Clare hosts penultimate round in rally championship

THE most exciting Dunlop National Rally Championship in recent times reaches the penultimate stage on Sunday with the Ennis-based Auburn Lodge Clare Stages Rally.
Three drivers, Thomas Fitzmaurice (Kerry), Brian O’Mahony (Cork) and Niall Maguire (Monaghan), all in S11 Subaru WRCs, are in contention for the Vard Memorial Trophy. This year’s series consists of eight rounds with the best six scores taken into consideration.
Currently, Fitzmaurice heads the points standings on 90 points, 14 ahead of O’Mahony with Maguire eight points further back. With the dropped scores taken into consideration, the situation is much closer – Fitzmaurice and O’Mahony are equal on points, with Maguire eight points behind.
Maguire is the top seed in Clare and needs to take maximum points to stay in the title race and set up a title decider for next month’s final round, the Donegal Harvest Rally. The Monaghan driver, who has won the series three times, was actually leading the last round until a sheared wheel stud ended his participation after just three stages of the Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally. His sole victory in the series was in the Mayo Rally and a repeat is essential to maintain his Dunlop Championship title ambitions.
Fitzmaurice has two victories to his credit, the first round in Abbeyleix and Round 2 in Kerry. He has maintained his position as leader of the series since the third round in Kerry.
The only way Fitzmaurice can win the title in Clare is if he claims maximum points and O’Mahony’s points haul does not exceed 14, irrespective of what happens to Maguire.
Winner of his last two rounds, Brian O’Mahony, with maximum points in Carlow and Clonmel (Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally), knows exactly what is needed to ensure his continued participation in the title race.
Donegal’s Declan Boyle occupies the number four berth in the nine-stage event in Clare. He has acquired last year’s Dunlop Championship-winning S12B Subaru WRC and won the recent Galway Summer Rally.
Dunlop regular, Maynooth’s Kevin Barrett (Subaru WRC), has endured a disappointing season, yet he remains loyal to the series despite three retirements. His best result was second in Mayo. He will want to end the season on a high note. Former Dunlop Group N champion, Kevin Kelleher, is another driver to have moved to a WRC. He debuted the ex-Conor McCloskey S9 Subaru on the Circuit of Munster but spun out midway through the rally.
Meanwhile, Limerick’s Colm Murphy in his Group N Subaru can clinch the Motorsport Safety Team Group N Award in Ennis, having won the Circuit of Munster last June. He is only six points behind Niall Maguire in the race for third overall in the Dunlop series. Clonmel’s Roy White (MG S2000) has secured a strong points haul in his last two outings and will be keen to maintain that form in Clare.
Top two-wheel drive exponent, Frank Kelly (Ford Escort) is seeded at number nine as he bids to reel in Cavan’s Jonathan Pringle in the race for the inaugural Dunlop MK 2 Champions Trophy. The popular Tyrone driver leads the rally.ie category for the top two-wheel drive in the overall standings.
The final place in the top 10 is occupied by Monaghan’s Shane Maguire in his Group N Subaru. He won the non-championship Sligo Rally earlier this year but has been out of luck in the current Dunlop campaign.
Ruan’s Anthony O’Halloran, who will be co-driven by fellow local man Charlie McEnery, hasn’t competed since last year’s rally when he campaigned in an Opel Manta. He will be intent on making a good impression in his local rally, where he will drive a Mitsubishi EvoIX.
Aside from Frank Kelly, the Modified category also includes Donegal’s Declan Gallagher (Toyota Starlet) and the Escort trio of Ed Synan, Jonathan Pringle and Frank Sweeney.
Other entries include Stephen Carey (Honda Civic), who has already clinched Class 3 of the Dunlop series; David Guest (Honda Civic); the Escort duo of Ryan Loughran and James Coleman and Neil Pierce (Honda Civic). Kerry’s Vincent O’Shea will drive the ex-Barry Meade Ford Escort.
Aside from O’Halloran, other Clare entries are Tony Tuttle (Ford Escort), Tom Ryan (Opel Corsa), Martin Kelly (Mitsubishi), Thomas Fitzgibbon (Honda Civic), Pa Horan (Vauxhall Nova) and John O’Sullivan (Citroen C2).
Tyrone’s Frank Kelly and his Cork co-driver Liam Brennan (Ford Escort MK11) still hold a one-point lead after Round 4, the Galway Summer Rally. Kelly and Brennan were non-starters in Galway, as were their nearest championship rivals, Kerry’s Mike Quinn and Clare co-driver Gráinne McEnery (Ford Escort MK11) with the latter crew still in second place overall.
Limerick’s Frank Sweeney and his Clare co-driver Jane Coogan (Ford Escort MK11) move into third place on the leader board after a fine drive in Galway, putting their non-finish in Round 3 firmly behind them when mechanical woes forced them to retire. Kerry’s Thomas Fitzmaurice (Subaru S11 WRC) drops from third to fourth spot after a non-finish in Round 4 and will now need to score a good haul of championship points in the final two rounds to keep his championship title hopes alive.
Cork’s Stephen Carey produced another fine drive in his Honda Civic to come from outside the top 10 and move into fifth in the overall standings. Carey now moves into the lead in Group N, which he also won last year. Two drivers are tied for sixth spot, Monaghan’s Niall Maguire (Subaru S11 WRC) and Limerick’s Colm Murphy (Subaru N12B). Both drivers were tied for fourth place after Round 3 but non-starts for both in Galway meant they dropped down the leader board. Tipperary’s William Cavanagh (Ford Escort MK11) moves from 10th place to seventh overall, having collected fifth-place points on Round 4.
Monaghan’s Jim McKenna and Galway’s Neil Pierce both drop down the overall leader board to joint eighth place, the former having not started the event while Pierce was forced to retire on his home event. Three drivers are tied for ninth place, Clare’s Tony Tuttle (Ford Escort MK11), Kerry’s Tommy Mason (Ford Escort MK1) and Galway’s Stephen Greaney (Citroen C2R2), while the top 10 in the overall drivers’ standings is rounded off by Donegal’s Adrian Cannon (Honda Civic).
Clare driver Anthony Breen still leads Class 8 in his Subaru Impreza, while Ennis man Niall O’Sullivan leads Class 9.

