As regards the rest of the Tarmac season, Eamonn has an open mind. The Wexford man’s next event will also be the Circuit, while first round winner Mark Higgins is still trying to get a deal together to again hire the Derek McGarrity Subaru. Mark had a couple of niggly concerns about the car in Galway, but overall found it a great package.

Stephen Moore and his co-driver Tony McHugh gave their new Focus WRC a great shake-down when they finished just 1 second behind Andrew Purcell in his Subaru on last weekend’s Mitchelstown based Sean Conlon Memorial Rally.”It went very well” reported co-driver Tony, “A puncture screwed us up, otherwise it probably would have been a different result. The car was very good, although it took Stephen a while to settle. We set our quickest time on the real rough stage, and the car worked very well on that. We didn’t have a moment all day, and it was as good a test as you can get, better than hiring a forest for the day.”

Tony went on to say that his voice was going all day, and disappeared a couple of miles from the end of the last stage, so that probably didn’t help Stephen’s cause. Still, considering that Tony was at a wedding all day Saturday in Cookstown, and Stephen was at the Magherafelt Motor Club awards/dinner dance in Cookstown’s Greenvale Hotel until midnight on the Saturday night. This then entailed a drive to Mitchelstown in the wee small hours followed by an early rise for driver’s briefing. Taking this into consideration the pair didn’t do too badly!

The new concept of running the Juniors first on the road in Mitchelstown seemed to work well, and it was Jason Ryan/Tadgh O’Sullivan in their Civic who took Junior honours. The Clerk of the Course of the Sean Conlon, the legendary Jim O’Brien, was hospitalised for the rally, and we wish him a speedy recovery. In typical Jim fashion, a real rally warhorse, he asked for a two-way radio to be brought into hospital, but perhaps fortunately, the transmission range didn’t quite stretch to it! Still, even from his sick bed, Jim had Willie Walsh’s head astray with numerous mobile calls!

Wicklow’s Danny Barry in his GpN Evo was the highest Irish finisher, 7th o/a, on last weekend’s Wyedean Forestry Rally. Adrian Hetherington had a great run to 21st o/a and a class win, while Seamus O’Connell in a similar class B12 Mk2 Escort was 2nd in class. Frank Kelly was 2nd in class B11 in his Escort. Young Ryan Barrett was down the order a bit but was still 3rd in class.

Unfortunately Raymond Mason was a non-finisher when he had an accident in his lovely Lancer in the Speech House stage. Raymond’s co-driver Peter Martin needed a check-up in an ambulance, and happily after 30 minutes or so was declared fit enough for the long journey home. Raymond’s main damage was to his wallet!

The rally was won by Andy Burton, with Nik Elsmore 2nd on his home patch. Young Liam Regan made the trip to the Riponian Rally in Yorkshire as a further shakedown in his Fiesta, and would probably have been in the running for a 2nd or 3rd in class except for a massive road penalty.

Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Chris Patterson were competing on the Swedish Rally, and although classified as finishing the last stage, didn’t really, as they put their new GpN Impreza off the road in the very difficult conditions and were beached on a rock. It was all very disappointing for the Middle East Champions. Chris is not getting back to his Co. Antrim home after the rally, but is scheduled to travel to the Saudi Arabia Ha’il Baja event to co-drive for Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah, who is the President of the Qatar Motorsport Federation.

Co Antrim’s Trevor Moore was more than pleased with the speed of his newly acquired Mk2 Escort on the Mitchelstown event. He is looking forward now to competing on the Omagh MC’s Spring Rally on Saturday 23rd February. Trevor was as high as 8th o/a but then was sidelined when a driveshaft broke. James Coleman was the eventual winner of the 2wd category in his Escort.

This weekend’s North Armagh MC’s Kirkistown Rally, backed by Shane Braniff’s Eurocable’s concern, has got a massively oversubscribed entry; so much so that some top drivers, including young Richard Cathcart, can’t get a run. Along with co-driver Martin Brady, Richard is taking his new Lancer to the Snowman Rally in Scotland for a shakedown in preparation for the opening UK Evo round, the Sunseeker in Bournemouth. Top seed at the Co.Down venue for this opening round of the NI Championship is reigning champion Glenn Allen. Co-driven again by Monaghan man Damien Connolly, Glenn, who will celebrate his 40th birthday this May, is looking forward to a full season in his Corolla WRC. Denis Biggerstaff is at 2 in his Impreza WRC.

