Morris continues title charge at Donington

BARRY Morris’s bid to reclaim the MSN Rally Championship title continued during round three on Sunday at Donington Park where he finished third overall and won class D by the proverbial mile.

The Galbally driver, and navigator Tom Hutchings, finished almost nine minutes ahead of the next two-wheel-drive car in their Darrian and just two seconds adrift of overall runner-up Neil Roskell in his R5 Ford Fiesta. Event winner, Frank Bird, meanwhile, was around three minutes ahead of his two rivals.

“First place is just too far to grasp at the minute!,” Morris observed. “Frank Bird is just in a league of his own, taking lumps of time out of me and even the guy in second place Neil Roskell.

“Two-wheel-drive wise we were well ahead, we had no competition to fair.”

While a third place finish keeps Morris and Hutchings in contention to reclaim the title they won in 2020, it was nearly so much better for the Darrian crew.

On the final stage, they caught second placed Roskell, but they were unable to find a way past and had to settle for third and a little added frustration.

“Our last stage wasn’t so good. We actually caught Neil Roskell, who broke a shaft, but he held us up,” Morris explained. “I think he was playing tactics and he deliberately held us.

“There was 30 seconds between us, so we caught him, taking 30 out of him but he wasn’t for moving over!

“He was playing the game, he slowed us up and he only won by two seconds at the end up, so we took 28 out of him.

“He played the game, he slowed it all around so I couldn’t get past him and to be fair, if I was in that position I’d probably have done the same because it’s all about the points.

“But he was fair enough about it, he was taking all the right lines but it was frustrating because I was stuck behind him for two laps and just couldn’t get through.

“It turned into a circuit race but we got a decent finish, no damage and some more points.”

Meanwhile, Barry’s dad, Seamus and co-driver Jarlath Kelly, endured another frustrating weekend.

They picked up a maximum time on stage two, which all but ruined their hopes of a decent finish and they concluded the event 58th overall.

The next round is at Brands Hatch in January but Barry plans to take on the Turkey Run Rally at Shackleton on December 29th as a warm-up.