Derek McGarrity’s 3rd
place in the Killarney Rally of the Lakes was enough to
keep him at the head of the Pirelli Tarmac points
table. Derek has 35 points, rally winner Andrew Nesbitt
joins Eugene Donnelly at equal 2nd with 27
points. Austin MacHale has 26 and Eamonn Boland 25.
Colm Murphy’s fine Killarney victory in Group N in his
Impreza takes him to the top of the Pirelli points with
30 as against Garry Jennings on 27.
Alan Ring and his co driver
Paul Nagle not only finished 2nd in Group N
in Killarney but won the John Mullane Best Kerry Crew
Award. Ring’s closest challenger was Tom Randles in his
Celica. Ring always had the edge but Randles dropped
back in any case when his Toyota developed engine
problems.
The Molls Gap stage was used 4
times over the weekend of the Killarney Rally. This
stage has become almost legendary in its own right, but
had to be shortened this year due to road works. Derek
McGarrity set the fastest time of the weekend and won
the Bertie Fisher Memorial Award.
Maynooth man Pat Norris has
taken delivery of Barry Johnson’s 99 Impreza WRC and is
having it converted to right hand drive before his next
outing on the Middleton Cork Forestry event, round 4 of
the McAuley Trailers Championship.
Armagh man Maurice Gass has
opted to do the Carlow Rally this weekend rather than
the Manx National. Maurice is switching from his usual
Subaru to a Skoda Fabia WRC. Ray Breen in
his Focus WRC and local man Stephen Murphy are the top
seeds.
The Carlow Rally is not a
round of the Dunlop National series this year, but is
proving immensely popular amongst the Mark 2 Escort
drivers and they have their own Mk2 Challenge category
to fight for.
The Ford Focus Owners Rally
Championship is also a part of the Carlow Rally. Oliver
Stanley leads the points from David Delaney with Kieran
Daly 3rd and Keith Lyons 4th.
Top British driver Jon Ingram
plans to bring his Focus WRC to the 26th June
Ravens Rock Rally, a round of both the Dunlop National
Championship and the 023 Tiles Southern 4 Championship.
Ann-Marie Fitzgerald is again the Clerk of the Course
and she has moved the rally base from Kilkenny to
Waterford as there is a date clash with a Rod Stewart
concert in Kilkenny.
Regards: Brian Patterson
