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Irish
Notes 2nd April 2008.
In a thrilling finish to the Circuit of Kerry
Stages, Patrick Elliott and Niall Maguire tied for
first, Patrick getting the nod on the tiebreak,
fastest on the last stage. Elliott initially felt
that his Subaru engine was a bit ‘flat’, but his
Robbie McGurk preparation team once again did a
great job for him. Interestingly, both drivers,
Elliott and Maguire, are now tied at the top of the
Dunlop National Championship. Patrick hopes to drive
his new Impreza WRC S12b on the Killarney Lakes, but
will probably hold on to his WRC S11 ‘just in case’.
Tadgh Linehan of Bio-Tech has sold on his BMW M3
and has embarked on a new project, well two new
projects, to build two BMW Compacts of very
different character. One will have a body kit, a
full house touring car type engine, 6 pot callipers,
and the whole caboodle. The 2nd one will have a
light BMW 1.6 engine, four pot callipers, a low cost
but effective machine for his son Stephen to drive.
Tadgh definitely sees a possibility for this latter
type of BMW Compact to form the basis of a junior
championship, as a low cost enjoyable but still very
modern way to go.
Well-known competitor Christy Carey, a former
clerk of the course of the Clare Stages, has taken
on the agency in Ireland for ‘Stand 21’ competition
clothing, and is opening a new showroom in Shannon.
Christy can be contacted on
www.ccsracenrally.com.
He was competing last weekend on the Kerry Stages
having purchased Kevin O’Donoghue’s Group N Lancer.
Christy and his co driver Richard Talbot retired on
stage 4 following an accident. (Christy had a sore
neck and shoulder, so that put the kibosh on him
providing the music for the prizegiving!) One more
thing about the Kerry Stages – the club as usual did
an excellent job on running the rally, under the
direction of Clerk of the Course Senan Raggett.
Special praise must go to the choice of the new
hotel, the Fels Point, which was just fabulous. In
conjunction with the large hard standing service
area right next door to the hotel, it must be in the
running for ‘best ever rally HQ!’
Dave Slattery seemed to be heading for class 13
victory on the Kerry Stages, but a plug lead came
off his Escort’s engine on the penultimate stage,
which let Fintan Canty through to win. Jim McKenna
won class 11 in his Starlet and Mr Binman Mark
Sheahan took the class 6 honours in his Clio. Willie
Cavanagh won class 12 in his Escort and Eamonn
Dervan class 2 in his Civic. Jimmy Foley/Conor
Collins won the Juniors in their Civic, from Jason
Ollershaw/Grace Loughrane in their Honda. Ken
Ryan/Eamonn Howard (Civic) were 3rd.
Former Production World Champion Niall McShea and
his wife Noreen are now the proud parents of a baby
girl. The baby is to be called Erin, she was born on
the 20th and her weight was 7lbs 4oz. Niall says she
is very good, but he would say that wouldn’t he! He
says she has already promised that she won’t go out
with boys until she is 29!
Kevin Lynch will have Francis Regan reading the
notes this weekend on the Midland Rally based in
Roscommon. Stan Harper Motorsport took delivery of
Noel Redmond’s Subaru Impreza S12B for Kevin at the
end of last weekend’s Kerry Rally. Stan will give it
a good check over for Kevin in preparation for this
weekend’s Roscommon based event.
The Midland rally has once again received a huge
and interesting entry. Behind Kevin Lynch is Jack
Sleator in his Impreza WRC, then its Sean Gallagher
at 3 in his Subaru. Sean though was forced to retire
from the Kerry Stages. He was unwell with a stomach
bug and then reportedly his Impreza developed some
engine problem. JJ Fleming is at 4, John Joe taking
his time to get back into the groove in Kerry, then
its Sean McArdle at 5 in his Corolla, Sean well on
the pace on the Circuit. Mark Courtney, who has been
going so well recently in his Celica, is at 6. Paul
Kiely had a huge accident on this Midland Rally last
year, so he’s back, hopefully to make amends, and is
at 7 in his GpN Lancer. John Kelly, Adrian Quinn and
George Tracey (Focus WRC) make up the top ten.
Ray Breen was undecided on whether to continue
his campaign on the Hankook Irish Forestry
Championship, but his points lead in the series
following Limerick has influenced him to keep going.
Ray has had his son Craig co-driving so far but
Craig is now continuing with his European
Championship Karting programme, so Martin Brady will
be co-driving for the next round, the Lismore based
Moonraker Rally. Early championship leader Andrew
Purcell is unsure whether his Impreza will be ready
for the Moonraker. The cam belt broke on the recent
Limerick Forestry and Kenny McKinstry is rebuilding
the engine for Andrew. However it will be touch and
go if the car is ready in time. Interestingly,
through all sorts of dramas, including accidentally
running into the back of a ‘Junior’ driver (the
Juniors go first this year), Andrew was still able
to record some fastest times. That collision didn’t
help Andrew’s Impreza one little bit, and whether
the subsequent engine failure was due in any part to
the over-heating that occurred after the accident,
will never be known.
Those three Escort rallying buccaneers Seamus
O’Connell, Adrian Hetherington and Frank Kelly had
no luck on last weekend’s North Humberside Rally.
Seamus reported, “I’ve had better days. The stages
were great, although there were too many chicanes, I
was giving Bannister a run for his money, but the
crown wheel and pinion let go. Frank (Kelly) had
gearbox trouble and Adrian (Hetherington) had clutch
trouble, which he thought at first was the gearbox.
We’re looking forward now to Somerset, next round of
the BTRDA series.”
Following the successful running of the Circuit
of Ireland by the UAC, it was somewhat surprising to
read criticism of the rally, and a comparison being
made with Rally Ireland. The latter event was
successful in its own way, but a very different ball
game from the Circuit completely. It was a bit like
comparing cheese with chalk really. If comparisons
are to be made, it is interesting that the Circuit,
when its different parts are taken together, had
more entries than Rally Ireland. The Circuit had
much better quality stages, and it probably had more
stage miles when everything is taken into account.
The competitors loved the rally. The Circuit
received a few quid from local councils, ran a tight
ship, cutting its cloth to suit its pocket. The
Circuit is now done and dusted, with all its
obligations sorted. Rally Ireland received millions
and millions of taxpayers money, and seems
financially close to unsustainability. As stated
earlier, it is wrong to compare the two, but it
seems to be an annual event in certain quarters to
knock the Circuit. Looking forward, maybe the UAC
may consider reducing the event to two days, and run
all the cars together, either as a National event
under an MSA permit, or use an accommodation address
in somewhere like the Carrickdale and run under an
MSI permit, keeping International status, which
would satisfy the needs of the Tarmac Championship.
Angus Sealy’s wife Jane unfortunately took ill
during the Circuit of Kerry and had to be taken to
Tralee Hospital. With the help of Anne Talbot and
several of the girls from the Kerry team, Angus
managed to keep the results flowing while he beetled
up and down to the hospital. Jane is still unwell,
but is able to get around the ward in a wheelchair,
and is receiving very expert treatment. We wish her
all the very best for a speedy and full recovery.
Brian Patterson.
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| © 2008 www.rallynews.net (Patterson Agencies). All rights reserved. Unauthorised duplication is a violation of applicable laws.
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