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Irish
Notes 30.01.02
At
a press conference in Enniskillen earlier this week the Ulster
Automobile Club announced that the Circuit of Ireland is to be
backed by ‘Buy and Sell’. The event will start on Easter
Saturday and will have stages in Fermanagh including St Angelo.
Sunday will be a major day’s rallying with tests in South
Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo. The Easter Monday leg will be back in
NI. Overall the format is a lot more compact than previous years,
with Clerk of the Course Chris Beck striving to make the classic
event more competitor friendly by introducing centralised
servicing and route loops. More details at
www.ulsterac.dircon.co.uk
Shaun
Gallagher, with his mechanic Charlie McGinty co-driving in their
Peugeot 106, competed on the Norwegian Rally last Saturday as
further experience of snow and ice driving.
Shaun won his class on the rally, and indeed was in the
top 10 going into the final stage, but lost some time on a snow
bank.
Philip
Johnston of Pitlane in Cork has acquired the Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo 6 as driven by Neil Simpson on the British Championship.
Philip hired the Lancer to Peter Willoughby for the Mitchelstown
Forestry and is hoping Sean Keenan will use the car for the
Tarmac Championship.
Limerick
man James Murphy has upgraded his Sierra Cosworth to an Escort
Cosworth from the Dominic McNeill stable and hopes to contest the
KBB Doors Forestry Championship.
The
West Cork Rally has again received backing from irishmobiles.com
and will be based in Clonakilty over St Patricks weekend, 16th/17th
March. The event will be a round of the Get Connected Tarmac
Championship. Regulations will be available from Norma
O’Donovan @ 021 4966053.
Rory
Kennedy, one of Ireland’s most successful co-drivers, having
guided Bertie Fisher to his four Tarmac Champion titles in the
Nineties, was sitting with Seamus Burke on last weekend’s
Snodrift Rally in Michigan, the opener for SCCA ProRally
Championship. The pair finished in the top 10.
Jim
Burrows received the club person of the year award at
Ballynahinch MC’s glittering 10th anniversary annual
dinner dance last Friday night. One of the guest speaker’s,
chairman of the ANICC Robert Harkness, paid complement to the
club for keeping the NI Stage Championship going through the
traumas of the F&M precautions last year.
Bangor’s
Allan Harryman completed the recce for last weekend’s Arctic
Rally with John Papadimitrou, but the pair didn’t get started
when their Subaru again gave transmission trouble. Donegal Town
based Andy Bassett did get started in his ex works VW Golf
diesel, but ran out of road on the penultimate stage.
Brian
Patterson.
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