McFall, Kennedy & Drury take MIJRS wins in Cork

Kyle Drury en route to MIJRS J1000 win at Cork Forestry Rally - Picture by Cian Donnelan

As the dust settles following the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally, the return to the gravel lanes brought with it a huge amount of drama as the outcome of the 2025 Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series looks to be heading towards a grandstand season ending conclusion on the final pair of rounds. Cork brought the joy of new winners, the despair of retirements and everything else in between.

Based in Kanturk, the eight stage event run by Cork Motor Club offered a high speed 70km route that would favour the most committed of drivers, and this was evident right from the very start as the times filtered back from the opening loop. Here is how the event played out across the MIJRS Classes and how it leaves the race for the lucrative prize packages on offer thanks to the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, and the coveted Billy Coleman Award shortlist nominations.

The MIJRS battles take a break now for a number of weeks, with the Junior 1000 crews returning on October 17th for the Laois Forest Rally Sprint, while the Class 2 & 2A crews head to the Fastnet Stages Rally on October 26th before all classes end their season with the Donegal Forest Rally on November 8th.

Class 2

For class leader Cian Caldwell, the 2025 season has gone perfectly to plan. Maximum points from four of the five rounds to date, all eyes were on his Peugeot 208 Rally4 and right from the start, it looked to be headed in the same direction as he finished the opening Loughatooma stage over five seconds clear of the pack, but an engine gremlin on Mount Hilary saw him return to the first service in third.

For Robert Cronin & Jack Byrne, the lack of experience on these fast and high speed stages definitely left them at a disadvantage, but both really settled into a strong and consistent pace across the day as they continue to develop massively in what is still their debut seasons in the MIJRS.

Jack Harris wasted no time getting back up to speed in his Ford Fiesta Rally4 after an accident on the Donegal International, and set a number of top-3 times in the class across the day. With just two rounds of the season left, the Fastnet Stages Rally (Tarmac) and Donegal Forest Rally (Gravel), Harris will be hopeful of getting himself into strong contention for the prizes at the seasons end.

A true breakout star this season, Oran England continued his remarkable form on Gravel as he finished third in Class in Cork, and set a pair of fastest stage times in the afternoon loop which marks how impressive his performance was. Finishing just 6.7 seconds off a maiden MIJRS victory on one of the fastest Gravel rallies on the calendar is an astounding performance, and it leaves England right at the sharp end of the standings heading to the final events of the year.

While Caldwell would put a disappointing morning behind him and ultimately lead heading to the last stage, he was unable to hold off a final stage push from Ben McFall that see the former Northern Irish Junior Champion take a first MIJRS victory, with 3.5 seconds to spare over Cian Caldwell.

Having suffered a disappointing retirement in Tipperary earlier in the season, McFall arrived to Cork with a point to prove in his Ford Fiesta Rally4, and it was a resounding point that was made! Three fastest stage times, a top-20 finish on the biggest Cork Forest Rally in twenty years and a very first MIJRS Class 2 Victory, McFall now sits second in the standings to Caldwell but knows that the battle is not over yet with drop scores still having a role to play in proceedings.

Class 2A

If ever there was a group to deliver drama, it was the MIJRS Class 2A drivers in Cork last weekend. With numerous lead changes and dramatic moments that may shape the final outcome of the series as well as warning signs for the future, its fair to say this round had it all.

Ross Ryan arrived to the Kanturk based event in strong form, with a trio of victories under his belt and a huge desire to impress on stages he has competed on numerous times before in his J1000 days. Leading the standings, Ryan would start strong and hold a health lead by Stage 5, but things would unravel on the second pass of Glenduff as his Ford Fiesta R2T slid wide and collided with a bank ending his day.

That allowed Tommy Furlong to grab the lead with two stages to go after a really impressive drive from the youngster ending a great week of celebration that included his Grads Ball, but the joy was to be short lived as a puncture early on the penultimate stage saw him drop over forty seconds and ultimately lose the lead.

The man to profit from all the drama going on around him was Jack Kennedy, as the most experienced competitor in Class 2A controlled the event perfectly to romp home with 20 seconds to spare over the rest of the field, and with that take a third victory of the season which now sees him back in the lead of the standings heading to the final two events of the year.

Cameron Crozier made his first appearance of the season on Gravel in his Ford Fiesta R2T and was rewarded with a fine third place overall as he set some really impressive times. Another talking point from the weekend that merits discussion is the performance of Danny Brady who like Crozier was making his Gravel debut in Class 2A.

Brady has been the first to take advantage of a recently introduced Motorsport Ireland rule that allows for J1000 drivers aged 16 and older with sufficient experience to upgrade their license to compete in a Class 2A car, with a number of others due to follow suit in the coming months. Brady would finish Cork just 0.4 seconds behind Jack Kennedy, but is unable to score MIJRS points in Class 2A this season.

J1000

In J1000, it was delight at the finish as Kyle Drury, having been so close all year, finally got to taste victory as he led from start to finish across the longest event of the year, returning to the Kanturk finish ramp with 4.4 seconds to spare from his nearest rival. The event saw the biggest entry of J1000 crews ever seen, with thirty youngsters taking to the start line in Cork.

The nearest rival to Drury once again proved to be James McShea, the pair have traded tenths of seconds right across the MIJRS season to date and it was a truly titanic battle between the pair. Despite taking 6.9 seconds out of Drury going fastest on the second running of the Bweeng stage, it wasn’t enough and he had to settle for second, but with drop scores now in play McShea leads in the standings.

Making the leading two work hard and remaining firmly within the title fight is David Travers, our winner in Carlow and the Moonraker. Going fastest on the final stage secured the final podium spot ahead of the hard charging Jack McDermott, and the results leaves Travers sitting third in the standings heading towards the seasons end.