Rally of the Lakes glory for Callum Devine and Noel O Sullivan

The Assess Ireland International Rally of the Lakes has been won by Callum Devine and Noel O Sullivan.

Ivan Hurley reports

Noel O'Sullivan made Killarney and District Motor Club history over the weekend by becoming the first club member to win the Rally of the Lakes three times in succession.

He and his driver took their third Rally of the Lakes win in a row in their Volkswagen Polo GTi, fending off a concerted challenge from Welsh visitor Matt Edwards and his Mallow co-driver David Moynihan in a Ford Fiesta Rally2.

Their Killarney and District Motor Club rivals Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin finished a distant but undeserved fourth overall.

Cronin and Galvin set the fastest time on ten of the event's fourteen stages, but the time loss incurred when they picked up a puncture on Saturday evening cost them the rally lead, and ultimately, the victory.

However, Devine and O’Sullivan never made a mistake over the event’s 14 stages to record a popular and deserved victory.

In the 43-year history of the rally, only three other drivers have done the three in a row.

The great Billy Coleman achieved hat-trick between 1983 and 1985 while the late Bertie Fisher did five in a row between 1990 and 1994.

In local terms, no local co-driver has ever achieved three in a row, it was a special occasion for Muckross man O’Sullivan.

“It is a dream to do it three in a row,” said O’Sullivan.

“I grew up watching this rally since kid, this is amazing.”

Devine and O’Sullivan’s biggest rivals over the weekend were fellow Killarney and District Motor Club members Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin.

Galvin said: “It was going really really well, better than we could never have imagined and then to get that bad luck was devastating.”

While Devine and O’Sullivan won the rally, Cronin and Galvin retain the lead of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, albeit by a reduced margin, heading to the next round, the Donegal International Rally, in seven weeks.

Colin O’Donoghue and Kieran O’Donoghue won the National Sectctin of the rally, despite an overheating engine and alternator issues in their Ford Escort Mk2.

They won the John Mullane Cup for the highest-placed Kerry crew and Kieran won the Johnny Hickey Memorial Trophy for the highest-placed Killarney and District Motor Club co-driver in the National Rally.

KDMC member Sean Moynihan and his Cork-based co-driver Padraig O'Donovan put in a giant-killing performance to finish 16th overall and first in class 12, The last time a Pinto-engined car finished so high in the Rally of the Lake was back in the early 1980s when Sean’s father John finished second overall behind Coleman.

Kerry Motor Club’s Tommy Mason and Paul McGlinchey finished second in the same class.

Kenmare’s Vincent O'Shea and Eoin O'Donoghue finished third in class 14 in their Darrian T90.

Sean Hickey and Noel Fleming were third in class 12 in a Toyota Starlet.

The historic section was won by Killarney’s local hero Alan Ring in his BMW E30 M3.

Keith O'Connor was the best of the local contenders in the Junior class. He and co-driver Nial Myers finished third in the class in their Honda Civic but they also had the honour of being the highest-placed registered crew in the Junior element of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.