Gary McPhillips, co-driven by Mark Tierney in his Mk2 Escort, set a stunning pace on last Sunday’s Galway Summer Rally to take a 16 seconds victory over Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly in their Focus WRC. Manus Kelly/Donal Barrett were 3rd in their Escort and young Shane Maguire won GpN, overtaking Aidan Bourke on the final stage. Aidan’s Lancer was suffering from turbo trouble.

For McPhillips, who is a former Border Champion and North East Mini Stages winner, this Galway Summer Stages victory was possibly his best result. After the rally, 29 year old Gary, who comes from Emyvale, told us that following a difficult start, when he found the roads slippy and tricky, he settled down to a good day. His only real problem was a broken manifold before the start of stage 6. He was able to wire the manifold until he got the car to service. Otherwise his 2.4 Millington engined Escort ran brilliantly and Gary was well pleased with the new Sainz gearbox that Mick Moloney had fitted before the start.

Robert Barrable’s rally was a bit of a baptism of fire in that he was driving his father Michael’s Focus WRC in anger for the first time. The ‘anti-lag’ was turned down in the car and then gradually upped a little during the day. Robert didn’t do anything rash and produced a mature drive to take 2nd.

In overall terms the rally ran very well, the only real hiccup being a stage blockage when Ed Synan crashed his Escort and his co-driver needed medical attention, fortunately he is believed to have no serious injuries. Camillus Bradley had a decent run to fourth. Shane Maguire’s 5th place strengthens his position in the Top Part West Coast Championship and Aidan Bourke finished 6th following that last stage turbo problem with his Lancer.

On the Barum Rally, it wasn’t a fantastic weekend for Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle as, although the Peugeot pairing set some good times and were 3rd o/a at one point. They lost out on some stages by not being on the best tyre for the conditions. Then a last stage clutch/gearbox glitch cost more time and they had to settle for 4th, which wasn’t too disastrous. By Meeke’s high standards it wasn’t a great event for him. He had to work very hard to get 4th but it was still a very good drive in all the circumstances. Ironically one of his main IRC title contenders, Kopecky, crashed his Skoda out.

Freddy Loix demonstrated that he hasn’t lost his touch by taking victory on the last stage. Bryan Bouffier, who was so impressive on the Ulster in the new Citroen DS3R3, was leading but had a disastrous final stage which dropped him away down the order. Bouffier was driving the full factory Peugeot 207 S2000 on the Barum. Kris is due to drive the DS3R3 this weekend on the Mont Blanc Rally, as part of the on-going development of the new car by the Citroen team.

Keith Cronin/Barry McNulty were acclimatising well in the Proton Super 2000 on the Barum, but were caught out on gravel and crashed. Keith hurt his wrist. Initial reports suggest that there is nothing broken, but his wrist is sprained. We can only hope that he is fully fit for Rally Yorkshire and his defence of his British Rally Championship title. Keith was on the wrong tyres on the Czech rally initially, but his times improved well as the rally progressed. He set a 5th and 7th fastest time before the accident. Guy Wilks (Skoda) finished 7th on his comeback drive, while Niall McShea (Proton) retired with a technical problem.

Tim McNulty is reportedly going to compete on the Clare Stages Rally, as a warm up for himself and his Impreza WRC in readiness for the 1st-3rd October Cork 20 Rally. At a press launch last weekend the Munster MC confirmed that the rally will be sponsored by Brian Stinson’s Orchard Motorsport concern, as well as the HQ hotel, the Silver Springs Moran Hotel Cork. The rally will be made up of several events, namely International, National, Historic and the Juniors. The event will also cater for the Citroen Racing Trophy and the Fiesta series.

The main spotlight will almost certainly focus on the race at the top of the International, with the overall outcome of the Citroen Tarmac Championship at stake as well as many of the classes. The fact that Tim McNulty is reportedly intending to compete on the Cork 20 could alter the balance at the top of the points. The event, being the last round of the series, carries bonus points for the Tarmac contenders and there are 30 points on offer for a win, plus a bonus for non WRC. Gareth MacHale currently leads the points from Alastair Fisher with Aaron MacHale 3rd and Craig Breen 4th. Any of these four could win the title. Although Tim McNulty is not actively pursuing the Tarmac Championship any longer, he is registered and the precedent has been set that even if he doesn’t carry the decals, he will still score points if he finishes. Indeed, who is to say he won’t win the rally, as he did a few years ago.

This weekend the Cookstown Club is running the Davagh Stages event and just some of the top seeds include Brian Muldoon, Joe McQuillan, Maurice Moffett and Mark Donnelly. Clerk of the Course Bob McKeown reports that although the entry isn’t bulging, the event is definitely going ahead, it’s all stations go for this Saturday and there are twenty spare places for anyone wanting to make a last minute entry for this top value event.

Also taking place this weekend is the Oldcastle based Hellfire Stages Rally. CoC Ollie Clinton reports that he has over 70 entries and there are more arriving every day. The rally is definitely going to run. The two stages are very good, very challenging. Just some of the top drivers entered include Daniel McKenna, Trevor Mulligan and Russell Woods in their Escorts, which should all make for a very interesting day!

The Wexford MC’s stages rally scheduled for next weekend (11th/12th Sept) has attracted a decent entry so far and the list is still open. Some of the cross-channel crews include ALMC winner Damien Cole (Focus WRC), Simon Mauger (Escort) and Sebastian Ling (Lancer). Wexford is the final round of the Irish Mitsubishi Evo Challenge and the title is going down to the wire. Brendan Cumiskey was the sole finisher on the Ulster so got maximum points on that one and leads the points with Neil McCance and Sam Moffett equal 2nd. Taking dropped scores into account, it is a winner takes all situation in the Evos, with the top prize being an assisted entry in the Cyprus Rally. Neil McCance seemed to have had the title sewn up but accidents changed that dramatically. On the Ulster Neil was just driving for a finish and, as is so often the case, he let his concentration wander and his Lancer ended up in a field. Neil reckons he didn’t even put the brakes on, and feels that for Wexford he should put the Evo points out of his head altogether and just go flat out for the best finish he can manage in the overall classification.

The Donegal Motor Club has announced that the Harvest Rally on Saturday 9th October will be based in Jacksons Hotel Ballybofey. Gerald Hunter will be CoC and he has formulated 130km of stages.

Keith Cronin’s man on the notes, Barry McNulty, is going to co-drive for Errol Clarke on their home Lakeland Stages Rally on the 11th September. Erroll has been building up an Evo 6 for some time and sees it as a fun car to just go out and enjoy himself in.