RALLY NEWS NO.1 Tralee/Saturday/6.30pm

In terms of the Dunlop National Championship, this Circuit of Kerry Stages Rally, the 2nd round of the series, takes on a new complexion with the news that Aaron MacHale, winner of the opening counter in Mayo, has withdrawn. This throws the Championship spotlight very much on to Niall Maguire in his Subaru, a rejuvenated Niall really, who, against the form book, showed the sort of form in Mayo a couple of weeks ago which took him to three previous National titles.

It will be last year’s Kerry winner Patrick Elliott in his Subaru who will lead the cars away for the 8 special stages through North Kerry on Sunday, with Michael Barrable next up, running with 3 on his Ford Focus WRC. Then it’s Donie O’Sullivan, fresh from his West Cork victory. Niall Maguire is at 5 and Glenn Allen in his Corolla WRC at 6. Outside of that we have Noel Redmond, Kevin Barrett, Seamus Leonard, Sean Gallagher and Jack Sleator, all in mighty Subaru Impreza World Rally Cars. Alan Ring at 12 is the first driver in a ‘Production’ GpN car, a Lancer.

As the cars lined up for the ceremonial start in Tralee town square on Saturday evening, it gave the spectators a chance to admire the beautiful line-up of rally machinery. Patrick Elliott remarked that he was able to test his Subaru on Friday, although in truth was a little disappointed, couldn’t get any heat into the tyres. At least Patrick is forewarned, and if the weather stays damp and cold will be able to opt for different rubber. Michael Barrable hasn’t done a rally for quite a while, so he reckons that he may be a bit rusty to start. Michael was also able to test his car on Friday, and his Focus WRC went well.

As mentioned above, Donie O’Sullivan won West Cork a couple of weeks ago, and although Donie hadn’t done a full rally for years, he was able to switch on all the old style and speed in Clonakilty. He could be a hard man to beat here this weekend in the McKinstry Subaru. Donie will have a new co-driver, in the shape of Barry Goodman, but that shouldn’t make too much of a difference to him.

Niall Maguire seems to be a rejuvenated man this year, so it will be very interesting if the Monaghan transport magnate can keep that momentum here. Glenn Allen on the other hand took his time to get on the pace in Mayo, but get on it he did and came through strongly towards the end, further asphalt competition on the Circuit of Ireland sure to have sharpened the Cookstown man’s pace even further, even if his lovely black Corolla is getting a bit long in the tooth compared to these new Subarus all around.

Noel Redmond at 7 has local man Diarmuid Falvey co-driving this time, which will perhaps give Noel that extra boost which he so desperately needs at the moment. Kevin Barrett , normally a real front runner in the Dunlop series, got off to a desperate start on the opening Mayo round, when his Triton Subaru cried enough, so Kevin is very anxious to get some points on the board this time. Omagh’s Seamus Leonard has been a breath of fresh air in terms of pure speed since he acquired his current Impreza WRC, but in terms of reliability it has been a disaster, so Seamus is another who will be very anxious to keep going right through the day to the chequered flag back at the Fels Point Hotel finish.

In GpN, the battle will be between a handful of drivers. Alan Ring would dearly love to celebrate his birthday with a category win, and those doing their best to deny the Killarney man undue celebrations include Willie Fannin in his Impreza, first round winner Danny McBride, seeded away back at 26, Anthony O’Halloran who seems to have swapped his Manta for a GpN Lancer, local man Thomas Fitzmaurice of TLI, who could be a dark horse, Limerick’s Eamonn Daly, there’s a big choice!
The battles for best two wheel drive honours, between the likes of Mike Quinn, Ed Synan and John Kearney in their Escorts, or the exploits of some of the top class contenders like young ‘Mr Binam’ Mark Sheahan in his fabulous Super 1600 Clio, Willie Power in his Darrian, all the Juniors, the variety and talent is endless and should make for a great rally. Just a few more non-starters from the top end of the entry list include Kevin Kelleher, Eoin Doyle and Ken O’Neill.
More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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