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Irish
Notes 24nd Sept 03.
Newly crowned Tarmac Champion Derek McGarrity is the latest entry
for the 4th/5th October Cork '20' International. The Glengormley
man makes the proviso that the Impreza S8 which he intends
driving is hired to Patrick Snijers for the Haspengou
Rally, so of course the Cork trip will hinge on the car's safe
return from Belgium. It was hoped that McGarrity would appear in
an S9 before season's end, but that car now has Mike Oates' name
on it.
Navan's Paddy White spearheads a strong group of competitors,
including Nigel Hickllin and Ollie O'Donovan (Subaru WRCs), Tom
Holton and Cahal Arthurs (Celicas), as well as Breen McNamee
(Peugeot), all heading for the Golden Tulip Rally in Netherlands
this weekend. Paddy White, who will drive his usual Impreza WRC
S8, heads the West Euro Cup points, of which the Golden Tulip is
the final round.
Dessie Keenan is also making the trip to the Golden Tulip and
will drive his Peugeot 206. The young Monaghan man sees the trip
as an ideal stepping stone in his preparation for the Billy
Coleman Award Final.
Seamus Donnelly won last Saturday's Blue Circle Davagh Stage
Rally, with Camillus Bradley, also in a Mk2 Escort, a close
second. Martin Doherty took 3rd overall on the Cookstown MC event
and won GpN in his Lancer.
Confirmation has still to be made of Eugene Donnelly's victory in
the NI series following the Lakeland Stages. A requirement of the
Championship is that before the final awarding of points is that
the competitor must have marshalled on at least one event during
the season. Donnelly and his co-drover Paddy Toner officiated on
at least one event for their home Magherafelt Motor Club, and
also marshalled the Barnes Gap stage on the recent Ulster Rally,
so ratification of the Title is almost certainly a formality.
Donnelly may skip the last two rounds of the NI series, The
Bushwhacker and the Toshiba, and use the budget towards a run on
the Cork '20' Donnelly also clinched the Dunlop National
Championship on the Clare Rally last Sunday, which again would
leave the decks clear for him to contest the final Tarmac round
in Cork.
Robbie McGurk is hiring a GpA Impreza from McKinstry Motorsport
for his home Bushwhacker Rally this weekend and, having won the
event 7 times must be considered favourite. The Omagh based event
has 10 forest stages. James Gillen and Ken Graham are just
two top names joining the usual NI Championship regulars. Glenn
Allen is happily well on the road to recovery following his
accident on the Lakelands but his Escort WRC was heavily damaged
and he will almost certainly be out of action for a while.
Cork man John McCarthy was entered for the Bushwhacker Rally but
has had to withdraw following a workshop accident last Saturday
where he sustained burns to his hands/chest area. We wish
John a speedy recovery.
Michael Reddy took his Escort to victory on last Sunday's
Germaine's of Baltinglass GSMC Single Stage Rally. Tom
Murphy was 2nd and Eamonn Murphy 3rd, all driving Escorts.
Last Sunday's Clare Rally was a round of the Ford Ireland Focus
Championship and David Delaney was the winner on the day from
Colm Murphy with overall points leader Oliver Stanley 3rd. Murphy
had led initially but dropped to 5th when his engine lost power
half way through the day. He then set fastest times to come back
to 2nd.
Brian Patterson
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2003 www.rallynews.net
(Patterson Agencies). All rights reserved. Unauthorised
duplication is a violation of applicable laws. 24/09/03 09:25
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