Mayo's Warren wraps up the class win at the Circuit of Kerry

AS the Triton Showers National Rally Championship picked up pace with Sunday’s second round – the Circuit of Kerry, based in Tralee – what looked set to be an enthralling battle between championship Class 13 first and second place drivers, Monaghan’s Raymond Conlon and Mayo’s John Warren, never got into full speed as Conlon rolled his Toyota out of the rally on the first stage near Castleisland.

Warren went on to comfortably dominate the competitive class, setting fastest times in his McHale Fusion 4 Toyota Corolla on seven of the nine special stages.

With co-driver Ruthann O’Connor, he finished more than one minute ahead of local pilot David Slattery and secured an important maximum points haul for the championship.

“It was nice to take the win here today,” said Ruthann at the finish ramp at the Rose Hotel. “While we have competed at the Banna Winter Rally a couple of times, this is actually our first time to do the Circuit of Kerry. It actually rattled us on stage one to come on Raymond upside down; we stopped to help and once we knew they were okay it was challenging to get our mindset correct for the reminder of that loop.

“John, as always, drove flawless and the entry list this weekend was unreal – it was oversubscribed and the quality was outstanding. It’s a credit to the club and the championship, and actually a massive thanks to the marshals who stood out on stages again this weekend.”

Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty led the event from start to finish in their Hyundai i20 R5 with a winning margin of six seconds over Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan in their VW Polo R5, while Kevin Gallagher and Ryan Moore in their rocketship-like Darrian were third and top two wheel drive finisher.