Billy Coleman Award winner Shaun Gallagher finished just inside the top twenty and won his class on last weekend’s Mayo Stages Rally, debuting a new Peugeot 206. Shaun had Killarney’s Paul Nagle co-driving. The Letterkenny man intends now to go ahead with plans to contest the UK and French Peugeot 206 SuperCup. This will require two cars, running to different technical specifications.

Former two times Donegal International winner James Cullen was performing zero car duties on the Mayo Stages event in a Honda Civic. James is going to compete on the Circuit of Ireland and Killarney Lakes, with the intention of developing a new Civic ‘R’.

The high profile Punchestown event has moved date to the 20^th July. An innovation this time will be two cars running side by side in Super special fashion. Ari Vatanen is just one of the top names being mooted to make an entry.

Galway MC is expected to make an announcement this week that their International Rally scheduled for November this year will not run.

Last weekend in Mayo was the first multi stage event run under the new stringent safety procedures laid down by Motorsport Ireland, and they worked well.

One leading competitor, MacMcKenna, was excluded from 8^th overall on the Mayo Stages for failing to stop at the scene of Stuart Darcy’s first stage high speed accident. Both Darcy and his co-driver Diarmuid Falvey were hospitalised, the popular Falvey suffering a partcularly bad leg breakage.

This weekend sees round 2 of the NI Stage Championship scheduled for Bishopscourt. Defending Champion Derek McGarrity is listed as No1 seed in his new Impreza WRC, although the Glengormley man is thought not to be intent on defending his title, more using the rally as a shakedown. Eugene Donnelly, also in an Impreza WRC is the current points leader and is listed at 2, with former champion Denis Biggerstaff at 3 in his Metro 6R4.