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RALLY NEWS
NO.1 Woodlands Hotel Adare..Sunday morning
09.30
Today's Circuit of Munster Rally has attracted a star studded
entry, with even one of the '00' cars being driven by top Swedish
driver Lars Goran Andersson, who has flown in specially for the
rally and is getting some match practice in the Phil Boland F2
RS2000 for the Jim Clark Rally later this month. Last year's
winner here, as well as current Champion, Niall Maguire, leads
the 150 cars away on this 6th round of the current Dunlop National
Championship. Monaghan man Maguire has his Subaru in top condition.
After a hesitant start in the left hand drive Impreza, Niall
has had the car fine tuned by Prodrive, and he has built up his
confidence with the left hand drive. The man behind him, Paul
Harris, had a great run earlier in the season, but an overheating
engine on the last two rounds of the Championship has cost the
Letterkenny man his Championship lead. Hopefully new rings have
cured the problem, and we will have a real big battle at the
front today.
Denis Cronin is 3rd on the road, his BMW M3 differential carrier
repaired since last week's abortive outing in Cavan. Denis has
been doing amazingly well in the Dunlop series, and dry roads
today could help the Bantry man to another top result against
the four wheel drive machinery. At 4 is George Cullen. He is
another who has been going exceptionally well since he movedd
to Subaru, although a switch to left hand drive this weekend
will hardly help George's cause. At 5 is the winner here two
year's ago, Michael Barrable. He's in a different Toyota now,
and has still to really settle into the new car. Donal O'Donovan,
running at 6, is in much the same boat, still switching on to
his new Celica.If either of these two get into their stride today,
they'll not be far away. Ray Breen is at 7, looking ever more
comfortable with his Subaru, and handily place in the Championship.
Then its Hugh Dunne in the Legacy, this time with Mike Gibson
on the pace notes. Hugh had problems with the Legacy's centre
differential on the recent Summit event. That transpired to be
a low battery affecting the electronics controlling the gearbox
- such are the the complexities of the modern rally car! Jonny
O'Sullivan in his Escort World Rally car and local man Dermot
Kelly in his Escort Cosworth round off the top ten. Dermot may
start with a 2 minute penalty, after having been apprehended
speeding on the 'recce'.
Any of the top seeds really are capable of a good placing
when the rally arrives back here at the Woodlands Hotel after
the 8 stages, and there are plenty of drivers outside the top
ten who are capable of providing fireworks - Tommy Graham, Anthony
O'Halloran, Tim McNulty, fresh from a great run in Cavan, Kevin
Barrett, Ed Synan, Declan Wilmott, are all very accomplished
drivers. Patrick Elliott is the top GpN seed, while Ollie
O'Donovan and Tom Holton should provide the F2 action. One of
the non-starters is John Spain (19), while there are several
re-seeds and quite a few reserves getting a run.. More news to
follow. .BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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