ARMAGH’S Jason Black and co-driver Karl Egan (Cork) captured the top step on the podium after an excellent staging of the 2025 GRP4 Fabrications Thomond Mini Stages Rally in Rathkeale.
James Stafford (Wexford) in his Darrian T90 almost had a pillar-to-post victory and looked certain for the win from the very get-go.
He stormed to the fastest time on Stage 1, leading the event by 4.9 seconds from Johno Doogan, Galway, in the Ford Escort.
The entire field was given a nominal time on Stage 2.
Eventual winner Black sat in fourth after the opening loop.
After the second loop of two stages, Stafford and his co-driver Richard Cleary extended their lead to seven seconds ahead of Black and Egan in the Toyota Starlet.
Doogan continued to hold third place and had an 11.8-second cushion on the podium.
Kenneth Cullinane (and Robert O’Regan) was fourth in the Darrian while Frank Kelly (Lauren Kelly) split him and another Darrian man in Kerry’s Vincent O’Shea (and Eoin O’Donoghue) as the fight continued for podium and class positions.
Stafford led Black by 8.7 seconds as the crews pointed for the final stage, but it was a simply stunning drive by the Armagh native, taking 10.7 seconds out of the Wexford man in the final test to take the overall win by exactly two seconds to claim his first win of the season.
Stafford had to settle for second, while Doogan (and Paul Lennon) finished third.
Chris O’Callaghan and his sister Kirsty finished in a creditable seventh overall and were the top Limerick crew in the event.
It was Kirsty’s first outing in the navigator seat in 2.5 machinery, and it is a partnership we are likely to see again in the future.
Team O’Callaghan were closely followed home by fellow Limerick man Cathal Mulcaire (and Podge Doody).
Dignitaries were on hand to meet the winners, including the Mayor of Limerick John Moran and local TD Richard O’Donoghue, who spoke strongly about the renewed appeal to the government for funding to bring the World Rally Championship to Limerick in the near future.
