland in his example. Number one seed Desi Henry won this rally last year but this time the Kilrea man finished back in fifth place driving a Ford Fiesta Rally2 with Dean O’Sullivan co-driving. Top of the 2WD competitors were Conor Harvey and Eamonn Doherty in their Ford Escort Mk2, they finished 15th overall.

With regards to the Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Rally Championship, Niall Devine and Liam McIntyre finished 6th in their VW Polo and scored maximum points. Aaron McLaughlin and Darren Curran (also in a Polo) were the second best of the registered competitors in 14th place. They are leading the driver/co-driver standings after three of the five rounds. Round 4…Loughgall Stages (see Rally Diary)

I was covering start radio on SS1/4/7 Bigwood near Drumahoe. The stage was the longest of the three at 6.46 miles. The other’s were SS2/5 Gortree (5.6 miles) and SS3/6 Ervey Cross (4.12 miles). All three runs of Bigwood ran without incident and almost to schedule. After a long dry spell leading up to the event, the weather on the day proved to be changeable. Heavy rain showers with a few dry spells in between. Other BMMC members were on duty stage marshalling and covering rescue on the Bigwood stages.

Dai Roberts

While we were working on the Eakin Bros Rally, news filtered through of the horrific accident on the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland which claimed the life of Dai Roberts. The Welshman was co-driving number three seed James Williams in a Hyundai i20 Rally2 on the third round of the British Rally Championship. They had been running in third place overall when their car crashed heavily on SS8 Edrom. Roberts was pronounced dead at the scene and Williams was transferred to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries. Dai was the older brother of Gareth Roberts who was killed on the 2012 Targa Florio Rally in Sicily while co-driving for Craig Breen.

At 39 years old, Dai Roberts was well known in Northern Ireland. He survived a crash on the 2014 Ulster Rally in which his driver, 20-year-old Timothy Cathcart, sadly passed away. Among the competitors Dai co-drove for over the years was current NI Champion Jonny Greer who incidentally was also competing on the Jim Clark Rally in his Toyota Yaris Rally2. My condolences go to all the Roberts’ family circle and we wish James Williams a full recovery.

Looking Back

Marshalling Memories

40 Years Ago

Tony Pond gave the MG Metro 6R4 it’s international rally debut in Donegal. Neil Boulton and myself were timekeeping on stage one of the 1985 Shell Donegal International Rally. Unfortunately, the Metro supercar proved fast but unreliable and Pond retired with a blown engine on stage four while leading. The three-day-33-stage rally was won by Billy Coleman and Ronan Morgan in a Porsche 911 SC RS after a fierce battle with Austin McHale/Christy Farrell, who in the end were JUST ONE SECOND behind in their Opel Manta 400. Cyril Bolton/Derek Ervine finished third, some seven minutes off the leading duo in their Manta. One of the performances of the rally came from John Lyons in his little road-standard Honda Civic CRX. The Castlederg man won his class unchallenged, beating all the Group N (production) cars by nearly 10 minutes and finishing 16th overall.

30 Years Ago

My Wife and I were timekeeping on the three-day 1995 Shell Unleaded Donegal International Rally. We covered Stop Control on 6 of the 24 stages. Friday saw us on SS3/6 Sallybrook while on Saturday we were covering SS9/12 Gortnabrad. Then the final day SS20/23 Culdaff was our Sunday destination on the Innishowen Peninsula. Robert McDaid was Chief Timekeeper back then. Bertie Fisher won the rally in his and Rory Kennedy’s Subaru Impreza 555. Second were James Cullen/Ellen Morgan in a Ford Escort Cosworth just 15 seconds back. Frank Meagher/Pat Moloughney finished third in a similar Escort Cosworth. There were 117 starters and 67 finishers.

20 Years Ago

In June 2005 nine of us were timekeeping on the Shell Donegal International Rally. We covered starts and finishes over the three days. There were 22 stages, 151 starters and 84 finishers. Eugene Donnelly won for the second year in succession with his Toyota Corolla WRC. Tim McNulty was second in a Subaru Impreza WRC while Austin McHale finished third in his Ford Focus WRC.

10 Years Ago

There was a big accident at the 2015 Loughgall Country Park Rally. I was on mid-stage radio duty when, on stage five, a BMW M3 crashed near my location. It took the Ballynahinch Rescue crew 90 minutes to free driver Declan McKeown from the wreckage. He was taken to hospital with injuries but would later make a full recovery. Co-driver Duncan McFarlane was unhurt. There were 6 stages on the North Armagh MC event which was confined to 2-wheel-drive cars only. This was the 16th running of the rally which Damian Toner/Paddy O’Toole won by just 3.3 seconds from a similar Ford Escort Mk.2 of Jim McKenna/Thomas Treanor. There were 45 starters and 40 finishers.

Rally Diary

Fri. 20th—Sun. 22nd June
Donegal International Rally

Round 4 of the 2025 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and sponsored by Wilton Recycling for the third year. I will not be attending this year but some BMMC club members will. Hope the event runs smoothly and the weather is kind to everyone.

The 3-day-20 stage event is based in Letterkenny starting on Friday with 2 runs over 3 stages; Malin Head, Mamore Gap and Coolcross. On Saturday 4 stages, High Glen, Lough Keel, Knockalla and Garrygort are run twice while Carnhill, Atlantic Drive and Fanad Head repeated will decide the outcome of this year’s event on Sunday.

Donegal’s top 3 entries are Callum Devine in his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 (winner for the past two years) Jon Armstrong in his works M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 and William Creighton’s Toyota Yaris Rally2. A record number of no less than 44 Rally2/R5 cars are due to start the 160-car main event.

Sat. 5th July
Loughgall Stages Rally

Round 4 of the 2025 MSUK Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Rally Championship. Sponsored once more by PRM Group & RPM Motorsport. This North Armagh Motor Club organised 6-stage-single-venue-tarmac-event takes place entirely within Loughgall Country Park in County Armagh. Entries are limited to a maximum of 80 cars. Expect former two-time winner Aaron McLaughlin to be one of the favourites. The Donegal driver currently leads the Championship standings. Sign-on at rallyscore.net

Sat. 19th July
Down Rally

Rathfriland MC are the organisers of this the fifth and final round of the 2025 Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Rally Championship. Based at the Boulevard Outlet Shopping Complex in Banbridge Co.Down. Rally HQ is located in the Belmont Hotel, Banbridge. There are eight closed-road stages (four run twice) including the infamous Hamiltons Folly. The entry is limited to a maximum of 120 cars. We are covering rescue, recovery, radio and stage marshalling. The Down Rally is sponsored for the first time by the Newry-based online lottery platform “R Kings Competitions”. The event is also Round 5 of the 2025 Protyre MSUK Asphalt Rally Championship. Sign-on via rallyscore.net