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Circuit
of Ireland National Rally, April 2009
Congratulations
to Fintan for a great run in the 2009 Circuit.
This year the stages took place in the South Down and
South Armagh area. A
fast pace was set from the off and competition in Fintan’s 2.0
litre, 2 wheel drive class was fierce from the off.
With Mark Hanna calling the notes the distinctive McGrady
Insurance Mark II was in the thick of the action right until the
end of the two day event. But
for a mis-fire and a problem with his diff the final result may
have been different but Derry’s Mark II expert Camillus
Bradley eventually came out on top in the class, with Michael
Conlon second and Fintan
and Mark third. That
left them in an excellent 8th place overall, taking
some notable scalps along the way.
Ulster
International, August 2009
Another
top 10 killer performance by Fintan and the modified RWD brigde.
The 2.0 litre boys had to give way to the superior power
of the 2.5 men, with the bigger engined cars working really well
from the off. Fintan
made a couple of errors of judgement during the night stages,
without which his result would have been better.
Nonetheless the target to finish inside the top 10 tarmac
stages is continually being met and the McGrady Insurance Mark
II is improving with every outing.
Moneyglass
Rally Time Trial, September 2009
Another
great day behind the wheel saw Fintan take 5th
overall and 1st in class.
This was his first time on the concrete lanes of the
Higgins Estate and gave him another opportunity to get some
valuable stage miles under his belt.
Wicklow,
October 2009
A
damp day in this classic event provided much entertainment but
Fintan and new co-driver for the day. John Rowan, excelled.
Thinking there were slow out of the blocks it was a
surprise to find out there were top of the 2.0 litre pile and 5th
overall after the first set of stages.
However this impressive run was not to last as the car
landed heavily on the second last stage and sheered steering arm
nuts. Back to the drawing board to get ready for 2010!
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| 21
Years and still going strong |
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| Linda
McQuoid recently completed 21 years service with McGrady
Insurance. She
joined the company as a school leaver and hasn’t looked back. Her years of experience are invaluable and we look forward to
Linda being part of the company for many more years to come.
She is pictured with the founder of the company, Mr
Malachy McGrady receiving a gift as a thank you gesture for her
loyalty and commitment. |
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Glengormley's
Derek McGarrity and James McKee raced away with their second
successive victory at the McGrady Insurance Stages on Saturday,
round two of the Hankook MSA N.I. Stage Rally Championship!
Bishopscourt
Race Circuit hosted round two if the Northern Ireland Rally
Championship on 14th March.
The event, sponsored by McGrady Insurance and organised
by the Ballynahinch & District Motor Club attracted a full
capacity entry of 120 crews.
The event also welcomed the camera crews of UTV’s RPM
Motorsport.
There
was an action-packed start to the day when Raymond Johnston's
car caught fire, and Eoin McErlean overturned into a field!
Thankfully, marshals were able to extinguish the fire before it
was too late but the incidents forced organisers to award most
crews nominal times for the rally opener. At least that worked
in favour of McErlean, who was able to get back on all four
wheels and complete the event!
At the top of the leaderboard, there were no such troubles for
Derek McGarrity. He lead from start to finish in his Subaru
Impreza WRC to make it two wins in a row at Bishopscourt.
Rivals Connor McCloskey and Francis Regan made a wrong
tyre choice for the opening stage and spun their Focus,
immediately handing McGarrity a 13 second advantage and he kept
up his pace all day to come out on top by almost half a minute.
Omagh's
Seamus Leonard and John McCafferty took the final podium
position in their Subaru Impreza WRC. As a newcomer to the
Hankook Championship, Leonard is building his experience of
circuit based events, so third was a satisfying result for the
former Irish Tarmac Group N champion.
There was fiery start to the Sunoco Fuels Group N category when
Raymond Johnston's car caught fire on the opening stage. A
seemingly harmless incident at the first corner quickly caused
round one winner Johnston some major concerns.
With Johnston out of the event, a new name was destined to top
the Sunoco Fuels Group N podium. Reigning champion Cathal Rogers
was hotly tipped to take the spoils but he made a few bad tyre
choices which dropped him down the order, while John McGlaughlin
also had troubles of his own.
Instead, the battle went down to the wire between three men.
Mark Massey, Alan Burrows and John Walker. Only a handful of
seconds separated the three crews but in the end, victory and
ninth overall were awarded to Mark Massey and Alan Purdy. Donagh
Kelly and Kevin Flanagan finished just three seconds adrift in
10th overall, while Alan and Gavin Burrows were a further two
seconds behind.
There was another close battle in the Superdrive two-wheel-drive
category between three crews. In a tussle that went right down
to the wire, Trevor Moore, Camillus Bradley and event sponsor
Fintan McGrady were all fighting for honours in their
immaculately prepared Mark IIs.
It was Bradley who entered the final stage with the upper-hand
but he caught another competitor on the test
and lost vital seconds. Trevor Moore and Ray Fitzpatrick
capitalised and a stunning time saw them nab the category
victory by three seconds from Bradley and Danny O'Neill, with
Fintan McGrady and Gary Rodgers taking a close third. |
On
8th March 2008 the McGrady Insurance Stages took
place in Bishopscourt in round two of the Pacenotes MSA Northern
Ireland Stage Rally Championship.
The competitors tackled 6 stages, representing 40 miles.
Derek McGarrity topped the podium piloting a Subaru
Impreza WRC S12b, winning by more than half a minute from Connor
McCloskey and Francis Regan.
McCloskey narrowly missed out on victory at round one at
Kirkistown, which went in Sean Devine's favour, but this result
was enough to see him lead the championship.
The expected challenge from round one winner Devine
failed to materialise at the Bishopscourt event. A stage one
excursion after the infamous jump saw him burrow a hole in a row
of tyres. He escaped with frontal damage but later retired after
stage three.
Devine's demise left Glenn Allen and Raymond Johnston battling
for third overall.
With one stage remaining Johnston held the advantage by
1.5 seconds. A no holds barred attack was on the cards for both
men through the final stage.
Despite Allen getting caught up in some traffic and
finishing the stage with smoke billowing from underneath his
car, thanks to collecting one of the circuit's tyres, the
reigning champion managed to seal the final podium spot after
Johnston spun off the road!
Early Group N leaders, Alan Carmichael and Margo Christie, had
to settle for seventh overall at the finish. They had been
running well up the order but an 'off' on stage four saw them
lose more than half a minute. A great recovery drive followed to
see them net seventh overall, ahead of Mark and Cormac Doyle who
completed the top eight.
In the ever competitive Superdrive two-wheel-drive category,
James Kennedy and John Rowan emerged victorious for the second
event in succession. They battled throughout the day with Rodney
White, event sponsor Fintan McGrady and Bob Riddles but Kennedy
eventually emerged as the victors by a narrow margin.
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| Professional
qualifications |
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| Over
the last number of years McGrady Insurance has taken pro-active
steps towards all staff members gaining professional
qualifications.
All staff have undertaken and passed Chartered Insurance
Institute exams at some level.
Rhonda Flynn, Fiona Cunningham and Colin Degan became the
most recent staff to attain their Chartered Insurance Institute
Certificate.
They, along with a number of others are progressing
towards the next level of qualification.
On passing his latest module Colin commented “With the
support of the company I have been able to sit the CII exams to
enhance my day to day knowledge and demonstrate to our clients
that they can trust us to advise them professionally.
It has given me more confidence when dealing with clients
and I want to keep pushing to gain further qualifications”.
Rhonda, Fiona and Colin are pictured along with some of
the other McGrady Insurance staff who have successfully gained
accreditations from the CII. |
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