This report by Sammy Hamill is reproduced from Carsport Magazine May 1995, with photos by Esler Crawford.

CIRCUIT BREAKER

Bertie Fisher out-thought the opposition almost more than he out-drove them to win the AA Circuit of Ireland – 21 years after he first competed on the event. In a tactical sense it was just about perfect. so much so that for virtually all of the four days he and co~driver Rory Kennedy were driving a defensive rally, protecting their lead, countering every challenge even before it could develop and, above all, taking care of the car.

It, too, was perfect, the Prodrive-prepared, Toughmac-sponsored Subaru Impreza 555 performing untroubled on all of the 34 stages and being described by Fisher as “simply magic.“

He brought it home a comfortable one minute and 45 seconds in front of 1994 winner Stephen Finlay who had driven the rally of his life to snatch second place away from Frank Meagher on the last stage. Finlay and co-driver Philip Mills in the Michelin Pilot Ford Escort Cosworth dominated the stage times, fastest on more than half of them as they battled superbly to recover from a third stage accident which destroyed any possibility of Fin]ay‘s second successive Circuit win.

But what an impression he created as he chased the Lombard and Ulster Escort of Meagher and Pat Moloughney, tackling a deficit of more than three minutes, and finally squeezing into second place on the spectator sprint around Bangor Castle where he was one second faster than the Dunlop Tarmac Championship leader.

Sure, the results show he was 61 seconds ahead of Meagher but ignore that – it‘s just an insult to both drivers and the result of a totally petty and pointless rule which penalised competitors for hitting the cones used to create chicanes in some stages.

Meagher is said to have hit one in the Castle grounds – after 1,000 miles, tied for second place, battling with Finlay, struggling with broken power steering and adrenalin pumping! And they docked him 60 seconds! Get real, UAC!

If there was anything wrong with the 1995 Circuit it was this stupid rule which half the competitors didn’t even know existed. Fisher knew about it as he knew every other legitimate trick in the book, including the innovative tactic of filming the stages on an in-car camera during the recce period and then viewing them in his hotel room and motorhome during the rally. “It was useful,” he explained. “It helped me get each stage into my focus, reminding me of different features, dangerous bits, road surfaces…things like that. I don’t think it made me any quicker, just safer.”

But it does help to explain Fisher’s approach to this rally and his determination to finally lay his Circuit bogey, 21 years, as he said, and 15 attempts – no one deserved it more.

His big concern was Finlay and, close friend that Stephen is, Fisher set out to rattle him right at the start, and he had increased his lead to 10 seconds at the end of stage two at Killyleagh. Finlay tried to look unconcerned as he headed into stage three at Bishopscourt – not the race circuit – but Fisher is convinced he had out—psyched him and that’s why the Michelin Escort plunged off the road at a place everyone said was “a bad spot.”

After that Fisher was able to ease up, backing off for the big jumps, braking early for corners and keeping the car in the middle of the road.

He countered any threat from Meagher by speeding up anywhere he thought the Tipperary man might he quick – mostly in Tipperary and surrounding areas. There was simply nothing Frank could do to derail the Fisher Express.

Bertie just wasn’t going to be denied this time and even Meagher. the winner in 1992. commented to me afterwards: “No one deserves it more.”

Behind the top three there was a considerable gap back to the rest, led by Andrew Nesbitt and Brian Murphy in a sleek ex-Auriol Toyota Celica which he had only sat in the day prior to the rally. Ian Greer and Dean Beckett, in the older type Celica, dropped to fifth at the finish because of some disputed road penalties and David Greer and Michael Reid completed the top six in their Escort having been as high as second before suspension and gearbox troubles slowed them down.

Liam O’Callaghan and James O’Brien had a miserable rally in their Toyota and their high hopes disappeared in a myriad of problems. Liam will see seventh as a poor reward but he will have learned much from the experience – not least that Fisher and Finlay are still a step or two in front.

Stephen Murphy and Michael Morrissey were eighth fastest on the first stage in their Escort and they were eighth at the finish – models of consistency.

Group N for the second year in a row went to the junior Tarmac champions Mark and Rory Doyle in their Honda Civic alter a titanic battle with Pat Kearney and Owen O’Neill in a similar Honda. It was only resolved when Kearney crashed four stages from the end although he still managed to bring the ear home 16th and best junior.

