RALLY NEWS NO.1 Sunday morning ….early
This
weekend’s Mayo Stages Rally kicks off another Dunlop National
Championship season, the series again attracting a high class
field of drivers as well as an overall phenomenal demand for
entries. The rally has a new clerk of the course this year in
the shape of young Jonathan Rice, and he has put in a massive
amount of work to make the rally a success. Jonathan has picked
challenging stages, in the direction of Ballina and Killala,
which should be interesting.
Ray
Breen the Dunlop National Rally Champion from 2 years ago, is
No.1 seed in his Focus WRC, with Patrick Elliott at 2 in his new
Impreza WRC and Aaron MacHale at 3 in his Focus WRC. These three
are probably the favourites. However, having said that, there
are many more drivers at the top end of the list who could
spring a surprise. Ray Breen was leading the Birr Rally a couple
of weeks ago, proving that he has lost none of his speed, but
then his Focus gave power steering problems.
This
transpired to be down to the inside of the hydraulic pipes
shedding microscopic shreds of material, which clogged a tiny
filter and caused a blockage. Patrick Elliott was also right on
the pace in Birr, but he was forced to pull out when he took
sick, which left Aaron MacHale to go through to victory.
That
battle will be resumed here, and drivers who could upset the
balance include Glenn Allen in his Corolla, former Champion
Niall Maguire (Impreza WRC) and Kevin Barrett, also in an
Impreza WRC. Kevin, who finished well up on last year’s series,
said of today’s stages, “ They will be difficult, narrow and
tight in some places, very fast in others, and the grip level
seems to vary a lot.”
Noel
McCarrick is at 8, Sean Gallagher at 9, Sean Devine at 11, Noel
Redmond at 11 and Jack Sleator at 12 are all in state of the art
Subarus, and any one of them could feature before the day is
out. Names missing from the top include Martin Doherty who was
to be at 6, and Kieran Shaw, who was to have been at 10.
Behind
the best of the WRC machinery is a dazzling array of GpN cars,
headed by Willie Fannin at 15, and with reigning GpN champion
Alan Ring at 16, both in Subarus. Behind these two is a pack of
‘production’ Mitsubishis, their drivers all hungry for success.
These include Michael Curran, Seamus `Leonard, Gabriel Martin,
Kevin Kelleher, Frank Wray and a whole lot more. Ian Barrett has
switched from a Lancer to a new Impreza N12B, so it will be
interesting to see how the young Maynooth man goes. They will
all surely provide thrills aplenty, and hopefully not too many
spills. Willie Fannin has hurt his back and booked a
physiotherapy session after his recce of the stages.
Excitement as well should come from the Mk2 Escorts, and general
two wheel drive contenders, including the likes of Camillus
Bradley, Mac McKenna, Rodney Wilton, Gordon Rogers and Eugene
Ferry. If there was a prize for the most attractive cars at
scrutiny, a top contender would be Gerard McAleer’s Escort.
Camillus Bradley has built him a new one, and it is so
stunningly beautiful it should be on display in the Tate
Gallery! There are lots of nice cars of course, one very
special one being Paul Manton’s new Citroen C2R2. One top Escort
Mk2 man missing is James Coleman, as he is unwell. Further
non-starters from the published list include Trevor Lancashire
and Russell Woods. Changes to co-drivers include Eugene
O’Donnell sitting with Noel McCarrick, Martin Brady with Sean
Devine and Martin Costello with Jack Sleator.
There
are eight stages on the agenda today, it’s the start of a long
hard road on the Dunlop Championship. When the cars arrive back
here in Castlebar at tea time we will have some indication of
just what way this year’s Championship is going to go. More news
later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
