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SLATTERYS SPEED MAKES ENGLISH CHAMPION
Kenny English and Joe Bannerton from Galway were crowned the Peugeot Service Club Irish 205 Challenge champions for 2009 after a dramatic final round in Wexford.
The four drivers entered for the twelve stage event based in Wexford town all had a chance of winning the title but no one could have foreseen how the play would unfold.
Stage one saw Noel Smith lay down the marker, fastest by 6 seconds from Andrew Slattery and 14 faster than his main rival for the title Kenny English. Norman Dunne dropped almost a minute with brake problems. English who was running first on the road was rattled by Smiths first stage time and attacked stage two very hard. Smith too went all out but four miles in he couldn’t believe his eyes. English had gone off the road, wedging his car between two trees and inflicting sizeable damage to the car. Smith kept his head and went fastest by a huge margin of 35 seconds to arrive at the first service halt with a 41 second lead over Slattery with Dunne third. Smith had one hand on the trophy now but amazingly English made it back but with the loss of half an hour. If he could avoid exclusion then fourth would be enough to win if Smith lost the lead. Slattery and co driver Donal Lynch reduced Smiths advantage over the next two stages by 36 seconds to leave the gap at just 5 seconds with two stages of day one to go. Try as did Smith could do little to stop the flying Slattery who took another 22 seconds and went into the overnight halt with a 17 second lead. Dunne remained third with the crumpled English fourth.
Day two was going to be a cracker as English avoided exclusion and remained on the results sheet but with hefty time penalties. Now Smith knew he had to regain the lead and hold it to the end over the last six stages. If Slattery repeated the form shown on day one it was going to be a tough task.
Slattery took 5 seconds on the first stage of the loop with Smith pulling 7 back on the next. At service both drivers spoke of how hard they were driving, this reflecting in the overall result where both were in the top thirty and totally dominating class ten. Just 1 second separated the two over stage nine in favour of Slattery. Smith knew he had the edge on his rival through the next stage and if he could take the same margin again he would halve the lead with just one repeat loop of stages to go. On full attack through stage ten it went horribly wrong for Smith and co driver Dara Lyttle when they clipped a bank at high speed, rolling the car three or four times and ending an enthralling battle. Slattery felt bad for his fellow competitor but still had to focus on finishing and hope English too would retire for him to snatch the championship. Over the final loop the order remained unchanged with Slattery taking his third win of the year which gave him second place in the championship. Dunne/ Niall Gavin came second after a quite performance but third place was enough for English to become champion for 2009.
Back at the finish English remarked “stuck between the trees yesterday I thought I had thrown it all away. Then to see Noel I could not believe it as I was sure he would win today”. A thrilling finish to another championship. English takes away 1500 euros prizemoney and the crown of 2009 Irish 205 Challenge champion. Slattery takes away 750 euros and Smith 500 euros courtesy of the championship sponsors.
Result
31st Andrew Slattery/ Donal Lynch 2.23.52
42nd Norman Dunne/ Niall Gavin 2.42.33
53rd Kenny English/ Joe Bannerton 3.06.21
The Peugeot Service Club Irish 205 Challenge wish to thank the Wexford Motor Club for an excellent event.
The Irish 205 challenge is proud to be sponsored by,
www.serviceclub.ie
Slatterys of Puckane, Peugeot and Subaru dealerships
Total quartz lubricants
Blaklader workwear
Kumho tyres
Ears motorsport
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