But if there is a lasting impression of Circuit ’95 other than Fisher’s cool and calculating performance, it is of James Leckey. He opened the eyes of so many people, not least Meagher, O’Callaghan and Co. as he charged along in his ex-Fisher Wrangler Subaru Legacy. He was as high as joint second, held third for the best part of two days before crashing out during the Sunday run. And the best part of all – he was enjoying himself! I hope we see a great deal more of Mr Leckey in the future.

Bertie Fisher was already accepting the congratulations of family, friends and just plain well-wishers at the end of the AA Circuit of Ireland when Frank Meagher jumped from his car and raced back to the finish line of the final stage in Bangor last night.

There was no doubting that Fisher and co-driver Rory Kennedy had finally won Ireland’s premier event but after four days on the road and more than 1,000 miles covered, it all came down to the last 1,200 yards for Meagher and Stephen Finlay in the battle to be runner-up.

The 34th stage in Bangor Castle grounds was only meant to be a trip around the park for the benefit of the thousands of spectators who had gathered to see the surviving cars come home but it turned out to be an Easter Monday showdown between the two former winners.

Unbelievably they were tied on exactly the same time – four hours, 34 minutes and 35 seconds – when their pair of Escorts crept through the traffic to begin the last stage.

Finlay’s hopes of back-to-back victories disappeared with that accident on the third stage on Friday but he had clawed his way up the leaderboard, place by place, setting a succession of fastest stage times in a charge that he initially estimated could regain him a top five position.

But top five became top three and as Meagher despairingly chased Fisher he became increasingly aware that Finlay was closing fast. That gap, starting at minute and 47 seconds on the final morning, came down in great chunks as Finlay rushed Northwards. Meagher could do little but hang on and hope – in vain as it turned out.

By the time they reached Bangor, Finlay had closed the gap by exactly one minute and 47 seconds. Talk about a grandstand finish!

Meagher, running second on the road behind Fisher’s Subaru Impreza, stopped the time clocks on 42 seconds for the two-thirds of a mile sprint – and hurried back from his abandoned car to watch Finlay finish. The look on his face told the story without seeing the electronic stopwatch – 41 seconds. Second place to Finlay by just one second!

Fisher is not an emotional man and, perhaps, only his family along with long-time sponsor Kieran McAnallen knew how much it meant to him. They were all there at the finish with the exception of his parents who had been unable to travel up from Fermanagh because his father has only just come out of hospital.

But they weren’t to be left out either and when Bertie, carrying on a series of TV and radio interviews, was handed a mobile phone as he sat on the roof of the Subaru the call was from back home in Ballinamallard. They knew, too, that for all his victories, this was the one that mattered.

DAY ONE

Weather-wise it was probably the best day of the year so far, the kind of bright crisp day that makes you want to get up and go and that’s exactly what Fisher did. He shot out of the blocks like a sprinter, setting quickest times on the first two stages, the short spectator special around the grounds of Bangor Castle and the fast bumpy seven-miler at Killyleagh. In little more than eight miles he’d pulled out 10 seconds on Finlay.

That may or may or may not have been a contributing factor to the most important piece of drama in the entire rally – we’ll probably never know. What we do know is that Finlay’s Escort shot off the road and lodged itself on a pile of rocks somewhere in stage three.

“I was sleeping,” he said afterwards, “it was a left and right kink over a crest with a bad bump. It caught me out.”

He emerged from the stage some two-and-a-half minutes slower than Fisher, the Escort’s steering and suspension damaged – and with his hopes of back-to-back victories in ruins.

At that point so early in the rally he was probably close to last and not able to do a great deal about it until after the Wilson Motorsport crew got their hands on the car at the Saintfield service after stage four. Fisher was already half-a-minute ahead of new second placed man David Greer with Meagher a further 16 seconds down in third and Ian Greer fourth. O’Callaghan, having already bent the steering of the Celica slightly, was sixth ahead of a chastened Leckey who had hit a kerb and damaged a wheel on the short sprint around the Bangor Castle grounds. “No real harm done, just the pride was hurt.” he said.

In more serious trouble was Kieran O’Neill who discovered he had gearbox troubles as early as the first stage and then smashed the sump of his Opel Kadett over a big jump. With repairs carried out he continued to the end of the first leg but was excluded for exceeding his maximum lateness.

His Group Motors team-mate, Jim Crozier, had started strongly, making 10th place alter the first four stages, but then a brake pipe burst on stage six and he had to use a telegraph pole to slow the Manta. A new pipe was fitted at the end of the stage and he carried on but with 30 seconds in road penalties, and more to come when he became the first known victim of the “pylon penalties” after scattering a few cones in Lurgan Park. News of the one minute penalty left him standing open-mouthed at rally headquarters.

Greer was maintaining his second position although he was starting, to experience the first signs of the transmission troubles that were to dog him all through the rally.

Behind him it was no longer Meagher in third but Leckey who had jumped from sixth with two sparkling times. The final two stages of the day saw Fisher add a further 12 seconds to his lead and return to Bangor 1 minute 17 seconds in front of Greer with Meagher 1 minute 42 behind and only just holding off the impressive Leckey. Then came the Toyotas of Ian Greer, Liam O’Callaghan and Andrew Nesbitt all in a row and covered by less than half-a-minute.

The fast-recovering Finlay was back to eighth place ahead of Stephen Murphy and Eamonn McAleenan. Wesley Patterson in 11th led the two-litre modified brigade closely followed by Cahal Arthurs, 14th, despite extensive damage to the front bodywork of the Opel Manta.

Tarmac Junior Champions Mark and Rory Doyle led Group N and the 1600cc class in their little Honda Civic from Pat Kearney’s similar car and the Impreza of Willie John Dolan which already needed a gearbox change. So, too, did Eugene O’Donnell’s Astra which headed the two-litre Group Ns. Other class leaders at the end of day one included Paul Fox in his Nova, Roy Gravestock – remember him in the top 10 last year alter the Saturday blizzard? – in his Astra. John Dempsey, Simon Welby, Gordon Webster and another of the 1994 heroes, Alan Jardine.

DAY TWO

Saturday morning was damp and chilly, leading to the first question marks over tyre choice for the first stage of the day at Armagh.

Fisher played safe on conservative intermediates but Meagher fitted soft cut slicks and was rewarded with his first fastest time of the rally, four seconds quicker than the leader and good enough to take him into joint second with Greer, who finished the stage with a rear wheel leaning over at an unusual angle. He had brushed again a hidden rock, damaging the suspension and breaking a wheel.

Was Meagher pleased? A clenched fist and a shouted ‘yes’ when he realised he was fastest suggested he was well fired up for the run south to Limerick.

Greer’s damaged suspension couldn’t he repaired until Monaghan and he had two slow times while O’Callaghan suffered a blown turbo on the Ultron Celica and lost five minutes as well as dropping from fifth to tenth. Having built his hopes so high for this rally, he was totally dejected by the time he pulled into service at Monaghan.

In contrast, Leckey was bubbling over. He had pulled level with Meagher after stage 10 and even though he dropped back to third with a spin at the bridge on stage 11, James was right on the pace and opened quite a few eyes among the established front-runners. Ian Greer remained firmly established in fourth place, 90 seconds or so ahead of Nesbitt who was rapidly gaining confidence in his new Celica following a change of suspension.

The rally moved on south down the centre of Ireland and at Granard, after two more dry, dusty stages, Fisher’s lead had risen to almost two minutes, aided by the fact that he was first on the road and in clean air.

The inside of Meagher’s Escort looked like it could have done with a good hoovering and Frank claimed he had been slowed slightly with Fisher’s dust hanging in the air. He had still only managed to edge clear of Leckey by 10 seconds and Ian Greer was just a further 17 seconds behind.

Greer had suddenly fallen away, the Toyota appearing to lose power for no obvious reason, and he found himself drifting hack into the clutches of Finlay who had already overtaken Nesbitt for fifth after setting two more fastest times. Andrew was suffering from a flu virus which wasn’t helped by the dust filtering into the car and then the Toyota began locking its back brakes. At that moment he wasn’t the happiest of drivers.

