Fifth Overall and Class Win for Breen on MoonRaker (motorsport)

Class three victor and fifth overall was the reward for Craig Breen yesterday at the finish of the Moonraker Forestry Rally. Breen who was in action for the third weekend in a row was the class of the field in the two wheel drive category and took the class win by twenty four seconds. At the finish ramp Craig was delighted with the result "I was in the UK during the week for to days of heat training at Pro Performance to prepare myself for the expected heat of Rally Sardinia and summer looks to have come early hear today as the temperatures soared. I'm delighted with the result but it could have been even better, we were in joint three overall going into the two last stages but I picked up a puncture on stage seven and that dropped us back. That's rallying and I'm delighted with the result. It's all time in the car under my belt as we prepare for the next round of the World Rally Academy."

The rally, based in the West Waterford town of Lismore and formed round three of the Valvoline National Forestry Championship got underway on Sunday morning with the first of eight special stages. Breen had taken class honours and was the top two wheel drive on round two in Carrick on Suir at the beginning of March was out for a repeat performance. Seeded at number eight, the twenty one year old immediately gained a place on the opening test. In service after stage two, he stated, "All was going well but the first two stages were a little greasy as they had not seen much traffic, we should be better over the rerun of the loop and I'm looking forward to the afternoon's stages." Over the rerun of the morning loop there was very little between all the top cars. Craig was joint fifth with Mitsubishi driver Gerard Lucey and was four seconds ahead of his class three rival Paul Fitzgerald.

After the midway service the rally moved to the afternoon loop of stages based near Aglish and Cappoquin. Craig remarked that he was looking forward to the afternoon loop and initially it looked as if a top three finish was on the cards. On stage five the Keltech backed car posted the third best time overall and moved into third overall just ahead of the Mitsubishi's of Gerard Lucey and Stephen Wright with Craig holding a lead of just eight seconds over Lucey and Wright a further second back. On stage six the power of the four wheel drive cars started to tell as Stephen Wright pulled level with Craig as they both were tied on the same time (26.03). With two stage two go it looked as if we were in for an exciting final two stages but rallying always throws up something unexpected and on this occasion it was Craig who was to suffer. On that penultimate test the Fiesta R2 picked up a puncture and dropped back to fifth.

Back in Lismore at the finish ramp Breen said, "I been on the road with a month now, I'm delighted with today's result. I'm in the middle of a packed schedule but everything is based around the six events of the FIA WRC Academy. With two stages to go, we were in third but I got a puncture on SS7 and that was that. A class win and top two wheel drive is great. The temperatures were very high and it was very warm in the cockpit, this was the perfect preparation for our next WRC event which comes up early in May."