Expectations are high for a cracking Triton Showers National Championship season on the run-in to this weekend’s Birr Stages Rally. The excellent top ten would certainly reinforce that hope.

Meanwhile fortunes were mixed for the few Irish crews in action last weekend. On the Red Kite in Wales Stanley Orr in his Mk1 Escort was going great guns but then retired before the end when the rear suspension cried enough. Stanley recently converted the car to BDA specification, which entitled him to change to a coil spring rear suspension set-up. In testing on the Friday the rear arms bent. So, Stanley headed for Gareth Lloyd’s workshop. New parts were fitted. Unfortunately they didn’t last the pace either. Stanley said afterwards ‘With the new engine in the car it is a completely different beast, although we were getting axle tramp which didn’t help the times. The car is some fun now, or it will be when we get the rear suspension sorted.’ He went on to say that he is running Bilstein shock absorbers, which are the only ones that are strictly in period. Some drivers are using more modern variations. The next rally on Stanley and co-driver Stephen McAuley’s agenda is the Rally North Wales, about five weeks away. Hopefully he will by then have a solution to the rear suspension conundrum, which could involve going back to the slipper leaf springs.

Young William Creighton was contesting the modern part (National B) of the Red Kite in his Peugeot 208 R2 and he and co-driver Liam Regan won their class as well as, more importantly, garnering good experience of the classic forest stages around Epynt. On a similar note, Marty Gallagher took a very close class 2 win in his 208 R2 on the Snowman rally on Saturday. Just one second separated him from Tom Gray and they also finished 2nd 2wd. Both drivers are committed to a full BRC campaign in 2017.

Closer to home, Robert Barrable/Ciaran Larkin in their Starlet won the ALMC Spring Endurance Trial at Fairyhouse. The Starlet seems to have been the vehicle of choice amongst the top drivers, with 2nd placed Karl O’Donoghue/Evin Hughes as well as Peter Barrable/Conor Mohan in 3rd driving the same machinery.

This weekend coming, on the Abbey Court Hotel Nenagh Stages Rally, two times winner Donagh Kelly in his Focus WRC, with Conor Foley co-driving, is the No.1 seed. Behind former Tarmac and National Champion Donagh, who is bidding for a Birr hat trick, is facing some very formidable opposition. Roy White and Declan Boyle in their respective Fiesta WRCs are at 2 &3. Three times former National Champion Niall Maguire is at 4 with his Subaru, while Sam Moffett (Fiesta WRC) and Mark Donnelly (Fiesta WRC) round up the top half dozen. Missing from the line-up this time is Peadar Hurson, who has business commitments and is unable to make the trip. Peadar, and also Manus Kelly, intend to be at the next round, the 26th March Midland Rally.

Also not on the list is Championship sponsor Kevin Barrett. The Triton man is going to concentrate on helping his son Paul in his GpN Subaru. The production category has lacked a bit of support in recent times, but it is shaping up here. As well as Paul Barrett, current National Champion Aidan Wray, and Tarmac GpN Champion David Guest will be amongst those fighting for the honours. The modified 2WD end of things also looks strong, with Gary McPhillips, Ian Barrett, Adrian Hetherington, Viv Hamill and Ed Murphy just some of the top drivers listed. All in all, the Abbey Court Hotel Nenagh based event should provide a strong start to the National season. The overall entry numbers may be a bit weak (89 cars at present), but the competition surely won’t be. Programmes will be available from Friday 24th at the following outlets: Rally HQ Abbey Court: Mc Mulrooney’s Service Station at Nenagh: Carroll’s Spar Nenagh: Cleary’s Topaz Nenagh: O’Brien’s SS, Borrisokane.

Coming up soon (18th/19th March) is the Quality Hotel Clonakilty West Cork Rally. CoC Greg McCarthy reports a strong level of interest already in this 2nd round of the Tarmac series, which always attracts a strong input from the Welsh rallying fraternity, drawn as much by the ambience of West Cork as well as the fabulous stage roads. Donagh Kelly has won the event for the past 3 years and he has an entry in, Donagh bidding to become the first driver to take four wins. Alastair Fisher, so cruelly sidelined last year when battling with Keith Cronin for maximum Tarmac points, has also signed up. Kevin O’Driscoll told us yesterday that there were 85 entries received so far, 57 in the main event including Kevin Kelleher with 15 Juniors and 13 Historics On the weekend before West Cork, the Mayo Club is running its stages rally on Achill Island, which should provide some different mileage, although the rally was there a few years ago.

The Ballynahinch Club is also running its stage event at Bishopscourt on the Saturday of that weekend. This will be the 2nd round of the NI series. The Club also celebrated its 25th anniversary with a glittering formal evening at the Millbrook House Hotel in Ballynahinch last Saturday.

Finally for now, good news for young Aaron Johnstone from Fermanagh: he has been tasked by the Junior BRC Vauxhall Team to co-drive for the Australian driver Arron Windus, starting with the Border Counties, the opening round of the BRC on 17/18th March.