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| Fastnet Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.1 - Bantry - Saturday @ 17:44:39 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Bantry/Saturday
Hardly a weekend goes by throughout the year in Ireland without a stage rally taking place. Rarely though does a rally get such a fantastic welcome as is being rolled out this weekend here in Bantry. This friendly coastal market and tourism town, steeped in history, seems to have really taken the rally to its heart. The entry of top level cars and drivers in a way is a reciprocal gesture from the rally fraternity of the town’s generosity. As well it is a show of respect towards the rally’s proud history, along with the challenging route and the huge effort put in this year by Clerk of the Course Ger Hayes and his hard working Skibbereen & District Motor Club team.
Midleton’s Daragh ORiordan, with Derry’s Tony McDaid co-driving in their Subaru, the pair fresh from winning the Cork ‘20’ International, will lead the cars away for the 8 special stages over roads twisting and turning out towards Dunmanway and back to Bantry. Behind ORiordan’s state of the art Impreza are three more Subaru World Rally Cars, to be driven by new Dunlop National Champion Brian OMahony at No.2, previous two times Fastnet winner Denis Cronin at 3, former National GpN Champion Kevin Kelleher at 4. Behind the four Subarus is the Ford Focus World Rally Car of UK domiciled Cork man Michael OBrien. Eoin Doyle was to be at 6 in his Focus but is a non-starter.
Behind the top five seeds is the leading GpN exponent Alan Ring in his Lancer. Killarney man Alan could face stiff opposition from the former Tarmac GpN Champion Jer ODonovan in his Impreza at No.16. Other top GpN entries include Sean ODonovan, and also late entry Brendan Cumiskey. Dundalk man Brendan will carry the number 98 on his Lancer, but will surely be seeded much higher on the start list.
Damien McCarthy, surely a rally star of the future, is at No.8 in his class 11 Civic, while John Hendy in his exciting Corolla Twin Cam is at 9 and Fergus O’Meara, in his immaculate Dairymasters backed class 14 Escort rounds off the top ten. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of this quality field. Who will be doing the winning and losing on the rally is just about as unpredictable as the Atlantic waves rolling in towards Bantry’s thankfully well sheltered inlet. It should be great fun though, watching what will surely be no shortage of dramas and as many fireworks as Halloween on this 30th anniversary Fastnet Rally.
Some further changes to entry include Ken ONeill coming in at 101 in his exciting Puma and he will probably be seeded in the twenties. Adrian Randles (No.103) in his Escort is another late entry while further additions include Dave Dunne (No.99), Andrew Sheehan (No.100), and Stephen McCabe (102). Jill White (J12) joins the junior category. Withdrawals include Stephen McCann (14), as well as numbers 70 & 88.
No.2 seed Brian OMahony has changed from a left hand drive Subaru to Kenny McKinstry’s right hand version in order to relieve the pressure on his injured left wrist.
More news after stage 1: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or @ Real_RallyNews
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