With the cancellation of September’s rally and the announcement of this rally, it seemed that this weekend’s winner would be the winner for this year. But then the cat was put among the pigeons. We started of with one replacement rally, now we have two.

The fact that Eamonn Boland has to be in the UK for the upcoming rally of Britain is the only reason that he is not here for this rally. The hope is that he will be here for the December rally. If he wins that rally, does that make him the winner for 2001? That is the reason why the question has been on my mind.

For the last two years the December rallies that have been held in Co. Wexford have been restricted events. To get one unrestricted event was good, to get the second was bloody marvellous. Two of these events will bring the cream of rally talent into the county twice in a month. This is going a long way to offset the disappointment of September’s cancellation.

The top three of Paul Harris, Tim McNulty or Maurice Gass, all driving Subaru’s could give the likely winners. Paul Harris is due a win in Wexford. Who could forget his heroics some years back when he nearly upstaged all the 4wd cars with his little Sunbeam? He very nearly took the trophy home giving a lot of bigger names a nervous last few stages.

The other two of these three will be less known to a lot of Wexford people. This should not take away from the fact that they have as much a chance as Harris. I have a little feeling in my gear oil that Maurice Gass could be a very good outside bet. The feeling in my gear oil has been right in other years.

It is nice to see six class 8 cars in the top ten and any of the other three that we have not mentioned could do the business. Either of the McArdles, Sean and Michael, or Tom Holton will not let the first three out of their sight. And if any one thinks that Peadar Hurson is going to let the whole thing go on without him, let them think again. Then there is the small matter of two Escorts of Jimmy Lambert and David James making up the ten. The ding dong battle of the lighthouse rally two years ago will go down in rally history as one of the classics.

It is a pity that the usual battles that take place in all the classes each year will be so quick this year. The only thing is that we can look forward to part two in a month’s time. I could go on about these now but it will be a lot more interesting to look at these on the day itself.

There will be a lot more things that will be worth a look at on the website this year. Firstly there will be a lot more pictures this year. With the use of digital photography we will have pictures up on site within minutes. Secondly as we will be based in the results room, we will have a lot faster access to the interim results. We will also hope to run a limited service which will se us being able to E-mail shots of competing cars to oversees followers if they get someone to call in to us personally in rally HQ. There will be a small charge for this service but don’t let that put you off.

All this is making for a very mouth watering weekend, and that is not even mentioning the craic in the bar on Saturday night. If you can’t get there, wait for the pictures.