It will be interesting to see how Connor McCloskey, who is at 3, gets on in his new Focus WRC. Connor was able to get amongst the fastest times at the 500 MRC warm-up at Kirkistown a couple of weeks ago. Sean Devine, Raymond Johnston and George Robinson occupy the next three places in their respective Impreza WRC’s. At 7 is somewhat of a dark horse, Donegal man Michael McColgan, co-driven by Paul Gallagher. Michael is rumoured to have recently acquired a new Impreza WRC. Gary White, who hasn’t been out rallying for a while, is at 8 in his Escort Cosworth, with no co-driver listed, Brian Dowey in a similar Escort is at 9 and Sean McArdle at 10 in his Corolla WRC. There are over 120 cars on the list, and reportedly there are more that didn’t get on to it. Kirkistown has its own following of course, but still it looks healthy for this year’s NI Championship.

Killarney man Kevin O’Donoghue was hoping to have his new Escort ready for the West Cork Rally, but that is not going to happen, and instead he will use his existing Mk2, now fully rebuilt following the accident on the Killarney Historic. Kevin will have his new car ready for the Killarney Lakes. As regards that accident in December, Kevin was caught out on a large patch of oil on a three right plus, a high-speed corner in Kevin’s notes. The car careered up a bank, narrowly missing a couple of young lads and then barrel rolled down the road. Kevin reckoned his accident, and one that happened at the same spot just before his, was totally avoidable. The driver of the car whose oils pipe burst was sitting on the bonnet of his car, the engine blown, 150 yards down the road. He didn’t bother his backside walking back up the road and slowing his fellow competitors down. That’s exactly what Kevin did, and can’t understand how anybody could be so inconsiderate as to not do the same. It’s something that Kevin would like notice to be taken of, so that hopefully what might have been a real tragedy would be avoided in future. He readily admits that accidents will and do happen in rallying, with himself as well as others, but this was definitely avoidable.

The West Cork Rally is well on with all the preparations, and last year’s winner Kevin Barrable has promised to be back in Clonakilty for St Patrick’s weekend. The organisers have come up a novel idea to swell the marshal numbers on the Saturday leg by offering junior competitors, who only do the Sunday stages, a €100 discount if they marshal on the Saturday. Accommodation around Clonakilty can sometimes be a bit tight that St Paddy’s weekend, and anyone having difficulty is asked to contact Joan White on 086 3776451.

The Magherafelt Motor Club dinner dance last Saturday night was a great success and Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh were presented with the coveted Driver/Navigator Award. Martin Laverty, who won the Citroen C2R2 Championship last season, was given the ‘Outstanding Performance Trophy, while Eoin McErlean/Donard McCann got the Clubmans Award.

The launch of the new ‘Donegal Experience’ book by Ivan Fuery in the Mount Errigal Hotel last Friday night was another great event. Many of the special names from the 40 years of the rally were present, including Cahal Curley, who won it for the first 3 years. Vincent Bonner and James Cullen were the only two ‘local’ drivers to have won it, and they were both there of course. Vincent very much walked away from rallying twenty years ago, feeling it was all or nothing for him. He still looks as fit as a fiddle, and is still involved with running the trawlers and the business at Killybegs. One of the last times we remember Vincent competing, as well as on the Donegal International, was on the National Championship, which he won. It all went wrong on one event though, the Circuit of Kerry. Vincent was driving through the village of Annascaul, and was stopped by a ‘difficult’ member of the Gardai. The said guardian of law and order gave ‘Vincie’, who is a real mild mannered man and very responsible on the road, a very hard time indeed. Vincie was so upset that he started the next stage, Owencashleagh River, just down below the main road to Dingle, and crashed into a stone barn, completely wrecking his Manta! He was a bit tight lipped after that one!

All of the proceeds from the sales of Ivan’s “The Donegal Experience” will be donated to charity. One of the charities to benefit will be The Friends of Letterkenny General Hospital. Over the next 3 years they aim to raise €650,000 to install a cardiac services unit at the hospital.  In the past 3 years they raised €750,000 for a cancer scanner. Another charity to benefit will be The Cancer Research Centre at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.  The book is a “must have” for every rally enthusiast.  A huge amount of effort and passion has been devoted to it and it is evident in the end result. Superb photographs and some great articles by many different people make “The Donegal Experience” a very special book. The price is £20/€30 and it is currently available from the following outlets:  Clarke’s Newsagents: George Sweeney: Thomas Keys: Martin’s Service Station: Tobin’s Service Station: (All in the Letterkenny area):  Also from Joe O’Kane, Castledawson and Glenshane Tourist Service Station (bottom of Glenshane).  You may also ring Ronnie McCausland on 0044 71 342396 or 0044 7730 064849 and he will be able to help you.  The club website is www.donegalmotorclub.com   

Brian Patterson.