Dunlop
National Champion Charlie
Donnelly is coming out of semi
rally retirement to compete on
this weekend’s Sligo Stages
Rally. Charlie will drive the
Corolla WRC which he used to
such good effect to take the
title, and former competitor
Herbie Blackburn, who is
interested in seeing this famous
car at close hand, will
co-drive. Charlie who stepped
back from the sport because of
health concerns, commented from
his Glenshane Pass base, “I’m
feeling in good enough old form,
and I always enjoy the Sligo
event.”
Also on
Charlie Donnelly’s upcoming
itinerary is a run on the 11th
August Turkington Lurgan Park
Rally. He commented about Lurgan
Park, “I’ve competed there in an
Escort. It’s a great wee rally,
and I’d be really interested in
having a real blast at it in the
Corolla.”
This
weekend’s Sligo Rally is a round
of both the Dunlop National
series, as well as the MSA
Asphalt series, and the top
seeds in the bulging entry list
include the top drivers from
both Championships, including
Aaron MacHale, Patrick Elliott,
Michael Barrable and Glenn Allen
in the Dunlop series, and David
Kynaston and John Price in the
MSA Asphalt series. The top
points placings in the Dunlop
remain fluid pending the outcome
of the stewards enquiry
regarding Michael Barrable
allegedly not stopping at the
scene of Patrick Elliott’s
accident on the Ravens Rock
event.
Following
his win on last Sunday’s ALMC
Stages Rally, Paddy White
confirmed that he will compete
on the 19th/20th/21st July Manx
International. Paddy stated
after the rally that he loves
his new Focus, but a problem
with the steering manifested
itself on the Donegal Rally’s
Knockalla stage. The problem is
still unresolved, and Paddy says
“its like driving with two flat
front tyres!” A faulty valve in
the rack is the suspected
culprit, and M-Sport has pledged
to get it sorted before the Isle
of man trip.
The Manx
is a round of both the Tarmac
and British series, and as such
will bring together the top WRC
and GpN machinery. Eugene
Donnelly, Eamonn Boland, Paul
Bird, Kevin Lynch, Andreas
Mikkelsen, Mark Higgins, Guy
Wilks, Gwyndaf Evans, David
Higgins and Jon Ingram are
tipped to be the top ten seeds.
Alastair
Fisher will re-unite with his
Irish co-driver Barry McNulty
for the next Irish Fiesta
Sporting Challenge round, the
two day Cork Forestry 18th/19th
Aug). The pair are hoping to
compete on the Limavady based
Dogleap Rally (4th Aug) as a
warm up for Cork.
Former
Ulster Rally winner Derek Boyd
made a return to rallying when
he entered the Manx National and
Donegal events in a Raymond
Mason hired Lancer. Derek, who
moved to the Isle of Man from
Templepatrick several years ago,
plans to compete on the Manx
Historic event in a Porsche 911,
the same model in which he won
the Ulster over twenty years
ago.
The Junior
section of the ALMC Stages was
won by Sam Moffett/Emmet Sherry
in their Peugeot 106, with
Darren and Leo McKenna 2nd in
their Corolla and David Donoghue/Alan
Dolan 3rd in their Citroen C2
Maxi.
Class
winners on ALMC included: Cl.12:
James & Joe Cassidy (Escort):
Cl.13: Patrick & Liam Higgins
(Civic): Cl.14: Maurice
Moffett/Jason McKenna (Starlet).
Cl.15: Neville & Christopher
Armstrong (Escort): Cl.11: Colin
& Declan Brady (Civic): Cl.9:
Declan Quigley/Patrick McDermott
(Escort): Cl.10: Paul
Conlon/Dermot McDermott (Peugeot
205): Cl.2: Gabriel
Hessian/Christopher Crowe
(Civic): Cl.7: John Agnew/Thomas
McGovern (Peugeot 205): Cl.6:
Marc McDermott/Damian Flanagan
(Civic): Cl.3: Gary Caldwell/Niamh
Caldwell (Civic):
Brian
Patterson.
