Mick O' Brien (Focus WRC) dominated last Sunday's Cork Forest Rally to win by 55 seconds ahead of Owen Murphy (Evo9) who in turn had a  margin of 6.8 seconds over third placed Josh Moffet (Evo9).

Fourth overall was claimed by John Reid (Corolla WRC)and the Dubliner was followed home by a trio of warring 2WDs  lead by  Frank Kelly (Escort) Martin Mc Cormack (Escort) and Shane Mc Girr(Starlet RWD. Peter Mc Cullagh (Evo9) and Sam Moffet (Evo9)
were next up ahead of James Coleman giving the Fiesta WRC its debut in the Irish forests. Another newcomer to impress was Bob Duggan (Civic) who won the Junior category in his first rally in the woods.

The DJD Jim Walsh Cork Forest rally was counting round five of the Valvoline Motorsport Ireland Forest Rally Championship. It was based in Ballyhea and its  four fast and smooth stages (repeated) were run in the nearby Ballyhoura mountains.
On the first stage O' Brien was fastest out of the blocks and he stamped his authority on the event to win the test by a whopping twenty seconds.  After stage two the gap was 27 and with half the rally completed O' Brien had a 47 second advantage. In the afternoon stages, The London based Corkman took a cautious approach as he extended his lead to 55seconds. On previous rounds O' Brien had issues with the launch control of his Focus but in Cork the car ran faultlessly allowing the driver full confidence in the handling.

Owen Murphy's second place was a testament to patience and resilience as his car suffered a myriad of maladies in the brakes, shocks and turbo boost. Nevertheless, the pre-event favourite and last year's rally winner stuck to his task despite ferocious pressure from Josh Moffet and John Reid. As the Corkman had the nominated this event for bonus points, his day in the
Ballyhoura's netted him a valuable 38 points and keeps in  the hunt for landing his second forest title.

Once again Josh Moffet drove brilliantly, the Monaghan driver secured his second podium position of the year.

For many spectators the dogfight for 2WD honours was the highlight of this marvellous rally. Martin Mc Cormack led Frank Kelly for most of the event. But there was always less than five seconds in it. After six stages Mc Cormack was leading by one tenth of a second. On stage seven Kelly dug deeper to record fastest time and lead by a second, extending it to three at the finish. Shane McGirr was third thirty five seconds in arrears..

The junior category was dominated by Bob Duggan. The Kerryman  led from start to finish with a winning margin almost three minutes. Conor Mc Carthy (Civic) was runner up about a minute ahead of John O' Flaherty (Escort). Dean Raftery didn't start, the Galway man has already won the junior title.  

The Valvoline now heads to the sixth and final round on the Omagh Club's Bushwhacker Rally on Saturday Sept 28th.O 'Brien leads on 115 points, Owen Murphy second with 97 and Philip Morrow is on 80. Morrow didn't start in Cork but he has nominated the Bushwhacker for bonus points. Should he win in Omagh a maximum a 42 points awaits the Lisburn driver. And the 2013 Valvoline championship title.



CORK M C JIM WALSH CORK FOREST RALLY AT BALLYHEA, CO CORK (ROUND 5 OF
VALVOLINE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP):

1 Michael O'Brien/Greg Shinnors (Focus WRC) 43m 45s,

2 Owen Murphy/James O'Brien (Lancer Evo 9) 44m 40s,

3 Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 44m 47s,

4 John Reid/Enda Shiels (Corolla WRC) 44m 51s,

5 Frank Kelly/Stephen Quin (Escort) 44m 58s,