Ray Cunningham and Richard Hyland have won the 2007 Great Stuff Caterers Killarney Historic Stages Rally for the second time!

They dominated from the start on Saturday afternoon in their Mini Cooper S and eventually took victory by over 8 minutes.

The result contrasted from their result last year when they lost out on victory by just one second to Dessie Nutt. Ray commented 'the drive back to the finish ramp this year was a lot more enjoyable than last year'.

It was a testing start for the Galway man having a pretty disastrous run on Saturday afternoon being the first on the road, his Mini Cooper was reduced to 3 cylinders due to the heavy rain fall.

The 72 year old Fermanagh man Mervyn Johnston, co-driven by Wendy Blackledge finished second also in a Mini Cooper with the MGB of Philip Wylie and John Young 3 rd.

In the Post-Historic category the English visitors Steve Smith and Phil Spurge took a comfortable victory in their Porsche 911.

The local crew of Ed Murphy and Shane Devane had lead for the first 6 stages in their MkI Escort but unfortunately due to mechanical problems on Sundays opening loop they ended up finishing 3 minutes behind in 2 nd.

Sean Lockyear and Christopher Wood had a very consistent drive and held 3rd place for the 9 stages on Sunday! James O'Mahony and Paddy McDonnell from Limerick were sitting in 2nd position until their Volvo 140 broke the torque bar off the rear axle on the Healy Pass.

Welshman Gareth Lloyd and co-driver Ian Oakey took the honours in the Classic category in their Ford Escort RS. Boston domiciled Portuguese man Vincent Frontinan finished 2 nd in another Escort.

It was an eventful end to the day for the Andrews Heat for Hire Lotus Sunbeam of Russell Brookes when the throttle cables gave up on the Healy Pass, they went on to suffer a variety of mechanical problems but managed to get back to the finish ramp to finish in 3 rd spot.

It was an unlucky end to the rally for Thomas Randles and Sean Duggan, the local pair led for a lot of the event but crashed out on the Ardgroom stage.

The Modified Classic category provided the closest finish with Phil Collins and Adrian Deasy finishing the event with an advantage of just 4 seconds over Kris Meeke who was navigated by Killarney man Paul Nagle.

Kris later incurred a 2 minute penalty for being late into stage 6 Killmakillogue having broken the exhaust manifold on Molls Gap which meant that Martin McGee and Arthur Kierans snatched the second spot with Gary McPhillips and Enda Sherry moving to 3rd.

The Modified class provided great entertainment for the weekend with several drivers in with a shout of clinching a podium spot.

The 2007 Killarney Historic Stages Rally was proudly supported by Great Stuff Caterers , Randles Hotels, EPS Bison, McAuliffe Development and the Christmas in Killarney Festival.

2007 Great Stuff Caterers Killarney Historic Stages Rally – FINAL Results Historic

1. Ray Cunningham/Richard Hyland Morris Cooper S 2:19:18
2. Mervyn Johnston/Wendy Blackledge Austin Cooper S 2:27:50
3. Philip Wylie/John Young MG B 2:30:50
4. Niall Creighton/Gregory Roberts Ford Cortina Lotus 2:33:22
5. Les Allfrey/Kevin Devine Austin Mini Cooper S 2:35:37

Post-Historic

Modified-Classic

1. Phil Collins/Adrian Deasy Ford Escort RS Mk2 2:07:45
2. Martin McGee/Arthur Kierans Ford Escort Mk2 2:08:12
3. Gary McPhillips/Enda Sherry Ford Escort RS Mk2 2:09:41
4. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle Ford Escort Mk2 2:09:49
5. Fergus O'Meara/Liam Brennan Ford Escort Mk2 2:10:03

Junior

1. Conor Collins/Timmy Foley Ford Escort 2:05:49
2. Paul McMahon/Derek Butler Ford Escort Mk2 2:06:46