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RALLY NEWS
NO.1 Sunday morning..Cavan
This Hotel Kilmore backed Cavan Rally, round 5 of the Dunlop
National Championship and a counter in the Border series, boasts
a capacity entry for today. Defending National Champion Niall
Maguire in his Subaru Impreza leads the cars away from the hotel
this morning, and if past form is anything to go by he will be
hard pushed over the 9 stages by the man behind, Paul Harris.
Young Donegal man Harris has been a class act so far in the Dunlop
series, but he was stopped in his tracks on the last round down
in Carlow, the engine overheating and the gearbox giving trouble.
Ironically, on the state of the art Subaru the overheating was
down to the very basic item of a faulty radiator cap. Niall Maguire
has had some outstanding moments as well this year, the Monaghan
man gradually building up steam as he gets more accustomed to
left hand drive.
West Cork man Donal O'Donovan was down to start at 3, but it
would appear he hasn't made the trip, so Eugene Donnely is next
on the road in his giant killing Escort G3. Eugene has been involved
in some classic battles over these Cavan stages in the past,
and indeed the competition between the two wheel drive cars should
provide a battle of it's own. Denis Cronin and Micky McArdle
in their BMW's also run in class 12 along with Eugene, as does
Dessie Keenan. In class 11A for multi-valve 2 litres the action
should be no less frenetic, with Glenn Allen, Mac McKenna, Maurice
Moffett, Declan Wilmott, Camillus Bradley, Mick McQuaid and Mervyn
Wedlock just some of the names to look out for.
Top ten seeded four wheel drive stars include David Armstrong,
fully rested after hurting his shoulder earlir in the year, Sean
McArdle in the big Toyota, this time with former Cavan man Paul
McCann on the pace-notes. Paul is now an Isle of Man resident.
Joe McGurk at 8, also in a Celica, has local pride at stake.
Four wheel drive machines just outside the top ten seeds to look
out for include Dominic Loughran at 14, as well as Tim McNulty
and Kevin Barrett, Toyota and Subaru repectively, at 20 &
21. Sean Walsh has stepped in to co-drive for Kevin at the last
moment. James Cole, who is a stage sponsor for today under the
Tractamotors Tyres banner,is at 22 in his Escort Cosworth, and
he'll be another out to impress on his home turf.
GpN on the rally is well supported. Top showroom seed is local
builder Patrick Elliot in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. Patrick
has been going better and better this season as he switches on
to this machine. He'll hardly get it easy today with Joe McHugh,
Sean Gallagher and current National GpN Champion Michael Shaw
in the 'showroom' line-up. Also in gpN is cross channell visitor
Neville Sutton(Lancer). It is quite a feature of this Cavan Rally
how strongly contested all the classes are, and it should prove
a very interesting event. Some changes to entry include Victor
Carruthers now co-driving for Sean Gallagher, John Dufffy has
stepped in to sit with Ernest McMillen. Rory Galligan is now
co-driving for John Fitzsimons at No.69. Further non starters
include numbers 33,34,35,53,59.Quite a few reserves are now getting
a run, including Seamus Gallagher (137). More news later...BRIAN
AND LIZ PATTERSON
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