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RALLY NEWS NO.1
Oldcastle/Sunday 1.00pm
There is a full entry of 131 cars on this Oldcastle based Hellfire
Rally. Some drivers including Jack Sleator and Adrian Quinn
took their Group N Lancers out to the start of the familiarisation
run to see if they could get slotted in from the reserves, but it
was no go. The top end of the entry list still presents some
interesting drivers and cars, and it should be a real good race.
OK the roads are wet with some intermittent rain, but not too bad.
First on the road, Pat Donegan, brought his Escort into the service
area here at Fair Green, and commented. "It's slippy enough out
there, but there is still some good grip in places. I'm looking
forward to it, but it's hard to know how the 2 wheel drive cars will
fare. There are some chicanes and 4 wheel drive machines
should have an advantage there, we'll not be able to keep the
momentum going".
Second on the road, Sean Gallagher, echoed the thoughts of the
slippiness, and said. "It is slippy and tight in places, but
there's a bit of everything in the stage. The familiarisation run
wasn't much good though, we didn't get going at all behind the zero
car, didn't get a real good look at the road, and I think local
knowledge will play it's part today".
As more cars arrived in there was more comment on the fact that the
black Sierra acting as zero car kept stopping and the drivers behind
were all bunched up, and didn't get a real good look at the road.
Several commented as well that there seemed to be oil getting
dropped/leaked on to the tarmac, and it was getting slippier by the
moment. Joe Curran in the Group N Impreza at No.10 got rammed
from behind by car number 11, the Escort Cosworth of Martin Brady.
Martin reported that he came over a crest, and the cars in front
were all stopped in a dip and he just couldn't get braked in time.
Paul McCann runs at No.3 in his Escort Cosworth. Enda Keenan
is at No.4 in his fabulous black Escort. Enda is just out for a
day's fun really, and has Maurice Moffett's daughter Laura co
driving today, and celebrating her 18th birthday by co-driving for
the first time! Dominic Loughran is at 5 driving one of
Derrick Jobb's Lancers. Garrett McCullagh, winner of the NI
Single Stage, is at No.6 in his Mk2 Escort. Ollie O'Reilly is
at No.7 and Michael Curran at 8, both in Escorts. Paul McEnroe
is at 9 in one of Jack Sleator's Group N Lancers. Joe Curran rounds
off the top 10.
All in all it should be a good battle and there are plenty more
outside the top 10 who could spring a surprise. This rally
also marks the first outing for the new Irish Peugeot 205 Challenge.
12 cars have registered, although there are over 20 205's doing the
rally. Some of the drivers are waiting to see how it goes
before they commit to the technical regulations, and running control
tyres. The Peugeot initiative is the brainchild of local man
Rory Galligan, assisted by Claire Walsh. Rory won the Evo
Challenge section of yesterday's tough Park Stages Rally in
Scotland, and managed to get home during the night to look after the
Peugeots today. Brendan Crealey won Group N overall, Barry
Johnson won the rally, Steve Perez' 2nd place good enough to clinch
the ANCRO Championship for the Vodka Kick man. On the
Fermanagh Lakelands rally Niall McShea scored a brilliant victory in
a Lancer.. Kieran Shaw was 2nd, Charlie Donnelly won Group N. Kevin
Lynch slid off. Glenn Allen's Escort Cosworth stopped with a seized
camshaft. Raymond Johnson seemed to have the rally but slid his
Lancer into a ditch. On Wexford Rally today, Donie O'Sullivan
in his Focus WRC is chasing hard after Murphy for the lead.
More news after stage 1. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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