Further back Crozier had overtaken Patterson to regain the two-litre class lead. Down in Borrisokane we basked in the afternoon sunshine and waited for the cars to pass through en route to the final two stages before Limerick. This was Meagher territory and we waited in anticipation. But by the next service stop on the far side of Nenagh, the gap had grown not shrunk, Fisher moving up a gear to beat Meagher on both stages. He was now 2-17 ahead and clearly sending a message to Meagher that he could out-run him when he felt it was necessary.

Leckey stayed third, just 29 seconds behind and well over a minute ahead of Greer who had speeded up again after the turbo was changed, but Finlay was just 12 seconds back in fifth and clearly aiming for the top three as fast as possible. He was, however, still over four minutes behind Fisher.

Nesbitt in sixth had been left a minute-and-a-half behind and Greer was closing up in seventh after sorting out his suspension problems. O’Callaghan’s troubles continued with a broken strut but he was up to eighth ahead of Murphy who had a four minute gap back to McAleenan despite the Statoil Escort suffering front fuel starvation problems.

Most of the drama was happening just off the leaderboard with Crozier’s see-saw rally continuing. He had almost made the top 10 again until a broken throttle cable stopped him for five minutes in stage 15 and Jordan was slowed with a broken water pump belt. Arthurs had another massive spin but held on to the class lead ahead of Maguire and sandwiched between them was two-litre leader Patterson.

The Doyles continues to lead Group N and the 1600 class and were now 47 seconds in front of Kearney with Dolan still third and first in the big Group N class where Stephen Roche held second place (25th overall) in his Celica.

The class leaders at Limerick included O’Donnell, Fox, Jardine, Dempsey, Denny McMahon, Matt Schumann, Welby and Webster.

DAY THREE

Adare, one of the most picturesque villages in Ireland, was the centre of action on the third day with two spectator specials in the grounds of the manor house. These stages might have been short and might have been insignificant in the overall context of the rally but even here Fisher wasn’t prepared to give Meagher an inch. He expected a big attack during the Sunday run and was ready with the best form of defence — attack!

He was one second faster on the first Adare stage which did little to change the leaderboard although David Greer’s Escort emerged with a broken clutch. But stage 19 saw the end of Leckey and one of the great drives of the 1995 rally. “I was struggling to find the pace I had been running comfortably at the previous day and went into a corner a shade too fast,” he explained afterwards. “I dabbed the brakes and got onto the gravel and that was it really. The car slid into a bank which punctured a wheel and deranged the steering. A couple of corners later I lost it and we went off the road. Sad, but my own fault I suppose. Still, I really enjoyed it and learned a good deal while it lasted.”

Finlay, now promoted to third, was fastest on both stages 19 and 20 with Fisher right behind and again ahead of Meagher – but there was virtually nothing in it and six seconds covering all three of
them.

Out of the rally went Fox who had been up to 19th place overall and leading his class by seven minutes when the Nova’s engine blew.

The pace at the front remained frantic with Meagher fastest again on stage 23 but relegated to third on stage 24 which left the overall situation virtually unchanged as they returned to Limerick for the final overnight halt.

Fisher had conceded one second to Meagher throughout the day and Finlay had only been able to reduce his deficit by nine seconds. But considering they were on Frank’s home ground they both considered it a job well done. Meagher, for his part, admitted he was surprised just how well they had stuck the pace.

Nesbitt was also stuck in his Greer sandwich, two minutes behind Ian and a minute in front of David, while O’Callaghan stayed seventh ahead of Murphy. Holton retired when his Sierra stuck in a ditch on stage 24, leaving Arthurs, Maguire, Jordan and Patterson all battling over the last place in the top 10. In Group N, the Doyles continued to keep Kearney at bay, the Hondas now close to the leaderboard as well.

DAY FOUR

The long run back to Bangor began with threeTipperary stages close to Nenagh and if Meagher was going to make any move on Fisher it had to here. But Fisher knew it too and again stepped up his pace. “Those three stages were very difficult, especially the first one, Arras Mountain. It was definitely the hardest in the rally. But I couldn’t afford to let Frank take any significant amount of time out of me there; that would just have given him encouragement,” explained Fisher. “I went hard without taking too many risks and it paid off.”