Appeal for marshals
THE Clare Rally organising committee, under course clerk Dermot Kelleher, has been working very hard over the past couple of months to put this event together. As it requires a lot of officials and marshalls from all over the country, the committee is appealing to anybody interested in marshalling or helping out over the weekend to contact the rally’s chief marshall Gerry O’Brien on 086 2766267 or to contact the club via the website www.claremotorclub.com.
Mr Kelleher paid tribute to Clare County Council and the gardaí for their assistance in putting the event together. He also acknowledged all the residents along the route and on the closed-road sections, as he said the event could not happen without their co-operation.
The rally starts on Saturday morning, when drivers and their navigators congregate at the Auburn Lodge Hotel.
The crews will then be allowed to drive over the three stages a maximum of three times at normal road speed in their road cars to check or amend their pacenotes. The rally cars are then presented for scrutiny at the Cummins Car Centre in the Ballymaley Industrial Estate on the Gort Road, where a team of scrutineers will check all the safety features, brakes, roll cages, tyres, racesuits and helmets. This will give spectators a chance to see some of the top rally cars in the country and also meet the drivers and their navigators.

Ceremonial start
THE ceremonial start will take place at the square in the centre of Ennis at 7.45pm on Saturday evening. The organising committee has decided to bring the top 20 cars and the local Clare drivers to the start ramp in the square, where they will be interviewed by the voice of Irish motorsport, Duggie Hughes.

Souvenir
programme
A SOUVENIR programme will be on sale, which will contain the stage maps, entry list, championship photos and motorsport articles.

Keep the race
in its place
THE Clare club has teamed up with Clare County Council and the gardaí to promote road safety over the weekend and are asking everyone watching the event to drive safely. Their messages are, Keep The Race in its Place, Never Drink and Drive, Always Wear A Seatbelt and Slow Down, Arrive Alive.

Start time
THE first car leaves the Auburn Lodge Hotel at 9.15am on Sunday morning for the three stages, Spancilhill, Ballinruan and Kell’s Cross. The cars will return to the industrial estate on the Gort Road for service at 11.36am and 2.07pm.
The cars will finish back at the Auburn Lodge Hotel at the finish ramp at 4.38pm, where the winner will be announced.