Another doubtful starter for the Manx National must be Tim McNulty, as his Subaru took a fair knock in his accident on the Cods Head stage on the Lakes. Having said that, Tim was able to tell us earlier this week that the car wasn’t so bad. Three wheels were smashed, and a mudguard was ripped off, which made it look a bit of a mess, but there was no chassis damage, and the engine and mechanicals were ok. He reckons he could maybe have made the Manx, but he’s just not psychologically keyed up for it and his next outing will be the Jim Clark. Tim feels that now he really will have to start wearing the Hans device, as the speeds are so high.

As regards the Lakes accident, Tim was philosophical.”I was trying to get an extra 5 seconds on each of the last two stages, that would have given me a lead of 30 seconds overnight, and I don’t reckon Eamonn Boland or Gareth MacHale could have come back at me then. I don’t begrudge Eamonn his win that’s the way it goes. The Championship isn’t over yet. I reckon it’s the fastest, most competitive Championship outside the WRC.” (Eamonn Boland now has a decent, but not impregnable lead in the Tarmac points, with Aaron MacHale 2nd) Following Gareth MacHale’s accident, his co-driver Craig Parry is still in hospital having treatment to his back, and probably won’t be released until this weekend.

The Manx Rally is a round of both the Richard Egger Insurance MSA Asphalt and Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championships, but for Irish drivers such as Tim McNulty the main aim in doing the Manx National was to gain experience for the International in July. That of course has now gone to the wall. The event is also a round of the UK Evo Challenge, and many of our drivers are making the trip in their Lancers, just a few include Richard Cathcart, Neil McCance and Danny Barry. John Walker has acquired a new Lancer Evo 9, and he is making the Manx trip to acquaint himself with his new car.

Kris Meeke’s run on the Killarney Rally of the Lakes in the Excel Rallying Super 1600 Clio was nothing short of sensational. Kris enjoyed the drive so much, he wanted to keep on driving the car all the way up the road to his home in Dungannon! Kris and his co-driver Paul Nagle are earmarked to drive the car again on the ‘Topaz’ backed Donegal International.

Former National Champion Peader Hurson in his Subaru is listed as No.1 reserve for the Sperrins Rally (17th May), adding to a very strong entry list for the NI Championship counter. Charlie Donnelly, last year’s winner, is the No 1 seed in a Skoda, and his brother Eugene is at 7 in Craig Bennett’s Metro 6R4. Top Championship contenders Connor McCloskey and Sean Devine are at 2 & 3, both in Subaru’s, with current NI Champion Glenn Allen at 4 in his Corolla WRC. (Glenn celebrated his 40th birthday last week, and we understand there was quite a party!) Former multiple Tarmac Champion Derek McGarrity, who showed something like his old form when he finished 2nd on the Lakes, is listed at 6 on the Maghera based six stage asphalt event. The rally has 120 entries plus a huge reserve list.

Andrew Purcell, who led the Hankook Irish Forestry series earlier in the year, has traded his Impreza WRC for the ex James Cullen Lancer Evo 9. Ray Breen has now built a substantial lead in the series, but Andrew is going to keep trying to win it. The next round is the Wexford Forestry on the 8th June. There are some fears that the Carrick on Suir Club’s 50th anniversary Festival of Motorsport will affect the entries for the rally on the same day, but hopefully not. It promises to be a busy weekend anyway, what with the Donegal recce, the Cork Mini stages, the Mourne Rally on the Saturday and The Rally Show at Chatsworth that weekend also.