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Irish Notes 6th Aug ’07.

Former multiple Tarmac Champion and triple Circuit of Ireland winner Derek McGarrity reports that he is at last ‘feeling a whole lot better’ following a long recuperation period and many operations on his arm following his ’06 Manx accident. Derek is flying his helicopters again himself and hopes to go testing in a rally car, one of his Subarus, next week. The Glengormley man is hopeful then of an entry in the Galway Summer Rally followed by a crack at the Cork ‘20’ and Rally Ireland. Derek is also looking towards next year and does not rule out the possibility of adding a brace of French cars to his stable but admits “That is a lot of talking and a whole lot of money away!”

This weekend’s Clonmel based Stonethrowers Rally, although on an opt-out year from the Dunlop National series, is a round of the Triton Showers South East Championship and has a bulging entry list. Gareth MacHale is the No1 seed in his Focus WRC, Noel redmond is listed at 2 but is unlikely to make the start, Seamus Heron is at 3, the Magherafelt man going from strength to strength as he upgrades his Focus WRC, Kevin Barrett is at 4 in his Triton Showers Subaru, Wexford man P.J. McGrath is at 5 in his Impreza and David James rounds off the top six in his Focus. Young Ian Barrett is the leading GpN contender and is seeded at 9, just ahead of Willie Fannin, also in a GpN Subaru.

Ballinamallard’s Alastair Fisher, with Barry McNulty on the notes, had a successful run on the Dogleap Stages, taking his Fiesta to a 1m 12 secs win over Barry Greer in a similar ‘Sporting Trophy’ Fiesta. Alastair reported that he was going hard throughout the rally in an effort to get as much gravel experience as possible before the Cork Forestry and his home Lakeland Stages, both forest rounds of the Fiesta Sporting Trophy. Alastair’s only problem during the rally was the car jumping out of 2nd gear, so he ‘held it in’ for a couple of stages, before the gear disappeared altogether, but undeterred he finished the rally at unabated speed.

Kevin O’Kane/ Martin Brady finished down the order on the Dogleap Stages following a time consuming spin in their Impreza WRC. They also had intercom problems, and did some helmet swapping with Brian McGillin to solve the problem. McGillin retired his Hyundai from the rally with a broken cross-member. Richard Hogg was expected to challenge for a podium place on his home Dogleap Rally, but his ex-works Octavia was stuck in 4th gear over the final couple of stages.

Clonee, Co. Meath man John Reid hopes to contest the Cork Forestry event having moved up from his Escort to an ex-MacHale Corolla WRC. John’s entry for Cork is in some doubt though as his regular co driver cannot make the Saturday leg.

John McCarthy’s Corolla WRC has reportedly been taken over by Dominic McNeill, the Co. Antrim preparations expert. Dominic plans to contest the Cork Forestry but intends to drive his Escort WRC and rebuild the Corolla for next year.

Charlie Donnelly (Mitsubishi Lancer) is currently leading the United States Rally Championship following success on the Sandblast Rally and Rally New York. Knowing that Dunlop National Champion Charlie had recently been in New York, we phoned him to ask why he was keeping this so quiet? He laughed and told us that it definitely isn’t him, but another Charlie who in the USRC press release is described as ‘the Irish hotshoe’. This particular Charlie hailed originally from around Fintona. Confusing, or what? No matter, Charlie is on course for this weekend’s Turkington Lurgan Park, where he will be ‘hotshoeing’ through the Lurgan Park trees in his usual Corolla WRC. Andrew Mullen of Sligo Pallets will co-drive.

Darren McCarthy and his team have done a brilliant job putting together new stages and a great route for the forthcoming two day Cork Forestry (now named after the late Jim Walsh and taking place over the weekend of 18th/19th Aug). Darren reports that they have around 80 entries, including the Fiesta Sporting Trophy contenders, and he is hopeful the entry will come close to 100, with the regular Hankook Irish Forestry Championship contenders included. The event would make a great familiarisation exercise for the MSA Gravel Championship contenders coming to Killarney Forestry in September, but interest from that quarter is limited so far.

In a dry run for the proposed 2008 Citroen C2R2 Ireland Championship,
several competitors will compete on this weekend’s Stonethrowers
Rally. The arrangements have been made by Raymond Moore, Motorsports
Parts Manager at Charles Hurst along with Cashel’s C2R2 driver Paul
Manton who is a leading Tipperary MC member. This is the first
time the Irish drivers will have faced each other in competition and
Barry Evans should be the pacesetter. He faces some stiff
competition from drivers like David Graham, Jonny Greer and Martin
Laverty. Former Ulster Rally winner Dessie McCartney has withdrawn
from this weekend but does plan to compete on the Ulster in his C2R2.

