THE 2010 Mor Oil Galway Summer Rally promised a great day of rally action with a packed entry list and it certainly did not disappoint the large crowds of spectators that descended on Loughrea.

The rally was a counting round of the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship and The Honda Cup Ireland. Gary McPhillips and Mark Tierney in a Ford Escort Mk2 led the rally from start to finish and went to win by 16 seconds from Robert Barrable and Damien Connolly in a Ford Focus WRC.

It was Barrable’s debut rally in a World Rally Car and a huge performance from the young man who had the winning co-driver from the 2009 Mor Oil Galway Summer Rally sitting with him.

Shane Maguire in his dad Niall’s Subaru Impreza N11, with co-driver Enda Sherry, were 5th overall and Group N winners. Jer O’Donovan and Sean Hayde,on their first rally since the Galway International, finished 12th overall in 1:16:34.

Tom Flaherty and Patrick Curley, in another Mk2, fought a good battle with Ross Forde and Paul Horan in a Mitsubishi Evo 9, for best Galway Motor Club crew. Flaherty and Curley won the day with a comfortable margin of some 26 seconds and a total of 1:15:40.
They were presented with the Conroy Cup by Annie Conroy at the prizegiving ceremony in the Lough Rea Hotel and Spa. John Spain and Jarlath Conneely had set consistent top ten times all day until some minor health problems forced John to slacken his pace going in to Stage eight while still taking second in class 15 with a total of 1:19:43.

PJ McDermott and Paul Goodman in a Subaru Impreza WRC S11 had an early end to the rally, going out on stage 5. The rally ended on stage sevenfor Ed Synan and Denis O Connell when their Mk2 Ford Escort crashed out heavily. Thankfully, neither crew member suffered any serious injuries.

Gary McPhillips and Mark Tierney were also crowned GRP4 Fabrications King of the Mk2 and pick up a voucher for €2,000 worth of GRP4 products for their trouble. It was a hard fought battle with over 35 entries for the contest.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.