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Home crew retain Donegal Rally
title
19.06.17
HOME crew Manus Kelly
and Donall Barrett have retained their title after
snatching a last-minute victory in the Joule Donegal
International Rally.
Starting the final day of the three-day event, they
were seven seconds behind longtime leaders,
Donegal's Donagh Kelly and his Monaghan co-driver
Conor Foley, with six stages to come.
On the first of two runs over Atlantic Drive, Manus'
Subaru Impreza went ahead for the first time all
weekend, but namesake Donagh regained top place on
the following stage, High Glen, leaving himself a
4.7 second lead as they set out to repeat the same
three stages. |
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Manus Kelly and Donall Barrett in
action at the Joule Donegal International Rally,
June 2017. |
Struggling with his
tyre choice on Fanad 2, Donagh lost a disastrous 17
seconds, leaving him five seconds behind with two
stages left. And in a final all-out effort to take
victory on a rally which he has never won, his Focus
hit a bank just two corners from the stage finish.
The damage was too much to continue.
"Manus, now with a large lead, was able to cruise
through the last stage and still come home with a
margin of almost two minutes over runners up
Alastair Fisher and Gordon Noble. (They) only got
ahead of Garry Jennings and Gordon Noble on the
action packed final stage, claiming maximum points
in the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac
Championship for R5 cars. The Moffett brothers from
Monaghan, Sam and Josh, finished fourth and fifth in
their Fiestas," said a Motorsport Ireland
spokesperson. |
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