Slattery and Coffey best of the Kerry crews in Laois

Dave Slattery and Denis Coffey were the best of the Kerry crews at the Laois Heartlands Rally on Sunday.

Driving their usual Ford Escort Mk2 they finished 12^th overall out if a 140-car field.

Despite the warm conditions most drivers, including Slattery, found roads very slippery and that made for a challenging day.

Co-driver John McCarthy was running well inside the top ten for much of the day but the Ford Escort he was sharing with Peter Wilson broke its driveshaft at the start of stage five.

Raymond O’Neill and Jason O’Connor suffered a dramatic first stage on their way to fourth in class.

They overshot a junction, and then their Escort’s engine stalled as well as coping with the warm conditions.

“It is like a sauna in here,” said O’Neill. “I don’t think I ever had so many dramas on the first stage.”

Co-driver Damien Fleming guided Nigel Creagh to a historic class victory in another Escort.

Ger O’Brien and John Liston said they found the going so slippery they considered putting wet weather tyres under their Escort.

Co-driver Ger Somers report “no dramas’ alongside Raymond Spence. “We are happy out,” he said.

Sean Enright and Kevin Doherty were more than happy to reach the finish after enduring a difficult day on their last outing, the Circuit of Kerry in April.

Lisselton’s Eddie Kennelly and Paul McGlinchey were another crew to report a trouble-free run.

Offaly-based Ballyheuige man Gearóid O’Regan and his Galway co-driver Brian Martyn finished second in their class in a Honda Civic Type.

Denny Greaney was on co-driving duties for Paul Roche in a Ford Fiesta, and they finished seventh in

Although originally from Beaufort, Kieran Murphy is now living in Castlecomer, County Kilkenny and is a member of the Laois Rallysport Club.

He and co-driver John Breen won class 15 in their Subaru Impreza despite gearbox issues. They received support from the Ahern’s Motor Group in Castleisland.

Mike Quinn and Kieran Doherty put their Ford Escort Mk2 off the road on stage one but were able to get the car back to the service park in Portlaoise. They continued under SuperRally rules but finished well down the field in 83^rd position.

Quinn’s daughter Katie and co-driver Ciara O’Connell were six places behind. They nursed a damaged diff in their Civic through the final stages to finish second in the ladies category to Galway’s Aoife Raftery and Geraldine McBride.

Amy Burke and Emel McNamara were in contention for the ladies award too but put their Ford Fiesta Mark 1 off the road on the penultimate test and lost over 20 minutes.