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| Banna Beach Kerry Mini Stages |
| RALLY NEWS No.1 - Pre Start - Sunday @ 09:02:47 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Banna/Sunday morning early..
Despite the economic doom and gloom around the countryside, this Banna Beach Kerry Mini Stages rally has again attracted a strong entry, with in excess of 120 crews preparing to tackle the stages up near Ballyheigue. British Rally Champion Keith Cronin, with ‘guest’ co-driver Derry O’Brien aboard his Lancer, heads the entry. For Keith, who won here last year, it’s a bit of a day out before the serious rally business of tackling Rally Scotland next weekend. Still, Keith is such a competitive guy that doubtless he’ll still be hard to beat. Mike Quinn at no 2 has new brake discs fitted to his Escort since his last troublesome outing on the Fastnet, and he would dearly love to chalk up a win on this, what is effectively, his local rally.
Another man on home soil is Transmission Links man Thomas Fitzmaurice (no3) and although his Lancer may be slightly outgunned, Thomas will also be giving the rally a real go in his quest for glory. Running at 4 is James M Stafford and in terms of pure speed his Darrian will possibly be one of the quickest cars in the rally, although it will not be easy steered if the roads are wet – which is a distinct possibility!
At 5 is James Foley in his new Lancer Evo X and outgoing Top Part West Coast Rally Champion Ed Synan in his Escort rounds off the top half dozen. James Foley is trying out a new Samsonas gearbox, as well as different suspension on his Mitsubishi.
The rally is the penultimate round of this year’s Top Part series. Niall Maguire has secured the new Champion’s tag, so the fight today will be for 2nd place and Mike Quinn and Thomas Fitzmaurice are in the frame for that.
The Subaru N12B of Sean Flanagan starts at 7. Sean had his first outing in the rebuilt Impreza on the Wexford Rally and finished 7th o/a and 2nd in GpN to Neil McCance. Brian Duggan was down to co-drive as usual this time, but he is at a graduation in Dublin so Pat Cashman is now co-driving. Pat co-drove Johnny O’Sullivan to victory here in 2000 and then at the post rally party here at Banna he met Marion, who then became his wife!
Ed O’Callaghan is at 8, with guest co-driver Seamus Curtin navigating his Escort. Ed raffled the co-drivers seat, in aid of the Milford Hospice, and raised just under €10,000. Kevin O’Donoghue was to be at 9, but the Killarney man has taken flu so he is non-starting. This will be the first time he will have missed the rally since he came home from the States many years ago. Vincent O’Shea rounds off the top ten in his Escort Cosworth. Some of the ‘OO’ duties today are in the hands of Mike O‘Leary/Claire Shorten in their Focus and Alan Ring, who has his partner Cera Ward co-driving on her first rally. O’Leary usually has Mike Moriarity in the hot seat, but Moriarity is in the US. Some changes to the entry include John Hickey switching from his BMW to a Legacy. David Lyons is now co-driving for Barry Evans in the Citroen C2R2. Some non-starters include: David Guest (29): John McQuaid (31): Stuart Darcy (37): LATE NEWS: James Foley - broken diff - non starting
More news after stage 1: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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