Teenage Dream at Dungannon Targa

Young Aaron Kennedy from Larne took a sensational win at the Dungannon Motor Club Moore & Faloon Springfling Rally on Saturday 11th April 2026.  The win was remarkable on account of the margin of the win, almost 2 minutes, and the fact that Aaron was still just 19 years old, albeit his 20th birthday would be the next day.

The Dungannon Motor Club were back in Davagh Forest for their annual Springfling Targa Rally, sponsored again by Moore & Faloon, and this venue proved very popular with the 40 crews lining up for a day of tests.  There were four tests to be tackled four times, each one a mile or more in length, resulting in an overall driving time of over 30 minutes.

The first crew down the road were last year’s winners Philip and Kim Hunter, but this time they would switch from rear to front wheel drive in a Toyota Yaris, and Philip was a bit apprehensive at the start as this was his first time to drive the car in competition. The difference in driving style became apparent at the very first manoeuvre when he had the distinction of incurring the fastest penalty of his career when he touched the first barrier on the first test!

Running behind the Hunters were Aaron Kennedy and Ashley Boulton in a Toyota MR2, a car previously owned by Robert Woodside Jr.  The young man at the wheel would set the fastest time on the first test to take a lead he would hold for the whole day.

Tests one and four contained manoeuvres around cones in small car parks, while tests two and three were more tests of braking accuracy to collect codes from boards at the side of the road.  After each loop, the codes would be changed so competitors had to concentrate on all four runs.

After the first run over the tests, Aaron Kennedy had a 23 second lead over second placed crew Andrew Harkness from Cookstown and Reanna Gillis from Coagh. Surprising everybody, at number 34, this pair were in the Novice Class for beginners, and they would go on to finish in third place overall at the end of the day.

Despite his shaky start, Philip Hunter was in third place overall, just ahead of Wicklow crew Eamonn Byrne and Joanna Lenehan, also in a Toyota Yaris.  In fifth place, despite a cone penalty on the third test, were Ronan Cox and Joe O’Neill in a Ford Puma.

Semi-Expert crew Darragh McQuaid and Kevin O’Neill were motoring well in their Ford Puma, ahead of Martin McNeil (Peugeot 206) and Barry McCann (Fiesta).  However, the Puma would end up off the road on the final loop of tests and McNeill would take a Maximum Time on test seven, opening up the class win for Fintona’s Barry McCann and Michael McAloon from Trillick.

In the rear-wheel drive Semi-Experts, event sponsor Michael Faloon wasn’t having it all his own way in the early tests, finding himself fifth in the class after a “Fail” on test 4.  Gerard Hughes was best semi-Expert at this stage, and as the day wore on, Faloon would recover from the early penalty to just pip Gerard at the end by 4 seconds.

While Andrew Harkness was cleaning up Novice Class 6 from Niall Muldoon, David Purdy and Leslie McLean, over in Novice Class 5 for front-wheel-drive there were just two entries and here Martin Boyd and Marshall Clarke in a Peugeot 206 would run out the winners. 

Back at the front, by test ten, Ronan Cox (Puma) had overtaken Andrew Harness (Mazda MX5) for second place overall, thanks in part to a cone penalty for Harkness, which evened the day out between these crews, but another Cox penalty three tests later reversed the positions again. Test 14 saw Cox back to just two seconds ahead. On test fifteen Harkness reduced that to just one second, so it was all down to that last test. Ronan Cox put in his best performance of the day on that test and pipped Andrew Harkness by two seconds to hold on to second place overall.

Eight crews didn’t make it round all sixteen tests for various reasons.  Those that did, unanimously expressed their enjoyment of the day at Davagh Forest.  Clerk of the Course Dougie Millar and his team expressed their thanks to all those who came to compete, to marshal, to timekeep, and to organise results.

Full Results can be found at ==> RALLYSCORE