Athea’s Colm Murphy won the Ford Ireland Focus Championship section on last weekend’s Sligo Stages Rally, while Oliver Stanley’s 2^nd place on the day was good enough to maintain his lead in the series. Gerry Keyes kept a bout of tonsillitis at bay long enough to take 3^rd on the day.

London based Limerick man Ollie O’Donovan took his Impreza to 5^th on last weekends Expo Rally on the Belgium/Dutch border, with Kevin Barrett in the Triton Showers Impreza WRC 6^th. Both drivers endured their fair share of mechanical problems, while Donie O’Sullivan had been fighting for the lead but, along with Tom Holton, had been forced into retirement.

The Mayo Single stage event takes place next Saturday (26^th July), not Sunday as first supposed. The rally is based in Kiltimagh at the N17 nite club, and Tom ‘Doc’ Halliday, Gerry Smith and Richard Casey are the top three seeds, all in Escorts, while John McGettrick at 4 is the highest seeded local driver.

Letterkenny crew Paul Gallagher/Karl Reid are well down the road of rebuilding their Corolla after their big Donegal Rally accident and are entering for the Manx Trophy, which will be the rapid pairing’s first foray on a rally outside Ireland.

Former NI Rally Champion Denis Biggerstaff (6R4) is the No1 seed for this Saturday’s Lark in the Park Rally, with Eugene Donnelly at 2 in his Celica, Glenn Allen (Escort WRC) at 3, Ivan Stewart (Escort Cos) at 4 and event sponsor Kevin Lynch at 5 in his Impreza WRC. The event will start with a stage through St Columbs Park, then move to a 9 mile stage repeated three times in Donegal, and then finish with further stages in the Park.

Willie Fannin, early GpN leader on last Sunday’s Sligo Stages, is just one of many drivers hoping for a run on the 23^rd August Triton Showers Lurgan Park Rally. Fannin, a front runner in the Dunlop National series was forced out of Sligo when his engine went off song.

Brian Patterson.