08/06/2026
Round 3 of the@sligopalletborderchampionship utilised Saturday's Benone Stages rally organised and ran by Cookstown Motor Club Ltd under the expert guidance of Simon MacRory and his dedicated team, ran an exceptional event within the confines of the MoD premises and all the drivers and co-drivers were all very happy with the level of driving involved within the rally, the mileage may have been low but the fun factor and sense of achievement were massive. Congratulations must go to Desi Henry and Dean O'Sullivan took their rally2 Ford Fiesta to a very popular victory, despite being headed by runners up Mark Kelly and Will Atkins who led in their rally2 Skoda for the opening 3 stages, but Desi and Dean's resilience paid off with a 23 second winning margin, with Alan Smyth and Emmet Sherry taking a fine 3rd overall in their Vw Polo Rally2 a further 43 seconds adrift.
Winning the 2wd category was the Rally4 Ford Fiesta of the very rapid Ben McFall and Mark McGeehan, rally sponsor and Keith Hall took 2nd 2wd and top Modified crew in the Bear Competitions Mk2 Es**rt, and third 2wd went to Thomas and Heather Kennedy in their Ford Es**rt Mk2.
In the class battles, class 1 went to Desi Henry and Dean O'Sullivan, also taking the 'Drive of the Day' award for their sterling efforts. In class2 Liam McFall and Ivor Lamont took the win aboard their Ford Fiesta Proto, against the Mitsubishi of Gareth Deazley and Oisin Joyce, whilst the EvoX varient of Nicky Caughey and Graham Stewart took 3rd. In Class3 Niall Donnelly in his Es**rt took the spoils over the Toyota Twin Cam of Michael Stirrup and Gareth Badger, in class4 Richard O'Loan and Elaine Ni Shi took the battle of the rally3 Ford Fiesta's as Jack Cairns and Ben Taggart.
Ben McFall and Mark McGeehan in their rally4 Ford Fiesta took class5 and top 2wd, Sam McDonnell and Ciara Duggan took runners up in their similar Fiesta, with the Peugeot 208 of Tiernan Doherty and Jessica Halpenny taking third just ahead of the similar Opel Corsa rally4 of John O'Rourke and Darragh Mullen.
Class6 will be separated for championship terms and Keith Hall took took a fine win in his Es**rt Mk2 from Thomas and Heather Kennedy beating the other family paining of Alaistair and Beth Cochrane, whilst Danny O'Donnell will be credited with the relative points for class 12 as will second place for Mickey Conlon both in their Pinto Es**rts which where on this event nestled in with the 16v cars.
Class 8 on the event played host to 3 of our Border classes as all 1600 16v or 8v where all grouped, Lee McLaughlin and Conal Doherty won the class in their Honda Civic against the similar car of Gavin Russell and Darragh O'Donnell which will be essentially class 11f in 11r It was the Ford Es**rt of Chris Murphy and Shea Breen who will take the relative class points closely followed by the Toyota Corolla of Paul Carron and Sean Brunton who took the second over the similar car of WRC navigator turned driver for this event Aaron Johnston also a brand ambassador for Sligo Pallets Ltd he took 3rd, whilst in class 10 the Corsa of Paul Cullen and Brian Rowan took victory over the similar Nova of Cathal Sheridan and Andrew Wedlock.
Jude and Eoighan O'Neill took their Renault Clio to the class win in cl10, whilst British Touring car multiple champion Colin Turkington paired with the might of Rory Kennedy took the classH Spoils
Massive thanks and appreciation must go to all in Cookstown Motor Club for making the event happen and largely for including us as a championship in their agenda, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the marshals, tomekeepers and anyone who helped make the event a tremendous success, and a large part of that come from sponsorship so once again thank to of for their support of the event and all they did to promote the club and the rally, we at the Border championship would like to thank all out Massive thanks and appreciation must go to all in Cookstown Motor Club for making the event happen and largely for including us as a championship in their agenda, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the marshals, timekeepers and anyone who helped make the event a tremendous success, and a large part of that come from sponsorship so once again thank to of for their support of the event and all they did to promote the club and the rally, we at the Border championship would like to thank all out competitors who supported the event, we take a short sabbatical for under 2 months until Monaghan Motor Club stages rally, until then keep enjoying the rallies, stay safe and keep well! competitors who supported the event, we take a short sabbatical for under 2 months until Monaghan Motor Club stages rally, until then keep enjoying the rallies, stay safe and keep well!
