2025 M&F Springfling Targa

Robinson Cruises to M&F Springfling Win

Saturday 26th April saw the 4-wheel motorsport fans tackle Dungannon Motor Club’s Moore and Faloon Springfling Targa Rally.  Based at Quinn’s Corner Bar and Restaurant, 44 crews lined up to tackle 5 challenging tests in lanes and yards, each completed three times in the course of the day.

The activity got under way early at Quinn’s Corner with cars going through safety inspection at 7:30am and then a super breakfast in the restaurant.  With competitor and marshal sign-on now being done on-line in advance, the paperwork formalities don’t take long.  At 9:30am, Clerk of the Course Dougie Millar gave a briefing to competitors, outlining the key points about the tests during the day.

First car away at 10am was last year’s winner Philip Hunter from Cookstown, navigated this year by his Son, Bobbie in the Toyota MR2.  Second away was the ever-welcome Southern crew of Eamonn Byrne (Bray) and Ronnie Griffin (Tallaght) in their Toyota Yaris.

The weather over the previous few days had left many of the tests in a damp and slippy condition and the front-wheel-drive competitors were hoping this would shift the balance towards them.

Times were very close on the first test of the day at Lockhart’s Lane.  The fastest ten were covered by just three seconds, with Robert Robinson and Mark King fastest in their Toyota Yaris, one second ahead of Kevin Daly and Alan Wilkinson in a Hyundai Accent.  It was looking like perhaps a front-wheel-drive was the car to have today after all!

Test two was at the popular Smith’s Lane, and here Philip Hunter would reassert his competitiveness with a time 6 seconds faster than anybody else, and propel himself and son Bobbie from 11th to 1st.  This first run through Smith’s lane was quite chaotic for some as they mis-read the diagram and failed to negotiate the tight first turn on the test.  Eleven of the 44 crews failed to perform the test correctly.

Two interesting tests were set at Nugent’s farm at Altaglushin, the first lane was grassy and muddy with tight chicanes, and the second was part concrete, part gravel, with a tricky downhill code board that caught many crews out. 

On the grassy lane, Simon Woodside and Jay Colville set the fastest time, just ahead of Kevin Daly in that Hyundai Accent again.  Philip Hunter still held the rally lead as he tied for third place on the test with the Hasletts in yet another Toyota Yaris.

On the second of the Nugent’s Lane tests, Alastair and Jonathan Hayes managed to get the downhill gravel just right and took fastest time ahead of Robert Robinson.  A super time here by Omagh’s Ciaran and James O’Hagan saw them match Robinson’s time and jump up to 12th place overall.  Not far behind though was that silver Hyundai, and their time on this test moved Daly and Williamson into the rally lead as crews headed to the final test in the loop – the yard at Hayes Fuels.

The twin Toyota Yarises of Robert Robinson and Eamonn Byrne set the fastest time in the slippy yard at the fuel depot.  Just one second behind though was the Ballygawley crew of Leslie and Gareth Hawe in their Mazda MX5, and their steady run through the morning had them in 6th place overall.  Leading the rally by just one second was Kevin Daly and Alan Williamson in the Hyundai.

A run around to the time control at Quinn’s Corner brought competitors to the start of the second loop and already the tests were drying out.  Having been once over the tests, errors on the second loop were much reduced and everybody was really enjoying the driving. 

When crews arrived back at the Quinn’s Corner control for the second time, Kevin Daly and Alan Williamson were still in the lead with a six second gap to Robert Robinson and Mark King.  The semi-expert Hasletts were third, and the first rear-wheel-drive car was Alastair and Jonathan Hayes in an MX5, also semi-experts. The Hunters picked up a severe 30 second penalty on this loop when they made a mistake recording one of the codes on the second Nugent’s test.  A repeat win on the Springfling now looked unlikely for them.

Also in a spot of trouble here were rally leaders Kevin Daly and Alan Williamson.  Despite holding a six second lead over Robinson and King, a vibration had developed in one of the drive shafts and a failing bearing or joint was suspected.  It was going to be a challenge to go fast enough but try to protect the drive shaft.

Simon Woodside and Jay Colville put themselves top of the times back at Lockhart’s and Daly only lost one second to Robinson over this “one minute” test.  At Smith’s Lane, Philip Hunter established himself as master of this test by setting fastest time for the third time on the test.  Robinson reduced Daly’s lead by a further five seconds and now sat tied for the lead of the rally.  Ronan Cox and Joe O’Neill were up to eighth in their Ford Puma, 

Amazingly, Kevin Daly was fastest on the grassy test at Nugent’s, and moved back into the lead, but on the second test there, Robinson reversed the tables and was now the leader by just one second, and only the Hayes Fuels test to go.

A nail-biting finish to the 2025 M&F Springfling saw Robert Robinson and Mark King win by ten seconds after a super drive on that last test.  Robinson and Hunter shared the fastest time while poor Kevin Daly had to take care and dropped 9 seconds to the eventual winners.  A phenomenal performance nonetheless.

Back at Quinn’s Corner, the results were announced and prizes handed out.  Dougie Millar thanked the Marshals who turned out to help run the event, the competitors who came along for the day’s sport, and especially the landowners who allowed everybody to have a great day of tests.

RESULTS

1. R.Robinson/M.King (Yaris) 27:19
2. K.Daly/A.Williamson (Hyundai) 27:29
3. R.Haslett/P.Haslett (Yaris) 27:49
4. P.Hunter/B.Hunter (MR2) 27:54
5. M.Walker/J.Smith (MR2) 28:04
6. E.Byrne/R.Griffin (Yaris) 28:10
7. A.Hayes/J.Hayes (MX5) 28:16
8. R.Cox/J.O’Neill (Puma) 28:19
9. F.Mallon/C.Mallon (MX5) 28:42
10. I.Howard/R.McFaul (MX5) 28:58

CLASS WINNERS

• Class 1 – R.Robinson/M.King (Yaris)
• Class 2 – P.Hunter/B.Hunter (MR2)
• Class 3 – R.Haslett/P.Haslett (Yaris)
• Class 4 – A.Hayes/J.Hayes (MX5)
• Class 5 – P.Campbell/J.Dalton (Yaris)
• Class 6 – C.O’Hagan/J.O’Hagan (MX5)