This third round of the Dunlop National Championship here in Cavan promises to be a pretty torrid, fast and furious affair with the top drivers all keyed up for a red hot day’s rallying.  Last year’s winner Niall Maguire, with Paul McLaughlin on the notes as usual, leads the capacity entry away from the Hotel Kilmore. Niall’s car was damaged on the recent Monaghan Rally, but is back as good as new and Niall had a test run yesterday just to make sure that Stan Harper had bolted all the right bolts in the right places. Niall remarked before the rally “We’ll be going flat out, taking no prisoners!”  

Jim Harrison who starts at No.2 also had a bit of a disaster on his last outing when he crashed the McKinstry Impreza.  Jim won the first round of the championship in Mayo so he’ll be flat out to make up for lost ground here. As he waited for the start flag Macclesfield man Jim commented. “My car feels really good after the test. The stages here today seem quite technical, a bit bumpy, but I quite like them”. 

Kevin Lynch starts at No.3.  The Dungiven man has taken his Impreza WRC to 2 victories in 2 weeks and he will be doing his utmost to try to get a hat trick and improve on his equal 5^th place with Harrison on the Dunlop series. Championship leader Patrick Elliott starts at No.4.  Patrick is on his home ground here in Cavan of course, and there is nothing he would like more than a home win.

Ray Breen at 5 was doing extensive tyre testing with the Dunlop engineers yesterday and his Focus WRC is in absolute A1 condition for this weekend. Ray is just another of the top drivers very keen for a good result here in Cavan. Daniel Doherty was to be at 6 but he is a non starter which leaves Adrian McElvaney next up in his Impreza. Then Sean Devine (Impreza) is at 9. Charlie Donnelly (Corolla) at 10 and Sean Gallagher (Impreza) at 11 to make it 10 WRCs at the front of the rally.

As the minutes ticked away to the start and the drivers paced nervously around Donnelly said. “Everybody round here seems nervous but me. I tested the new Corolla on Thursday and it was 100 per cent. I’m going to use Eugene’s Corolla next weekend in Munster to make sure it’s OK. I really like the stages here in Cavan, there’s a lot of work in them and I think the 11 miler at the start is good. It will get everybody settled in”.  

Further WRCs include Noel Redmond, running with 179 on his Impreza, but sandwiched between 12 and 14, Willie Fannin and Alan Ring in their respective Group N machines.  Redmond’s Impreza WRC engine is just back from being rebuilt and hasn’t yet had the full mapping programme carried out, so Noel is running the car in “safe mode”. 

Another WRC is Kevin Barrett running at 17 in his Impreza WRC, while Jack Sleator has acquired the Fabia WRC that Derek McGarrity ran in Galway. Jack will run with 38 on the side of the Skoda and says he is using today just as a bit of a test.

Top Group N runners beside Willie Fannin and Alan Ring, both in Imprezas, include young Michael Curran at 18 in his Lancer Evo 7 and James O’Sullivan, also in a Lancer at 16. Further back Rodney Wilton is at 26 in a Lancer and young Ian Barrett at 27 also in a Lancer. Amongst the reserves getting a start is Gavin Harris, co driven by Shaun Lafferty. Their Group N Lancer, running with the No.146, will start 18^th on the road, ahead of Maurice Moffett and behind Kevin Barrett.

This Cavan Rally is also a round of the Border Championship, which puts the emphasis on class places.  This throws the spotlight on to the two wheel drive cars as well as the WRC and Group N machinery. The 3 principle class leaders at the moment are Andrew Mullan (Cl.5): Shane Feeley (Cl.6) and Adrian Fox (Cl.10). Mullan’s Puma is minus some suspension bits so he is running Peter Devaney’s ex Niall McShea Nissan Micra.

Just some of the 2 wheel drive experts to look out for today include Maurice Moffett who is the top seed in class 14 with Enda Keenan just behind in his Escort. The class 13 runners are led off by Paddy Boyle in his Escort who starts at Nof.21 with Mac McKenna (Peugeot rwd) at 22 and Gordon Rogers at 23.  Trevor Lancashire is the highest seeded class 12 driver in his Escort. Trevor is at 29 with Gerry Cassidy at 30 and Arthur Kierans at 31. 

Looking outside this Cavan Rally for just a moment Cahal Arthurs won yesterday’s Ballypatrick Rally from David Armstrong with Rodney White 3^rd.  Armstrong got caught out on some gravel on n early corner of the first stage and slid his Impreza WRC into a ditch and was back in 11^th place but fought back up to 2^nd. Finally for now congratulations to Mk2 Escort man Brendan Campbell who got married to Janice yesterday.

More news from service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net