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RALLY NEWS NO.1
Rosslare/Sunday/10am
Today's rally here in Wexford winds up what has been a traumatatic
rallying season thanks to the havoc wreaked by the foot and mouth
precautions. Happily the strength of the entry today re-inforces the
popularity of the sport and the demand for rallies from competitors. It
is late in the year, so fair play to Wexford MC for laying on the event,
and to the Crosbie Cedars Hotel for backing it. We may not have any fire
spitting Subarus at the front of the field today, but we do have a high
class of more clubman orientated drivers, who should provide a close and
exciting day's sport. The stage for today is a tough one, with a huge
variety of roads and surfaces. There will be one common thread to the
roads today - they will be massively slippy. This should make for even
more exciting sideways motoring from the Mk2 Escort men!
David James, with the irrepressible Ron Guha in the co-driver's seat,
will
lead the 130 cars away. David's 2.4 litre BDX engined Escort
occasionally shows signs of temperament, but seems as sweet as a nut for
today and he will be flat out to score a home win. Determined to deny
him that pleasure will be no 3 seed William Carroll in his Escort
Cosworth, with Willie O'Dwyer at 4 in his Metro 6R4 also very much in
the frame for top honours today.
John Nolan, Jimmy Lambert and Tom Randles are the next three on the
road. All are in Escorts, all are quick men. Kerry man Randles has the
bigger engine of the three, and in fact his Escort is probably one of
the most advanced cars in Ireland. Kieran Molloty and Colm Doyle were to
be at 8 & 9, but they are non starting, so next up is Trevor Culbert,
the Wicklow man running with 10 onn the side of his Escort. Just outside
of that, drivers such as David Percy, John Hennessy and James Foley
should be right in the reckoning. Highest seeded GpN car is Willie
Fannin's Lancer, running at 16.
There are many interesting drivers and cars throughout the entry. Tom
Lawless is home from New York to do the rally. He's driving a Civic, and
co driver Brian Sharkey says the aim for today is to beat Aaron McHale!
David Flynn is making a comeback to rallying after a 7 year absence. The
Waterford man, at one time a top contender in his Metro 6R4, is driving
a Corolla today, with Damien Morrissey co-driving. Garry Jennings, one
of the quickest young men around, is out today in the same Peugeot that
carried him to within a whisker of capturing the Super 106 Cup in the
UK. Garry travelled down last night after competing in the Kirkistown
Team Stage Rally, which was won by Wesley Patterson's 'Wild Geese' team.
There are many more non-starters than are shown above, further details
from the service area up at the Horse and Hound...BRIAN & LIZ
PATTERSON
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