|
RALLY
NEWS NO.1
Monaghan/Sunday 10am
Niall Maguire may appear to be, on
paper at least, clear favourite for
his
home rally. However being No.1 seed
and so much 'odds on' brings its own
pressures. Certainly Niall is on the
crest of a wave at the moment, having
won the opening two rounds of the
Dunlop National Championship, this
Monaghan Rally being counter No.3.
Yes, two of the three stages today are
right on Niall's Ballinode doorstep,
but still the transport man has to
drive the rally, make no mistakes, and
his Subaru will have to be at 100%
throughout the nine tests. Behind
Niall, drivers such as Michael
Barrable, David Armstrong, Glenn
Allen, Patrick Elliott and Kieran Shaw
are all capable of turning in the
stage times and will be right up
Maguire's Impreza World Rally Car
bumper if he makes a slip.
Michael Barrable is just home from
holiday, got very little sleep on
Friday
night, but still looks to be on form
for this rally. His Subaru is very
much
on song following the hiccup which
prevented Dublin man Michael from
starting the Circuit of Kerry. David
Armstrong at 2 reports no problems
with his Escort Cosworth's engine,
while Glenn Allen's WRC Escort has had
a minor engine rebuild following the
discovery of a clatter of broken valve
springs. Kieran Shaw's Escort WRC is
just out of the bodyshop having been
tumbled by Dominic Mc'Neill last
weekend, but happily seems none the
worse for that. Sean McArdle is at 7,
Kevin Barrett at 8, his Triton Showers
backed car restored to full health
after having blown a turbo on the
Circuit. Micky McArdle was to be at 9,
but he is non starting, while Lisa
Mangan, who was to have been sitting
with him, is now co-driving for Alan
Nesbitt at 21. Ivan Stewart from
Kilmacrennan makes up the top ten in
his Escort Cosworth.
There are some quick men outside the
top ten seeds as well - Sean Gallagher
at 11 is in the ex Gilleece Escort
Cosworth, with Joe McHugh at 12 in a
similar car. Philip Shaw, fresh from
his Davagh win last weekend, is the
highest seeded Mk2 Escort man, and he
will face some very strong opposition
in his class from Mac McKenna, Norman
Armstrong and Maurice Moffett.
Armstrong's car has been repaired
following the Circuit crash, Norman
telling us that the damage was nowhere
near as bad as was feared. Dessie
Keenan (No 18) is the first of the
class 14 Escorts, while Mick McQuaid,
who rounds off the top 20 in his DOME
Escort, runs in class 20.
The GpN entry is headed by Adrian
McElvaney in his Mitsubishi Lancer,
with Martin Brady (Escort Cosworth)
and Letterkenny's Andrew Stewart in
another Lancer his chief opposition.
Indeed the battle between these three
should be one of the highlights of the
rally, while Aaron McHale, seeded
further back, showed towards the end
of the Circuit that he can set good
stage times as well. Today we also
have the start of the Ford Ka series,
in addition to which the new Focus
Championship car will be on display
here at the Hillgrove Hotel. On
the subject of Focus - we have just
heard that Colin McRae has rolled his
on stage 16 on Cyprus - still going.
More news after stage 1 -
BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
|
