Irish Notes 1st August 2007.

Wexford man Eamonn Boland has concluded a deal to buy Noel Redmond’s Subaru Impreza WRC S12 and reports that Dom Buckley will come over to Ireland to collect the Subaru immediately after the Rally Finland. Eamonn feels that his own Focus, an ‘03 example, is getting a bit long in the tooth now, and that he would like to try the latest generation Subaru. He certainly hasn’t ruled out a Focus again for next year. Eamonn plans to do the Galway Summer, the Ulster, Wexford and Cork ‘20’ in the Subaru.

Cathal Rogers came out of rally retirement recently and decided to get a few miles chalked up in his GpN Lancer and promptly won last weekend’s Magherafelt MC Davagh Stages event. Co-driven by his son Eoighan, Rogers was 17 secs ahead of his nearest challenger Declan Naughton (Escort) after the five stages. Aiden Toner, also in an Escort, was 3rd. Brian Muldhoon ran Rogers close for much of the day, but along with many others was caught out by the slippy conditions and slid his Lancer off the road.

Glenn Allen has a clear lead in the NI Championship going into this weekend’s 6th round, the Maiden City MC’s Dogleap Stages. Cookstown man Allen has however a race against time even before the rally starts, as his Corolla WRC is still in Holland being rejigged in Erik Wever’s workshop to correct the damage sustained in it’s Ravens Rock Rally accident. Apparently the Corolla got sidetracked somehow in the process of getting shipped over to Holland, and the operation is now running very late. Stephen Moore is 2nd to Allen in the NI points standings, and although Stephen’s Focus WRC is getting a thorough overhaul before the Dogleap, he admits that his chances of taking the title are slim. Kevin Lynch is the No.1 seed on his home Limavady based Dogleap event.

Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly is competing on the Dogleap, running down at No.56. Eugene is not driving however, but is co-driving for his friend Denis Heaney, in a Corolla WRC.

The final round of the NI Stages’ series is traditionally the Mid Antrim MC event, and this year is no exception. Martin Elliott’s TownParks GM garage is tipped to be coming in as sponsors. TownParks, under the direction of Martin’s father Robert, backed the rally for many years in the past. Toshiba then sponsored the rally for a few years, through BSS, but the event hasn’t had an overall sponsor for the last couple of years and coincidentally has lost some of its momentum, so perhaps the TownParks support will mark another turning point.

The next round of the Irish Hankook Forestry series in Cork (18th/19th Aug) bucks the trend by being a two day affair, and as well as the expected Championship regulars, interesting entries include Ollie O’Donovan in a McKinstry Subaru, Mick O’Brien in a Ramsport Focus, possibly with Rory Galligan co-driving, and another ‘London-Irish’ man, John Reddington in his BMW. There are 8 stage locations, some of which have had to be re-jigged because of wind farm activities. Service areas are at Ballyvourney and Mallow.

Next weekend’s Turkington Lurgan Park Rally (August 11th) is once again attracting a superb entry with Kevin Lynch, Kenny McKinstry, Charlie Donnelly, Denis Biggerstaff and Richard Hogg amongst the top entries. In GpN Garry Jennings, Michael Curran and Colm Mutrphy should star, while the Mk2 Challenge also has a high claibre entry with Frank Kelly, Seamus O’Connell and Wesley Patterson amongst the front runners. The format of the rally is short sharp stages within the confines of Craigavon Borough Council’s Lurgan Park, with a centralised service area to provide a great family as well as motorsport ambience.

Obituary.

The lush and tranquil green fields close to Lobinstown in Co Meath were the fitting backdrop to the funeral of Ian O’Flynn last week. Ian was the the Clerk of the Course of the ALMC National Rally, and a great stalwart of the club for many years. Fitting because Ian himself was a tranquil man who got on with the job in an efficient and friendly manner. He did a superb job and had a great eye for detail. He was extremely highly regarded by his peers and it is a tragedy that he lost his battle against illness just after his 50th birthday. Ian had a great amount still to offer to rallying and life, but that is now not to be. Just one scheme he instigated was the the innovative ‘Rally4Charity’ in aid of Temple Street Childrens Hospital. To his partner Susan, his family circle and many friends, we offer our deepest condolences.

Regards, Brian Patterson.