He was quicker than Meagher on all three stages to increase his overnight lead from 2m 06s to 2m 14s and the writing was now clearly on the wall. With the rally moving north away from home territory, Meagher was not going to he able to close the gap. But the gap between second and third was coming down in dramatic fashion. It had stood at 1m 40s leaving Limerick but in a stunning charge over those first three stages, Finlay had cut it by 33 seconds and Meagher’s attention turned from thoughts of winning to the defence of his second place.

The chasing pack behind stayed much as they were with the exception of Arthurs, holding ninth overall. He went off on Arras Mountain, damaging the suspension and steering of the Manta. His service crew managed to reach him in the stage with replacement parts but by the time they had the car mobile again Cahal was over his maximum lateness.

Maquire moved into ninth followed by Jordan and McAleenan who was still struggling on without third gear and Patterson lost time with a puncture, allowing Group N rivals Doyle and Kearney to move up to 12th and 13th respectively. And just when we thought the battle for first place was over, Fisher almost gave his entire entourage heart failure. On stage 29, Rock of Dunamase, he spun in fourth gear and moments later overshot a junction. When he finally emerged, it was with his lead cut by 29 seconds!

“We got caught out on the wrong tyres and the car was virtually undriveable. After the spin and the overshoot I was so disgusted I actually tried to turn the wrong way at a junction. It was a real nightmare. “

But it seemed everyone was starting to have problems. Finlay had his intercom fail, Meagher found his feet slipping off the pedals when water got into the car and O’Callaghan‘s unhappy rally took a serious turn for the worse. The Celica went out of control at the flying finish line of stage 29, swiping a telephone pole as it careered off the road. The back right suspension was severely damaged and in the way of these things, the closest support car was carrying parts for the left side. The O’Callaghan team had a frantic 40 mile dash to get the correct parts and it all resulted in six minutes of road penalties.

A resigned O’Callaghan said: “It’s bring it home time now. I just want to get the finish and put this rally behind me.”

Stage 30 brought big trouble for Kearney as he tried to overtake the Doyles. The Little Civic landed in a field close to the end of the stage and it took nearly eight minutes to get it back on the road, and another five minutes (equivalent to 50 seconds) in road penalties to make it driveable again.

The battle for Group N was over and young Kearney settled down to bring the car home for junior Championship points. Up at the front, Finlay had cut the gap to Meagher to 49 seconds with three stages, plus the short spectator sprint at Bangor Castle to go – an average of close to 18 seconds
a stage. Could he do it?

Two stages later, as the cars crossed the border and into service at Newry, the results computer showed the gap was down to one second as Finley continued to blaze his way home. Pat Moloughney, Meagher’s co-driver, raised a query over the totals being shown, insisting the gap should be seven seconds, not one second. Those missing six seconds could he crucial and back at the Bangor base a re-scrutiny of the time cards was instigated. And Moloughney was right. It was traced back to stage 22 on Sunday where a time of 7-40 had been read as 7-46 because of a hastily scribbled 0. The gap really was seven seconds – but would even that be enough?

There was another major battle shaping up over fourth place as well. Nesbitt had been going strongly on the way home and when he set his first outright fastest time of the rally on the Devil’s Elbow stage at Omeath – a place he knows well from Irish national rounds – it coincided with Greer’s Toyota suffering another turbo problem. Nesbitt was now only 12 seconds behind and he also suspected Greer had incurred road penalties into Newry as well.

Just one real stage to go, a nine miler at Loughbrickland, and although Fisher was comfortable with a lead of 1m 55s, we still had two huge battles raging immediately behind him. Finlay was fastest again at Loughbrickland, amazingly by seven seconds, which left him tied with Meagher as they headed for the Castle grounds at Bangor. It was going to be a real grandstand finish.

But Greer appeared to have fourth all wrapped up when he beat Nesbitt comfortable and headed for Bangor with a 40 second advantage. Few people apart from the two crews knew that all was not what appeared on the time sheets. The attention was naturally focused on the great duel for second which was to be decided at the 1200 yard dash around the park. Fisher, putting on a show for the crowds, finished first on a highly competitive 43 seconds and leaning across as he brought the Subaru to a
halt to say to me: “21 years.” I knew exactly what he meant and, more importantly, what it meant to him. Like everyone else he turned to watch the battle behind.

