2020 M&F Snowdrop Rally

Rally report by Grace King, photos by Derek Smyth.

Clean run for Hawe & Barker at Snowdrop Rally

Class 1 winners were the Father and Son crew John and Jonathan Henderson in their Nissan Micra.

Leslie Hawe and Alistair Barker in their Mazda MX-5 claimed victory on the Moore and Faloon Snowdrop Rally ran by Dungannon Motor Club last Friday night, with a faultless performance.

An excellent entry of 23 crews, proved that navigation events still have the potential to draw crews from all over the province, on a dark and cold night in March. A route including twisty and bumpy roads, with route instructions designed to make a fun experience for all, set up for an interesting event. A varied selection of cars had turned out for the occasion.

The Sommerville’s in their Rover Mini, a vast array of Mazda MX-5s’ turned out in preparation for the next targa rally of the season and Brian McCurry in his immaculately turned out Austin Mini.

Darrell and Jordan Burns from Dungannon had a mostly trouble-free run to take third place overall and second in the Novice Class.

Five crews rolled into Time Control C penalty-free, but a tricky section between this control and Time Control D pushed crews to keep on their due times. At the next time control, Hawe and Barker would be the only crew to still be penalty-free and from there the duo established their dominance dropping no time throughout the night and finishing penalty-free. Nearest rivals’ father and son John and Jonathan Henderson in their Nissan Micra finishing with a very creditable 3 penalties down in second overall and first in Class 1 for Experts.

Mike and John Henderson in their BMW Mini were the Class 5 winners.

With Hawe and Barker taking the overall win, Dungannon brothers Darrell and Jordan Burns would take the class 3 win in their Ford Fiesta, with the Mitsubishi Grandis of Roger Gordon and Kathryn Millington 18 penalties behind in second and another brother crew of Alistair and Jamie Kerr in their Mazda MX-5 in third.

Class 4, which was made up of the DMC rally school trainees, with the sister crew of Emma and Cathy Kerr taking the class win in their Citroen C2. Hot on their heels was Brian McCurry and Claire Morton in their Austin Mini who finished second in class, with Seamus Goodfellow and Joel McFarland in their Mazda MX-5 in third.

Sisters Emma and Kathy Kerr in their Citroen C2 were the Class 4 (DMC Rally Scool) winners.

In Class 5, made up of beginners from other clubs throughout NI, the BMW Mini 1 of Mike and John Henderson would finish in the top position, just ahead of Peter Gawn and Neil Rodgers in their Saab 95. Third place in the class would go to the husband and wife pairing of Philip and Sarah Sommerville in their Rover Mini.

At the finish in Swifts Football Club, Dungannon the crews enjoyed a hot supper before Keith Hall, Clerk of the Course, was joined by Event Sponsor, Michael Faloon, to declare the results and hand out the prizes.

The club’s thanks go to Moore and Faloon for their continued sponsorship of this event and to the team of marshals who manned time controls and secret checks.

You can find the full results here ===> Rallyscore