Big Donegal interest as countdown continues to Triton Showers National Rally Championship

A new season of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship gets underway on Sunday with the TF Royal Hotel/Casey’s and Mulroy’s Londis Mayo Rally that bridges an eleven-year gap since the event was last based in Castlebar.

No fewer than five national rally champions are amongst the entry list including current incumbent Monaghan’s Josh Moffett, who clinched the Vard Memorial Trophy on the Galway Summer Rally last August.  

Donegal’s Donagh Kelly, who won the Triton series in 2015, will pilot the VW Polo GTi R5 he campaigned to victory in the Fastnet Rally, the final round of the 2019 Triton series that took place in Bantry in West Cork.

Although Moffett is listed to drive the Ford Fiesta WRC that he took to five wins in last year’s series, it is more likely he will switch to his Hyundai i20 R5 that he drove to victory in the recent Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally.  

“I think I will take the Hyundai i20 R5 to Mayo, I just feel I need a bit more time in the car and refine a few things,” he said.

Should that arise it will be interesting to see how he will fare against the World Rally Cars of drivers like Roy White and Peadar Hurson.  

He added, “It’s going to be tough, I suppose if the stages are tight and technical it (R5 car) should have the legs.” As for defending his Triton title, he responded, “Yes, for sure, that’s the plan.”

Unlike his rivals, Clonmel’s Roy White (Ford Fiesta WRC) will be on his first outing of the season, he won the title in 2016 and while he has proved to be ultra consistent, victory in an actual round of the series has eluded him thus far.  

No doubt, he will be hoping to put an end to that statistic, if not in Castlebar, but somewhere else along the way before the Triton series concludes in Donegal next October.

It’s remarkable that it’s all of 28 years since Warrenpoint driver Peadar Hurson won the national series in an Opel Ascona 400.  He remains ultra competitive but doesn’t always enjoy the best of luck in his Ford Fiesta WRC.

The two-wheel drive entry is headed by Cavan’s Gary Kiernan (Ford Escort) with Scotland’s David Bogie, who competed in Abbeyleix last year in a Skoda Fabia R5, driving a Ford Escort this time around.  

Armagh’s Damian Toner (Ford Escort) will also certainly crank up the competition.  Scotland’s Eaun Thorburn (Ford Focus WRC), Monaghan’s Niall Maguire (Subaru S12B), who became the first driver to win the national series on three occasions, are also in the top ten along with former Mayo Rally winner Maynooth’s Kevin Barrett (Subaru S14 WRC).

This is the sixth season that the series will be underpinned by Triton Showers.  M.D. Kevin Barrett, who finished third overall that last time the rally was held in Castlebar and actually won the rally in 2011 remarked, “It doesn’t seem that long ago since we decided to continue our sponsorship of the National Rally Championship.  Now, we are just days away from the first round, the TF Royal Hotel Mayo Rally, that returns to Castlebar after a lapse of eleven years. With five different champions in the past five years it will be interesting to see if we will have another new name on the Vard Memorial Trophy in 2020.”

And he added: “ Of course, the series is also about the competitors in the various classes as well and while there is great rivalry there too, the camaraderie within the whole Triton Showers National Rally Championship is one of most endearing features.  We look forward to our journey throughout all four provinces as the series will also bring a boost to the local economy of each of the seven locations of the Triton series.”

The Group N category features the Mitsubishi’s of Neil Tohill, Trevor Bustard, Niall Devine and Colin Flanagan.

In the R2 class Down’s William Creighton and Dublin’s Eamonn Kelly in Ford Fiesta R2’s should have an interesting battle over the nine stages.

Top 10 Starters:

1. Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Ford Fiesta WRC)

2. Roy White/James O’Brien (Ford Fiesta WRC)

3. Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley (VW Polo GTi R5)

4. Peadar Hurson/Damien Connolly (Ford Fiesta WRC)

5. Gary Kiernan/Ryan Moore (Ford Escort)

6. David Bogie/John Rowan (Ford Escort)

7. Damien Toner/Denver rafferty (Ford Escort)

8. Eaun Thorburn/Paul Beaton (Ford Focus WRC)

9. Niall Maguire/Anthony Nestor (Subaru WRC)

10. Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Subaru WRC)

The 2020 Triton Showers National Rally Championship (with the best six scores from seven events to count) will consist of the following events:

Round 1: Mayo Rally (March 8) Castlebar

Round 2: Circuit of Kerry (April 5) Tralee

Round 3: Carlow Rally (May 10) Carlow

Round 4: Cavan Rally (May 24) Cavan

Round 5: Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally (August 9) Clonmel

Round 6: Galway Summer Rally (August 30) Ballinasloe

Round 7: Donegal Harvest Rally (October 10) Donegal