Three
times Circuit of Ireland winner
Derek McGarrity is scheduled to
go back into hospital this week
for a further operation on his
arm, which was injured in his
Manx accident last year. This
will almost certainly rule Derek
out of the Easter event and for
most of the season and of course
his co-driver, the affable
Diarmuid Falvey, at a loose end
for the moment. Tralee man
Diarmuid is committed to the
Irish Forestry series, sitting
with Stuart Darcy.
Current
Dunlop National Champion Charlie
Donnelly was on the Mayo Stages
last Sunday, assisting Glenn
Allen to step up his asphalt
pace. Charlie confirmed there
was little chance of him
returning to the series this
season to defend his title. He
is optimistic of competing on
the Tour of the Sperrins, which
he won last year in the Donnelly
Skoda. He reckons he will
probably use the Corolla for his
home event and is hopeful also
of getting a run in the Prodrive
Impreza S12 that Eugene drives.
A likely event has not yet been
decided for that, but it could
well be the Sligo stages.
Former
Group N Tarmac Champion Garry
Jennings was another interested
spectator on the Mayo event, the
Ballinamallard man saying that
his Lancer is being rebuilt by
Irvinestown’s Patsy McGarry.
Just some of the work includes
new differentials. Garry is
planning to do the Border
Counties Rally in Kielder next
week as well as the UAC
International Easter Rally.
Top names
scheduled for this weekend’s
Clonakilty based West Cork Rally
include Melvyn Evans, Tim
McNulty, Donie O’Sullivan, Liam
McCarthy and Denis Cronin all in
Subaru WRCs. Michael Barrable
is in the top 10 with his Focus
WRC but Kevin Lynch has been
forced to withdraw his similar
machine due to business
commitments.
The West
Cork event has a huge entry and
always promises a holiday
atmosphere, taking place as it
does on St Patrick’s weekend.
Clonakilty brothers Kevin and
Martin Kelleher should be the
front running GpN crew in their
Lancer, but they will face tough
competition from drivers such as
Alan Ring in his Impreza N12b
and Billy Coleman Award winner
Owen Murphy in his new Lancer.
Former
Production World Rally Champion
Niall McShea, MBE, has been
invited to the USA along with
motor cycle racer Brian Gardiner
to represent Northern Ireland at
the Smithsonian Institute
Lectures in Washington DC. It
is a measure of the popularity
of motor sport in NI that it is
ranked along with football and
GAA. The lectures take place
from the 25th June
until the 9th July.
Niall is hoping to contest the
US Rally Championship and this
trip dovetails well with those
plans. 2 & 4 Wheel Motorsport is
co-ordinating the trip. Niall
has been asked to talk about all
aspects of life in NI, as well
as closed road special stage
rallying and forest rallying.
This
weekend sees the 2nd
round of the NI Rally
Championship taking place at
Bishopscourt. Co Tyrone’s
Stephen Moore leads the points
following his first round win
with his ’05 Focus WRC, and
indeed leads the Southern Irish
Forestry series as well, so he
is the driver that other top
names such as Sean Devine,
Raymond Johnston and Denis
Biggerstaff will be gunning for.
The popular Ballynahinch MC
organised Bishopscourt event,
backed by McGrady Insurance, has
attracted a really strong entry
and takes place this Saturday.
Top GpN contenders will include
Neil McCance, Jim Crozier and
current GpN NI Champion Stanley
Ballantine. Interestingly, Jim
Crozier is giving a free drum of
Sunoco Race Fuel to the best GpN
driver on the day. Wonder what
octane rating that is Jim? We
have absolutely no doubt that it
is absolutely spot on!
Tom
Holton and his co-driver Francis
Kenny had a fraught, to say the
least, Mayo Stages Rally. Tom is
always a popular front runner in
his Celica, but never got into
his stride last Sunday, getting
baulked on virtually every stage
by other people having accidents
in front of him. To cap it all,
his Celica’s engine blew then
went on fire on the last
junction of the final stage
meaning he did not finish.
Ray Breen
was delighted, and relieved, to
win last Sunday’s Mayo Stages,
getting his bid to recapture his
Dunlop National Rally title back
in the best possible manner. Ray
had been leading the Birr Stages
a couple of weeks ago until his
Focus WRC was sidelined with
power steering problems. On that
occasion the rack and pumps had
been replaced, but the trouble
returned. It transpired that
tiny shreds of material had been
shredding off the inside of the
hydraulic pipes connecting the
rack to the pump. These shreds
had blocked a tiny filter, with
microscopic sized holes, and
brought the system to its knees.
Happily there was no recurrence
of the problem in Mayo.
Anthony
Hand/Rodney Perkins brought
their Escort through to a fine
win in the Junior section of the
Mayo Stages Rally, with Richard
and James Whelan (Civic) in 2nd
place and Declan Brearty/Stephen
Furey (Corolla) 3rd.
