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| Tour Of The Sperrins 2008 |
| RALLY NEWS No.1 - Pre Start - Wednesday @ 11:36:35 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Walsh/s Hotel Maghera/Saturday morning 08.30
Its all stations go this morning on this KBB Doors Tour of the Sperrins Rally, and despite the fact that four drivers out of the original published top ten can’t make it, there is still more than enough quality as well as quantity about the entry to provide a great day’s rallying. Charlie Donnelly and his co-driver Paddy Toner in their Corolla WRC will head the entry away from Walsh’s Hotel in Maghera, the pair bidding for a unique hat-trick of wins. Several drivers have won this prestigious rally in consecutive years. Trevor Moore has won it four times, but nobody has won it three times in a row. As ever winning won’t be easy, even for someone with Charlie’s talents! Behind former National Champion Charlie is NI Championship points leader Connor McCloskey, with Sean Devine at 3 and then former National Champion Peadar Hurson next up. All drive Subaru WRC’s, a car that could be well suited to the jumps and twists of today’s special stages. Connor McCloskey is the young tiger of those front four, and he would dearly love to put his name on the winner’s trophy. His family and friends have so long been associated with this rally. Connor did seem a bit nervous before the start, and was saying that he would really have liked a bit of time in his Subaru as a warm up, but that wasn’t to be.
Sean Devine has produced plenty of speed in the past, and indeed won the Easter Stages event some weeks ago, a rally with much the same sort of terrain that the drivers will face today. However Sean crashed out here on the Sperrins last year, so he will be out to make amends. Peadar Hurson carries the number 122 on his Impreza WRC. Let’s not be fooled by that number though, Peadar will be trying for the No1 spot at the finish. Although he has been out of rallying for a while, he looked as fresh as a daisy and was raring’ to go when he signed on last night.
No 1 seed Charlie Donnelly seemed to be all business as well, Charlie also looking after his friend Liam Egan who is home from New York to compete on the rally. Liam will drive the ex Connor McCloskey GpN Lancer. Liam has Omagh man Colin Harkness co-driving. This is the first time the pair will have competed together, and Liam will have only driven the car for the first time up to the start line, so that could all be very interesting!
And what of those four non-starters from the top ten? Derek McGarrity’s Subaru isn’t ready as the engine, gearbox and differentials only really arrived back at his workshop at the last minute and there wouldn’t have been time to set the car up. Glen Allen still has no engine for his Corolla, and although he tried to hire an engine, and also a car, and he and his co-driver Damien Connolly were up and down several avenues, it all came to naught. Similarly Eugene Donnelly’s proposed Metro 6R4 wasn’t ready, and Sean McArdle, who was to start at 6, also wasn’t ready.
Yes, losing those four does make a hole in the top ten, but it just could open the door for young Scottish lad David Bogie to get a really good result here. David is an exceptionally talented driver. The Corolla he drives comes from the winning Derek McGeehan stable, so who knows? Behind David are three more very talented drivers, Seamus Heron, Raymond Johnson and George Robinson, all in World Rally Cars. They shouldn’t be a mile away either. Seamus Heron has switched from his Focus to the Seamus Leonard Subaru WRC for today.
Next up is Cathal Rogers in the first of the GpN machines, a Lancer Evo 9. Cathal just loves these types of roads that we are on today, fast, furious and bumpy. He could have a big result today, and at the very least will be disappointed if he is not ‘the GpN benchmark’. Normal top GpN runner Neil McCance developed a sore throat after last weekend’s Manx and he is non-starting. Behind Cathal in the line-up is Wesley Patterson in his very potent Mk2 Escort. Lisburn man Wesley who starts with the number 15 on his beautiful Escort is another who could take this rally by storm. But then there are a whole lot of the Mk2 Escort and Evo men who could do just that.
That’s just a taster at the front of this massive 120 car strong field. It would be no surprise if the form book got turned on its head and some of the later numbers came charging through. Certainly sure to provide a few shocks are the Citroen C2R2 Cup contenders. The highest seeded of the ten or so Citroen C2R2’s is Marty McCormack at 79, with, three Monaghan men, Barry Evans, Sam Moffett and Martin Tynan at 80, 81 & 82. Current UK C2R2 Champion Martin Laverty is at 86 and he should go very well here on his home patch, but the man to really expect the fireworks from is McCormack. But then anything can happen, and most probably will! More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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