September rally preview

Website office(Wexford)

John Dier & Gary Nolan

Thursday 25th August

Just to keep Gary Nolan busy, and give me a bit of a rest, we got him to put fingers to keys and come up with this little piece about the Dick Bailey Rally next month

The time is upon us again for what was formally known as the Wexford rally, now the Dick Bailey stages rally. Last year saw a fantastic battle between the Subaru Impreza of five time winner Stephen Murphy and the Ford Focus WRC of Killarney’s Donie O’ Sullivan. After splashing through all the puddles over a rain soaked weekend, it was Murphy who took his sixth win in Wexford by a mere ten seconds, with Carraig on Suir man Richie Curran taking third in his Escort WRC.

This year’s event see’s a new format for the 131 crews taking the start, with four stages up the north of the county with a further nine down south of the county on Sunday. Preparations are at an advanced stage with entries flooding in as we speak. Last years winner Stephen Murphy will be back to defend his crown but for the first time in ten years, we should see the Carlow man take on his old adversary Eamon Boland. Boland is expected to make the start aboard his new Ford Focus WRC. Entries are also expected from the Subaru trio of Noel Redmond, Damian Cole and Melvyn Evans while 1996 winner Pete Doughty has also signalled his intentions to line up come September 10th. Group N will see the Oakland Quarries Subaru of PJ McGrath try and repeat his success of 2004, but he will face stiff opposition in the form of Gabriel Martin in a similar Impreza.

The modified cars are always great to watch and this year is sure to be no different. Some of the best mk2 escorts in Ireland and from across the water will take to the start, with drivers such as Liam Wall, Gwyndaf Evans, David James, Willy Whitty and James Coleman all throwing their cars from lock to lock over the weekend. The 1600 16v class will also be one to watch with the front wheel drive Nova’s of Mark Kennedy, John Somers and James Stafford taking on the Toyota twin cam of Terence O Shaughnessy.

The launch of the event will take place at the Crosbie Cedars Hotel on Thursday, 25th of August at 8p.m. and it promises to be a great night’s entertainment, with a fabulous display of cars outside the hotel, and inside, wide screen televisions showing some of the most entertaining rallying and in-car action around, definitely not to be missed! Afterwards, there is music from Thomas and Speedy and sure to be some interesting discussions among drivers and fans as the countdown begins to Wexfords main motorsport event of the year.

JD