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John Dier

Saturday 7th July

Gary Nolan has been at it again with the laptop. Here is his latest offering. Mind you, you will see my questioning of his geography teacher's skill half way through!!!

The hills of Donegal recently played host to the latest round of the Global Group Irish Tarmac championship, the Shell Donegal International rally. The event had an extra dimension to it for 2007, that being that its number one seed was none other than current world champions Sebastian Loeb and Daniel Etena in their factory prepared Citroen C4 WRC. The pair caused a massive stir with the crowds gathering in their thousands to catch an early glimpse of the Citroen team, before they return to the north-east for Rally Ireland in November, Ireland first ever round of the world rally championship.
The French pair failed to disappoint, and after some early suspension changes, the Citroen scorched to the front of the field, cruising to a two and a half minute victory over the Pirelli backed Subaru Impreza of Mark Higgins, who had Letterkenny’s own Rory Kennedy on the notes. The yellow Subaru initially headed the times sheets, and held a thirty second lead after the opening day, with the Manxman stating that leading the current world champion was one of the highlights of his career! However, over the famous Fanad and Knockalla stages, the Citroen pilot whittled down the gap, and once they hit the front, there was no stopping them.
Higgins was still happy to take second, and top championship points to strengthen his position at the top of the championship. In third, Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely had a fairly lacklustre event by their standards. A puncture on the opening day dropped them back, but the double Donegal winner didn’t seem to have the pace of last year’s runner up Higgins over the Donegal stages, and indeed ended up fighting tooth and nail with a revitalised Kevin Lynch. Mr. KPL himself has had a slow start to the year but was having a great dice with Donnelly, that was until the last loop of stages when he and David Moynihan put their Focus WRC off the road handing third to Donnelly.
Wexford main interest failed to start, as Eamon Boland’s Ford Focus WRC suffered terminal engine problems on the eve of the event. It was then left to Gary Nolan to fly the Wexford flag, and sitting with Adrian Hetherington, the pair fired their Escort from lock to lock in great style to seventh overall in the National event, and second in the highly competitive class 13. That was despite a huge moment on the last stage that saw the mad Mk2 exit the final stage on three wheels! Mechanics gathered from far and near to fire themselves on the mk2, and an unbelievable effort by those mechanics saw the Escort make the finish back in Letterkenny, with all four wheels once again intact! After the thrills and spills of Donegal, it was back to some more local adventures, as Kilkenny played host to round 6 of the National rally championship, the Raven’s rock rally. Once again this event was hugely over subscribed and it was Aaron McHale and Killian Duffy who led the field away in their Ford Focus WRC. The pair had been having a great run of late and were hopeful of another strong performance. However Patrick Elliot, Glen Allen and Michael Barrable were all ready for the challenge in an event that was to take more twists and turns than the Suez Canal! (Editors note, I thought the Suez was as straight as a needle Gary!!!)
Allen was the first to fall, leaving the road on the opening stages. Elliot took the lead from Barrable by two seconds, with McHale a further three back. Close or what! However, it was Elliot and Paul Goodman who were next to go, the Impreza sliding off backwards on a tricky hairpin, injuring the two occupants in the process. Barrable went on to take the victory, but was later excluded for failing to stop at the scene of Elliot’s accident. McHale was then promoted to victor, but this was then later retracted as Barrable lodged an appeal against his exclusion. Something tells me this one could take a while to sort out!
As for the Wexford interest, David James and Jim Crowe were the leading interest. As usual, David was throwing the Focus around in spectacular style, his times placing him on the edge of the top ten. James Stafford and Amy Ryan were out once again in the Darrian T90, the pair were dicing with the more powerful 2.5 litre version of John Dalton for top spot in the 2wd category, and lead their class in the opening stages. Willy and Johnny Whitty were back out again after their early exit in Carlow, but were off the pace on the opening stages. Mark Kennedy and Ian O’ Leary however, were definitely on the pace, the Crown Bar backed Nova leading its class yet again and in amongst the more powerful two litre cars, the Wexford crew in search of more championship points. John Somers and Niall Fortune were Mark’s leading challengers in class 11, the Wexford men having a great battle. Liam Wall and Andy O’ Donoghue were making a welcome return to the stages, Liam certainly having lost none of his skill as he settled back into the car in treacherous conditions. Tomas O’ Rourke and Margo Doyle were out in the Slaney View Motors Honda Civic, and as usual, Tomas lead the class in only his second outing this year.
Mick Kehoe and Tim Boyle were battling it out for class 7 honours, while Darren and Tom O’ Connor were finding the pace extremely hot in class 9. Barry Murphy and Ray Greene were also struggling to match the more modern kit cars in class 6, the wee Saxo lying fourth on the slippy stages. Johnny Murphy and Martin Nolan were being outgunned in the powerful class 13, however the Ferns men were having a ball on the slippery stages and were one of the most spectacular crews to watch on the stages. Class 10 also had some Wexford interest, with Eddie Nolan and Ray Benson leading the chase, with Shay Byrne and John Delaney in their Sunbeam were also in the hunt.
As the day came to a close, the Wexford contingent were very definitely in the hunt for class honours. David James was the first Wexford man home, him and Jim Crowe at last got a clear run to provisionally finish ninth overall and third in class 8 in their Ford Focus WRC, the Goreyman glad to see the finish line at last! Next Wexford crew were James Stafford and Amy Ryan aboard the fabulous Millington powered Darrian T90, the pair firing the Clonmines Joinery projectile over the Kilkenny lanes to first in class 13. Liam Wall was also in the awards, he and Andy O’ Donoghue showing some of the old magic to take third in class and brought the Escort back to base and get some more competitive miles under their belts.
And once again, Mark Kennedy and Ian O’ Leary were the stars of the show in class 11, the Wexford pair peddled the Nova in great style to take the class honours and once again get the Nova inside the top 20. Thomas O’ Rourke and Margo Doyle were also class winners, the pair taking class three honours by a country mile, so it’s just like business as usual for Tomas! Barry Murphy and Ray Greene were the next Wexford crew home, they finished in the middle of the more modern ex-works kit-cars, Barry finding it hard to get on the pace of the Clio Super 1600 kit-cars, the pair eventually taking fourth in class.
Next up was another 1600cc crew, the Escort of Eddie Nolan and Ray Benson taking third in class and finishing just inside the top 50. Then it was the ever sideways Johnny Murphy and Martin Nolan, the pair not on the pace of the class leading crews, but getting just as big a cheer from the ditches for their tail out antics. Also on the finishers list was Brian “Oige” O’ Neill and James Duggan in their Peugeot 106, the Ballywilliam man taking seventh in the competitive class 6, the pair finishing just behind the Moynihan sisters from Cork. Gareth Kent and Richard Cleary in their Honda Civic took seventh in class 11, while Darren and Tom O’ Connor took fifth in class 9 honours. Shay Byrne and John Delaney dropped back in the class 10 battle while Andrew and Joe Lacey were another pair to suffer in the wet conditions but managed to bring their Twin-Cam back to base.
In the juniors, John Stafford and Anne-Marie Kennedy were out to make it two wins on the trot after their victory in Carlow, however this time they had to give best to the junior kings of 2007, Barry Ryan and Donal Falvey in the more powerful Escort, who took an eleven second victory from the Stafford-Kennedy Corsa. And finally, class 18 victors were Paddy Carroll and Nicky Lacey in their Peugeot 106, the pair taking their first class victory to wrap up a highly successful weekend for Wexford crews.

JD