Meagher came hurtling into sight and over the finish line, leaping out of the car to rush back and check his time. 42 seconds. He stared down the road watching for Finlay. The Michelin Escort burst into sight and slithered to a stop on the wet road – 41 seconds!

Meagher turned his eyes skyward and shook his head. Beaten by a second after 1000 miles. You could feel the disappointment he was experiencing, but he composed himself and stepped forward to shake Finlay’s hand. He, above everyone else, appreciated the performance Stephen had put in on that last day.

Penalised 60 seconds!

It was some time afterwards that we discovered Meagher had been penalised 60 seconds for hitting a chicane on his charge around the park. It came like a kick in the teeth to him and we were all left to wonder what would have happened if he had beaten Finlay by a second on that last stage. Can you image how much egg the Ulster Automobile Club could have been picking off their faces if they had taken Meagher to the finish ramp in second place and then announce afterwards – after all the interviews – that he had been relegated to third for hitting a cone.

It also transpired later that Nesbitt had driven over a cone on the Devil’s Elbow stage and his fastest time had been increased by 60 seconds. But it was clear he wasn’t happy as he took his place fifth in the line-up for the finish ramp. All he would say, however, was: “It‘s not right.” Few people were aware what he was talking about and he wouldn’t explain it.

A long time afterwards, even after the prize presentation, it emerged that Greer had been demoted to fifth as a result of road penalties at Newry – penalties he disputed – and Nesbitt moved up to fourth. Behind them David Greer came home sixth, still fighting transmission problems with his Escort, and O’Callaghan completed what can only he described as a character building weekend in seventh ahead of the steady Murphy, who never seemed to move from his eighth place throughout the entire four days.

Maguire was best of the rest, first of the two- wheel-drive cars in a Manta that was once driven by Fisher, and McAleenan completed the top 10 ahead of the determined McAleenan. For all his troubles, Eamonn just wouldn’t give up and, as he said afterwards, “carried the Escort home on my back.” He made it just ahead of Jordan who had been hampered on the way north with a broken engine mounting but he was there at the finish, competing the Circuit at his first attempt in the company of a famous name – Allan Harryman, son of former winner Terry.

The Doyles were 12th, winners of Group N for the second year in a row but as Mark commented later it was “so different from last year when we were able to drive round more or less at our own pace. This time we were flat out right up until stage 30 where Pat crashed. It was some rally.”

Kearney at least had the compensation of finishing top in the Tarmac Junior Championship with his 16th place. Just ahead of him were three more class winners, Crozier top of the two-litres after all his problems; O’Donnell, on his third – or was it fourth? – gearbox, first of the two-litre Group N cars, and Dolan, winner of the big Group N class in which Stephen Roche finished second and 19th overall.

The other class winners included Webster in class one, Dempsey in class five, Gravestock in class seven Welby in class nine, Jonathan Dunseath in class 10 and Jardine in class 15.

Final Overall Positions:

1. Bertie Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Subaru Impreza) 4:33:31;
2. Stephen Finlay/Philip Mills (Escort RS) 4:35:16;
3. Frank Meagher/Pat Moloughney (Escort RS) 4:36:17;
4. Andrew Nesbitt/Brian Murphy {Toyota Celica) 4:43:18;
5. Ian Greer/Dean Beckett (Toyota (Celica) 4:43:25;
6. David Greer/Michael Reid (Escort RS) 4:44:11;
7. Liam O’Callaghan/James O’Brien (Toyota Celica) 4:47:07;
8. Stephen Murphy/Micaheal Morrisey (Escort) 4:51:21;
9. Niall Maguire/Sean Walsh (Opel Manta] 5:02:45;
10. Eamonn McAleenan/Gerard McMonagle (Escort RS) 5:05:00;
11. Jaye Jordan/Allan Harryman (Escort RS) 5:07:05;
12. Mark Doyle/Rory Doyle (Honda Civic Group N) 5:10:45;
13. Jim Crozier/Paddie Reid (Opel Manta) 5:16:18;
14. Eugene O’Donnell/Paul McLaughlin (Vaux. Astra GpN) 5:16:42:
15. Willie John Dolan/Michael Orr (Impreza GpN) 5:18:01.