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RALLY
NEWS NO.1
Kilkenny - Sunday morning early…
Today's rally brings together the crème de la crème of 2 major
championships - the Dunlop National Championship and the Get Connected
series. Michael Barrable is the leader of the Dunlop Championship,
Melvyn Evans the Get Connected. Unfortunately defending Dunlop Champion
Niall Maguire, last year's winner of this Ravens Rock event and No.1 seed
today, could not make it here to Kilkenny because of engine problems with
his Subaru. This leaves No.2 seed Eugene Donnelly to lead the 151 cars
away from Kilkenny Castle. Eugene drives the same 98/99 specification
Impreza WRC that he drove to victory on the Killarney Rally of the Lakes.
The car was out last weekend on the Donegal International in the hands of
Sean Devine, and broke down. A faulty crank case sensor the culprit.
Hopefully it will be alright today for Eugene. He commented about today's
rally "I'm really looking forward to it. The stages are good, very
fast. I'm concerned about the weather though, it will be critical.
Because the roads are fast and smooth tyre choice, getting it right, will be
very important."
Melvyn Evans echoed Eugene's thoughts about the stages. "Very good,
fast, the narrow places will be important. There is time to be made there,
if you are brave!" The Welshman went on to say that his Impreza
WRC has been thoroughly overhauled since its Manx national outing. It was
found that one of the head gaskets was a bit leaky, and the suspension has
been revamped. Melvyn runs at No.4, Michael Barrable at 3, reporting
all well with his Impreza, the turbo charger rebuilt. Car 5 was to be
David Armstrong but he has not got over his Circuit of Munster accident yet.
The ever improving Adrian McElvaney is at 6, the young Monaghan man 3rd in
the Dunlop points. Patrick Elliott makes a welcome return to the
stages following his lay off due to an accident on the Monaghan rally.
Jim Harrison is at 8, the fastest man never to have won an Irish National
Rally. Could this be Jim's day? The Englishman drives a McKinstry
P2000 Impreza WRC and commented "It's the same car that we finished 2nd
with in Cavan. I think today's stages are very smooth, very fast in
places, I'm looking forward to it". Noel Redmond is at 9, his
Impreza WRC straightened up after his Carlow accident, Noel saying "We
didn't get a marvellous recce done but we should be OK". Denis
Cronin was to be at 10 but he is non starting, so next up will be Ray Breen.
The Waterford man is very much on a come back drive, hasn't been out for
some time, and this will be his first serious run in the ex Jon Mercer Metro
6R4.
Although in theory the Metro should not be a match for the Impreza world
rally cars, at the same time this is quite a machine, with state of the art
high compression 2.5 engine, 3 way Proflex suspension, close ratio gears and
massive brakes. Slotted in to the top 10 will be Sean Gallagher.
Sean's Escort Cosworth has 152 on the side and comes in from the reserves.
The Leitrim man has Paul Nagle co driving today and is lying 4th in the
Dunlop series. Sean's Escort Cosworth has had a new turbo fitted and general
check over since its last outing. That is just a taster of what is in store
at the top of the rally today. As well as the battle at the top there are
over a dozen really quick gpN cars and drivers, not least Eoin Doyle in the
very latest Prodrive gpN series 9 Impreza. Just some of the other
quick gpN drivers include Kieran Molloy, Dominic Loughran, Willie Fannin and
Michael Shaw, as well as category leader Derrick Jobb - all in Lancers.
The battle for 2 wheel drive supremacy should be fairly stunning as well,
with Shay Power, Derek Smith, David James and Phil Collins just some to look
out for. Just a few other stories include - Guy Woodcock's Escort Max
Kit Cr has had a spare engine fitted. Richie Curran's Cosworth engine was
just fitted yesterday. Anthony O'Halloran's Manta has just had a new engine.
Another interesting facet will be the battle of the Ford Ireland Focus
Championship cars. There are 6 running this weekend. They all have the new
close ratio gearbox and John Foley leads the points. Suirway Forklifts'
James Coleman is performing OO duties, his Escort has just blown the engine,
so he has acquired the use of Eoin Doyle's older model gpN Subaru. David
James' Escort has just had a new throttle sensor fitted and is not quite set
up yet. John Rooney is driving a BMW M3 that he has just acquired. An ex
Gwyndaf Evans/Hugh Martin Doherty car. More news after stage 2. BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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