Jonathan Greer, the 18 year old student from Carryduff, Northern Ireland, took victory on the fifth round of the Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland, the Jim Walsh Cork Forestry Rally. Greer with co-driver, Jonny Hart won by a margin of just 15 seconds after 147 kilometres of gravel stages organised by the Cork Motor Club.

The event was unique in the Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland, being held over two days. With eight stages north of Cork around Ballyvourney on Saturday and another eight stages around Mallow on Sunday, the crews faced a very tough challenge. The championship leader before the event was Conor Harvey, 22 from Letterkenny. With two wins, a second and a third in the series to date, Harvey started the event unsure of how he would be able to perform as the series moved from tarmac to gravel for the first of two rounds, of the seven round series, on the loose surface.

Leg One ? Saturday 18 August 2007 ? 8 stages, 62km

Day one saw crews wake up to face overnight rain and generally wet conditions creating slippery stages. Alastair Fisher, 19 from Enniskillen, with co-driver Barry McNulty were quickest through the opening stage by just 1.5 seconds from Greer. On stage 2 Greer struck back taking 10 seconds from Fisher while his older brother, Barry Greer, 20 from Carryduff, with his co-driver John Lemon, was having problems. He damaged second gear and had to drive stages three and four without it before their DGM team could replace the unit at service. Also in trouble on stage 2 was Tadhg Buckley, 25 from Ballyhaunis.

Buckley with co-driver with brother Shane Buckley on the notes, overshot a junction and lost time. Stage 3 saw Greer again fastest, taking 2.4 seconds from Fisher. On stage 4, Greer was fastest again, but this time by only 0.6 seconds from Fisher. In trouble was William Mavitty, 23 from Ennisklillen, with a new Co-driver for this event ? Keefe Kilcoyne. The new team were settling into the event nicely but hit trouble when they took a river crossing too fast and water was forced into the cockpit, instantly causing the windows to steam up meaning hugely reduced visibility. After the mid-day service in Ballyvourney, crews went out to do a repeat of the mornings four stages. With the wet weather continuing, the stage conditions had deteriorated considerably meaning extra hazardous conditions for the teams. Stage 5 saw Fisher fastest, just 1.1 seconds quicker than Greer. On stage 6, Fisher was fastest again by 3 seconds from Greer who suffered a rear puncture towards the end of the stage with minimal time loss.

Stage 7 saw Greer take the fastest time, 9.5 seconds faster than Fisher who reported a couple of spins, claiming that he was perhaps attacking the corners too hard. Also in trouble on this stage was Buckley. He had been third of the FST runners after stage 6 but went off on stage 7 and got the car beached off the road. Spectators where able to help the crew get the car back on the road but a lot of time had been lost and Buckley plummeted to last overall in the rally. The final stage of the first leg saw Greer take his fifth fastest time of the day, taking 7.1 seconds from Fisher to carry an overnight lead of 23 seconds. In third place overnight was Harvey with his new co-driver for this event, Jonny Baird. Harvey suffered brake problems on the final stage of the leg, reporting that the brake-peddle was going to the floor and as a result he slipped to 1minute, 14 seconds behind Fisher.

In fourth was Kyle Orr, 18 from Dromore and co-driver Peter O?Toole. Fifth after a gearbox change was Barry Greer. Sixth after loosing time on the final stage, as they suffered brake knock-off as a result of a loose ball joint, was Mavitty and rounding off the FST runners after their time consuming off was Buckley.

Leg Two ? Sunday 19 August 2007 ? 8 stages, 85km

Day two dawned overcast but dry. Overnight rain ensured that the eight stages around the town of Mallow would still be wet but the conditions were easier for the hard working service crews. Stage 9 saw Fisher start as he had done the day before, 6.8 seconds faster than Greer. Barry Greer broke a driveshaft but was able to drive out of the stage where his team were able to change the part to allow him to continue. On Stage 10, Greer fought back to take 0.8 seconds from Fisher after he lost time with a spin.

Meanwhile third placed crew, Harvey and co-driver Baird, were in trouble when they left the road and got stuck in a bog. After trying to get the car free they burnt the clutch out and had to retire from the event ? Harvey?s first non finish of the season. With the car partially across the road, Orr, Mavitty and Buckley all lost time negotiating their way around the stranded car. Stage 11 saw Greer again fastest by 2 seconds from Fisher. This pattern was repeated on stage 12 where Greer again was fastest, by 6 seconds. With mid-day service in the town of Mallow, the crews set off to do a repeat of the morning?s stages with the road conditions correspondingly more cut up, offering up potential problems.

On stage 13 Fisher was fastest, 4 seconds quicker than Greer, but it was Brother Barry who suffered most. In a mirror image of Harvey?s accident, Barry went of the road and damaged the gearbox trying to get back onto the road, leading to retirement. Also in trouble on stage 13 was Mavitty. He hit a large bump in the road at high speed and retired after the stage with a suspected crack in the gearbox housing. Stage 14 saw Greer retake the advantage and set the fastest time by just 2.5 seconds from Fisher. The penultimate test, stage 15, saw Fisher make a big effort to fight back but could only take 1 second from Greer to go into the final stage 23 seconds adrift of the leading spot. With another big push Fisher managed to take 8 seconds but it wasn?t enough to deny Greer and Hart of their first win in the Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland series. Together with Greer?s two second places and two third placed finishes this makes the series very close at the top. Overall in the FST class, Orr finished third after two full days of gravel rally experience, a crucial factor for the former rallycross junior champion in his first year of stage rallying.

The final finisher was Buckley, despite the problems of the previous day, he and Brother Shane on the pacenotes persevered and managed to finish fourth, keeping them in contention for the overall championship and netting them ?375 EUR of prize money. In the overall championship, the new leader is Fisher with Greer just two points behind. Former series leader Harvey slips to third, Buckley climbs to fourth and Orr now rounds out the top five. With two dropped scores to be taken into consideration, the championship is now finely poised to become a straight fight to the finish. As this was the first time that the Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland series has not been in their own classification, the pace of the Fiesta drivers was a talking point of the event. Greer took the lead of the FST section from stage 2 and maintained his lead throughout the 2 days, finishing a fantastic 13th overall in the rally, third in class 5 and third two-wheel-drive car, with Fisher just one place behind. Greer also won the Castrol Hard Charger Award for the highest number of quickest FST stage times ? 9 quickest times versus 7 for Fisher emphasising just how close the competition had
been.