Brian Patterson.

 

TURKINGTON LURGAN PARK RALLY – SATURDAY 11TH AUGUST 2007

 

PRESS RELEASE: Immediate: 6th August 2007

 

“LURGAN PARK NO DOODLE” SAYS LYNCH

 

 

This Saturday’s  Turkington Lurgan Park Rally once again has all the ingredients for a great event, with a top class invited entry prepared to battle it out over eight special stages through the twists and turns of Craigavon Borough Council’s beautiful Park.  There is £5,500 prize money at stake but more than that is the prestige of one of Northern Ireland’s most famous sporting events with its 27 year history.

 

British Rally Champion Mark Higgins, driving the same Pirelli Subaru in which he won the Circuit of Ireland, will lead the cars away from the ceremonial start in the Park at 10.45 for the first of the eight special stages in the park, starting at 11.00.  Behind Mark is the man who has dominated the Park for the last three years, Kevin Lynch, and running at No.3 is ten times Lurgan Park winner Kenny McKinstry.

 

The leading GpN entries are Garry Jennings and Michael Curran who start at 11 and 12 in their respective Mitsubishi Lancers.  Killarney Rally of the Lakes winner and former British Junior Rally Champion, Kris Meeke, heads the exciting Escort Challenge part of the event and starts at 36 closely followed by Wesley Patterson and current NI Championship leader Glenn Allen, all in Mk2 Escorts. Meeke’s example is supplied by Den Motorsport.

 

Top Ten:

1 Mark Higgins/Michael Gibson (Subaru Impreza WRC S11)

2 Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Ford Focus WRC)

3 Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Subaru Impreza WRC)

4 Niall McShea/Steven McAloon (Subaru Impreza WRC)

5 Neale Dougan/Rory Doyle (Subaru Impreza WRC)

6 Charlie Donnelly/Andrew Mullen (Toyota Corolla WRC)

7 Denis Biggerstaff/Robin McCandless (Subaru Impreza WRC)

8 James Gillen/PJ Gillespie (Subaru Impreza)

9 Richard Hogg/Mark Hanna (Skoda Octavia WRC)

10 Nigel Worswick/Clive Molyneaux (Ford Escort WRC)

 

Speaking at a pre-event Press Conference in the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre last year’s winner Kevin Lynch commented. “Whoever wins will be going hard. You’ll not doodle round and win, that’s for sure. It’s down to a second here and a second there that counts, and a couple of seconds will decide it. Whoever gets it will deserve it and I’ll certainly be trying for my 4th win”.

 

Kevin’s three previous victories have all been in Subaru’s and this time he is in his Focus. He has been having difficulty at times with the set up of the car, but a storming run to victory on last Saturday’s Dogleap Stages reinforced his feeling that he has it about right now. From his current base in Wales, Manxman Mark Higgins said, “It’s been a last minute deal but I’m very much looking forward to coming back to Lurgan Park. I’ll be more familiar with the car this time and I’d really like to win.  Kevin beat me last time although we had no launch control on the Hyundai then, and you just can’t afford to lose half a second off the start line on every stage. We’ll probably run a slightly softer suspension set up on the Subaru for Lurgan, and we’ll see how it goes”. 

 

For Kenny McKinstry, whose daughter Emma is also competing on the rally this year, it’s a short trip over from his Banbridge rally preparation and lawnmower business to Lurgan Park, and Kenny freely admits. “Certainly over the years Lurgan Park has been very special for me. It’s always a great occasion. Certainly I’d love to win again but it’s getting harder and harder every year, the pace is fantastic and you can’t afford the slightest slip. Every corner counts!”

 

Behind the top three is a fabulous array of cars and drivers. Former Production World Rally Champion Niall McShea is at 4, Scotsman Neale Dougan is at 5 and Dunlop National Champion Charlie Donnely at 6. Just some of the interesting names further down the list include Limerick’s Colm Murphy, the current Tarmac GpN Champion at 17 in his Impreza and Neil McCance (Lancer), the former NI GpN Champion is at 21.  Young Darren Gass from Armagh, who is making such a strong impression on the British Rally Chanmpionship this year, is seeded at 29 in his brilliant little Citroen C2.

 

Speaking at the reception, The Worshipful the Mayor of Craigavon, Councillor Robert Smith, assured the organisers, the North Armagh Motorcycle & Car Club, plus all the guests, of another warm welcome in Craigavon.  Gary Tukington of Turkington Holdings emphasised to Clerk of the Course Barry Taggart and Event Director William Fullerton how delighted their company is to continue their association with the rally.

 

 

© 2007 www.rallynews.net (Patterson Agencies). All rights reserved. Unauthorised duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

 

TC