RALLY NEWS NO.1                                          Waterford/Sunday morning

Today's Suirway Forklifts Ravens Rock Rally brings together the best of two worlds - the top drivers in the Dunlop National Championship and the 'Get Connected' series. This has resulted in one of the best entries seen on an Irish National Rally for some time. Michael Barrable and Niall Maguire are the top drivers flying the flag for the Dunlop Irish, Melvyn Evans and Steve Fleck, Escort and Subaru WRC respectively, the leading visitors.

Mutiny Rally winner Robert Woodside at 5 provides a breath of fresh air to the National scene as he clocks up some asphalt miles in the McKinstry Impreza WRC in preparation for the Jim Clark Rally. John Price is at 6 in his Metro 6R4 and John, like the five drivers in front, is a potential winner.

Barrable wouldn't fully commit himself to his chances last night as his Subaru went through scrutineering. The Dubliner commented, "I just want a clean run. Every time I have got going in this new car some problem has intervened. We have fitted a new propshaft for this event, and everything has been checked and double checked, right down to the door handles. It won't be an easy rally, and if the weather changes the stages will be very difficult. They are like night and day, in the wet and in the dry" Melvyn Evans has made some radical changes to the suspension and transmission set-up with his ultra successful Escort WRC. There is only one proper service today so if Melvyn needs to change anything back he could be under pressure.

The battle for class honours should feature strongly as well - there are some brilliant drivers in Mk 2 Escorts, such as Jimmy Lambert, Derek Smith, Phil Collins, David James, Tom Randles.  GpN as well will be interesting - Bob Fowden is the highest seed of the 14 or so showroom cars. The Welshman will face tough opposition from the likes of Gwyndaf Evans, making a comeback in a GpN Subaru, Kieran Molloy, Aaron McHale, the latter on his first outing since damaging his Lancer in Cavan. Eddie Garry, the Waterford Subaru dealer, is seeded well back but hoping to make an impression on his home soil. Another local man out in a Subaru - a GpA one from McKinstry Motorsport, is local tyre dealer Tom Geraghty. Late entry changes include - Joe McHugh, Kevin Barrett and John Nolan non-starting. Victor Carruthers is codriving for Sean Gallagher. While John Smithwick is replacing Ron Guha to sit with David James.

Safety is high on today's agenda.  Ann-Marie Fitzgerald, the Clerk of the Course of the event, has put in an enormous amount of work to cover all eventualities.  Her team includes stage commanders Tony Cleary, John Fitzpatrick, Vinnie Byrne and John Purcell. We would ask everyone to do their utmost to help all the team make the rally safe and successful. More news after stage 1 - BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON