All the fun and games at the launch.

Website office(Wexford)

John Dier

Thursday 23rd August

2007 Rally Launches in Spectacular Style A large crowd gathered last Sunday evening to witness the launch of the 2007 Riverbank House Hotel Dick Bailey stages rally. The event, the only two-day tarmac event in the south-east of the country, has generated great interest from across the country with in excess of 250 entries having been received for this year’s event.
A great day was had by all, great weather for once, and a massive crowd saw a great days fun had by young and old. Outside the hotel was a display some of the finest rally cars in the land, with both Gareth MacHale and David James displaying their Ford Focus WRC’s, while David, along with Liam Wall and Johnny Murphy had their ever popular Mk2 Escort’s on show. Inside, a kid’s disco and face painting kept many for the younger generation amused, while outside, the crack was 90 with competitors and the public discussing possible entries and scenarios for this years event.
One man who was on hand to confirm his entry for the 2007 event was Gareth MacHale, the young Dubliner along with his father and chairman of Motorsport Ireland John Naylor were on hand to launch the event. With Eamon Boland also a confirmed entrant for this years event aboard his new Subaru Impreza WRC S12, the event already has the prospect of a cracking battle lined up between two of the top drivers in Irish rallying.
Much of the talk was also about the new two-wheel drive challenge, which is being sponsored by Rallytrader.ie, Murform Structures Ltd, and Ruth Motorsport. A large two-drive entry has been received for this years event, with drivers of the calibre of Phil Collins, John Dalton, James Stafford, Seamus O’ Connell and Trevor Culbert to name but a few all hoping to be given the chance of getting a crack at taking the title of top two-wheel drive man.
So the stage is set for this years event which will take place over the 8th and 9th of September, with 16 special stages in store for the 151 crews who take to the start-line. One thing is for sure, this years event promises to be one of the most spectacular in recent times so buckle up folks, because it’s countdown to the 2007 Riverbank House Hotel Dick Bailey Stages Rally!

JD