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RALLY
NEWS NO.1
Smerwick Harbour Hotel/Sunday 09.00
www.rallynews.net
Remarkably there are 18 World Rally Cars in the line-up for this opening
Circuit of Kerry round of the Dunlop National Championship. Admittedly there
are a few haven't made it here to the Dingle Peninsula - Peadar Hurson,
Kieran Shaw and Maurice Gass are missing - but there are more than enough
left to make it a fabulous line-up. Former Champion Niall Maguire in his
Impreza WRC will lead the 151 cars away from the start here at the Smerwick
Harbour Hotel in the shadow of the Dun an Or hill and Mount Brandon. Ahead
for the drivers lie 8 classic stages - Minard Castle, Conor Pass, Brandon
Creek and Slea Head, each done twice.
This will be Maguire's 2nd outing in this Subaru. His first was on the
Mayo Stages Rally, which he won, but confessed afterwards that he lacked a
bit of confidence. It will surely be a different story this time.
It was on this rally a couple of years ago that Niall had a fantastically
close finish with Jim Harrison. Niall won, and went on to win the Dunlop
Championship. He commented here before the start. "Fantastic
stages, not easy, a great challenge and the competition this weekend is
mighty". Jim Harrison is 2nd on the road. The
Macclesfield man hasn't been out in a rally car for 5 months, and had a
short test session in the McKinstry Subaru on Friday, and said. "The
buttons in the car are all in the same place, but I don't know whether my
buttons are all in the right place for this". Donie O'Sullivan
starts with No.4 on his Focus WRC and following his West Cork win Donie has
done further development work with the new Ford. If he is not in the
frame at the finish here it will be surprising. Kevin Lynch is at 5 in
his state of the art Impreza WRC S9, the Dungiven contractor on a stunning
rallying learning curve, and every time he appears he seems to get better.
At 6 Is Welshman Melvyn Evans. Melvyn was low key in West Cork, his
Subaru's suspension not right on that occasion. The opposition can expect no
such favours this time. Melvyn is here to win.
Adrian McElvaney, David Armstrong, Patrick Elliott and Liam McCarthy make up
the top 10, and any of them could figure today. Just outside the top
10 is Denis Cronin in his Celica, then John Joe Fleming fresh from his
Midlands rally win. Then its George Cullen in the ex Bertie Fisher Impreza
555. George has Pat Cashman co-driving this time. Sean Gallagher at 17 has
Francis Kenny in the hot seat and fine driver that he is Sean will be hard
pushed to get his Escort Cosworth up amongst the world rally car times.
Noel Redmond at 18 has switched from his Hyundai to an ex Boland Impreza WRC,
and should go well. Cathal Arthurs at 19 is making his first National
Rally trip in an Accent WRC, and Andrew Stewart at 20 is the first driver in
a Group N car in the line up, in his Lancer.
There are some excellent drivers outside the top 10 - Paddy White for
example at 25 has a new S8 Impreza WRC. Fair enough, it will be a new
experience for Paddy in the left-hand drive car, and also with a paddle gear
change. Paddy is probably more interested in getting some miles done in the
car before next weekend's Circuit.
Group N on the rally will provide its own excitement. Besides Andrew
Stewart, top names in group N machinery include Willie Fannin, James
O'Sullivan, Gabriel Martin, Peter Clifford, Dominic Loughran..and a whole
lot more. By the way, we are providing a new overall Patterson RallyNews
Group N Award for the Dunlop National Championship, which hopefully will
provide an extra impetus. Another interesting facet of the event
should be the battle for 2 wheel drive honours, of which more later.
Meanwhile looking outside Kerry briefly, Andy Burton won the Astra Rally in
Wales, Roger Duckworth 2nd, Marcus Dodd/Stephen McAuley 3rd in the Davy
Greer Corolla WRC. Dorian Rees won GpN in an Impreza from Brendan
Crealey. Paul Wedgbury won the Evo Challenge from Rory Galligan. Ieuan
Rowlands won the Peugeot 206 Super Cup from Stuart Jones. Gareth MacHale was
5th after delays on the first 2 stages. More news at service: BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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