Morris mounts stunning comeback at Cadwell Park

BARRY Morris produced a stunning comeback at Cadwell Park where he went from joint ninth place on stage one to finishing second overall at the end of the second round of the MSN Rally Championship.

What makes the Galbally man’s performance all the more impressive is that it was done behind the wheel of a rear-wheel-drive Darrian T90 GTR+ in damp, slippy conditions against four-wheel-drive R5 machinery.

Having trailed the leader by 21 seconds after the first stage, during which he got stuck behind a slower competitor and lost 25 seconds, Morris set about dragging himself and returning co-driver, Tom Hutchings, back into contention with a series of impressive stage times and he was inside the top three after stage four, trailing Neil Roskell in his R5 Ford Fiesta by 29 seconds.

One stage later and the Tyrone man was up to second place, 28 seconds behind the leader and he cut that by seven seconds on stage six but Roskell powered home in the closing stages to seal the overall win by 32 seconds.

After finishing second and claiming the class D win by well over a minute, Morris had moved up to second overall in the Championship and he remains confident that he can reclaim the crown he won in 2019.

“It was a good day and I was lucky enough to pull it back,” Morris beamed.

“Towards the end when it was drying out I pulled out a couple of fastest stage times and it shows that when you can get the traction down, R5s aren’t the problem!

“But it was a good weekend, things held together and it’s more points, so we’ll still try to give it a rattle, do it all and defend what we had a couple of years ago. I’m more than happy with it.”

Unfortunately it wasn’t all good news at Cadwell Park for the Morris family as Dad, Seamus and co-driver, Jarlath Kelly, were forced to retire on stage seven after aquaplaning caused damage to the back wheel of their Darrian.

But the Tyrone family and their co-drivers will be back in action this coming Sunday at round three, which takes place at Donington Park.