National title could be decided this weekend

THE Dunlop National Rally Championship title could be decided at Sunday’s Ennis-based Auburn Lodge Clare Rally where series leader, Tim McNulty (Subaru WRC) has the first of three title-clinching events with the Donegal Harvest Rally and the Fastnet Rally (Bantry) also remaining in the 10-round series.
With victories in five Dunlop appearances, the Meath driver has accumulated 100 points. Opening the season with a win in the Abbeyleix rally, McNulty has gone on to win Dunlop rounds in Monaghan, Carlow, Cavan and, most recently, in Galway.
The Vard Memorial Trophy is now within touching distance and should McNulty secure maximum points in Clare (Round 8 of the Dunlop campaign) and provided Kevin Barrett takes 16 or less points, McNulty will be declared champion in the Banner County.
Last season, Welsh ace, Mel Evans (Subaru) was crowed champion in the Clare Motor Club-promoted event. He was the first overseas driver to win the Dunlop series.
McNulty is also chasing a unique double as, never in the history of Irish rallying, has a driver won the National Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Championship in the same season. Currently, McNulty leads both. 
Records show that three drivers have won both championships, albeit in different seasons.  The late Frank Meagher won the national championship in 1986 and the Tarmac series in 1995; Hillsborough’s Ian Greer notched his national success in 1993 and six years later, won a Tarmac title. Derry’s Eugene Donnelly netted a national title in 2003 and just a year later added his first Tarmac title.
Kevin Barrett, third in the Dunlop series, is the second seed in the nine-stage Ennis-based event and he will endeavour to continue the title challenge with McNulty in a season where he has been out of luck of a few occasions.
Former triple champion, Niall Maguire, also in a Subaru WRC, hasn’t enjoyed the best of seasons and it is certainly an unusual situation to see him languishing in seventh place in the campaign.
He completes the top trio for the Clare event that will be based at the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Ennis.
In contrast, fellow Monaghan ace, Sam Moffett (Mitsubishi) is having his best season to date. A pair of top three finishes in recent events has seen the 21-year-old driver move into second overall and also head the Motorsport Safety Group N contenders.
Currently with an 11-point lead over the non-competing Robert Barrable, Moffett is 30 points clear of another Monaghan driver, Shane Maguire (Subaru), who will be his closest championship rival in County Clare. The duo complete the top five in the 130 plus entry list.
The battle for the two-wheel drive category is set to go down to the wire with current leader, Frank Kelly being chased by Washington James, Wesley Patterson, Sam Smyth and John McQuaid.
In Clare, Patterson (Escort) is the highest seeded of the group and will occupy the number six berth. Meanwhile, Limerick’s Ed O’Callaghan (Escort) should provide strong opposition in a top 10 that is completed by Washington James (Darrian T90 GTR), Frank Kelly (Escort) and Mike Quinn (Escort), the latter will be co-driven by local, Gráinne McEnery (Ford Escort).
Donegal’s Trevor Bustard (Mitsubishi), Sam Smyth (Ford Escort) and John McQuaid (Ford Escort) are seeded just outside the top 10.  Having campaigned a Group N Mitsubishi for a number of seasons, local stalwart. Anthony O’Halloran reverts to his Opel Manta 400 and will be keen to impress in front of the local fans.
In the Junior Rally, the top four seeded drivers are Cal McCarthy (Honda Civic), David Moffett (Toyota Starlet), Kevin O’Connor (Citroen C2R2) and Chris Snow (Honda Civic).
The Clare Rally is also Round 5 of the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship.
Kerry man Mike Quinn (Ford Escort MK11) maintains his lead in the championship after Round 4 in the Galway Summer Rally and now holds a 16-point lead over 2010 champion, Monaghan’s Shane Maguire (Subaru N11). Quinn battled his way back up the leader board in Galway but the former West Coast and National 2 Wheel Drive champion put in a fine performance over the remaing stages to collect valuable championship points and maintain his lead in the overall driver standings.
Tipperary’s David Percy (Ford Escort F2 Maxi) drops one place to third overall after Round 4 and now lies 20 points behind championship leader Quinn. Galway’s Richard Burke (Subaru Impreza) moves up the leader board to fourth after a fine drive in Galway saw him finish 11th overall. Fellow Galwegian Neil Pierce (Honda Civic) moves four places up the leader board to fifth overall with 45 points.
County Clare co-driver Gráinne McEnery (Mike Quinn) maintains her lead in the overall co-driver standings after Round 4 with 78 points and holds a 22-point advantage over Galway’s John Burke (Richard Burke). The Clare co-driver, who is a former National 2 Wheel Drive champion, will be hoping to score a good haul of championship points as she aims to be the first female Top Part West Coast Championship winning co-driver in its 18-year history.
Gráinne, who works as a service manager with O’Sullivan and Hansbury Motors in Ennis, competed in her first rally back in 2006 in the Clare Single Stage where she finished 11th overall with John Reddington. In 2008, she navigated with local drivers Eddie Cogan and Martin Kelly until she met up with Mike Quinn in 2009.
Her achievements in 2009 included third overall in the Circuit Of Kerry, first in Class Circuit Of Munster, sixth overall Galway Summer, sixth overall Stonethrowers Rally, second overall Clare Stages Rally, third overall Banna Mini Stages Rally, first overall Killarney Historics Rally, second overall in the West Coast Championship in 2009 and winner of the rally.
She finished third overall in the West Coast Championship in 2010.
The Clare Stages Rally will be Gráinne’s 26th Rally with Kerry’s Mike Quinn in the Escort Mk2 in the past three years. Out of 26 rallies, they have finished 25.
Galway’s Enda O’Leary (Neil Pierce) moves up to third overall on 49 points followed in fourth place by fellow county man Jason Ollerenshaw (Paul Curley) with a total of 47 points. Limerick’s Sean Mullally (Kevin Barrett) moves up three places  to fifth after scoring maximum championship points on Round 4.
The Kerry crew of Darren Young and co-driver Kenneth Kelleher (Honda Civic) top the overall standings in the Junior Championship with a total of 80 points.
Limerick brother and sister crew, David and Rita Dee (Mini) lead the overall historic standings on a total of 79 and 81 points respectively. The duo have led the championship since Round 2 and are hot favorites to be crowned 2011 champions
Angela Lyne at the Auburn Lodge Hotel are the main sponsors for the third year in succession and after last year’s very successful run, they are hoping to make this year’s even bigger.
Clerk of the course is Dermot Kelleher from Clarecastle and together with his committee is offering competitors a very compact event featuring three very competitive stages in the North Clare direction, which will be repeated three times. Together with the service park in the Gort Road Industrial Estate and scrutiny in the Car Perfect Crash Repair Centre, the event should prove another great success.
The rally starts on Saturday morning when drivers and navigators congregate at the Auburn Lodge Hotel.
The crews will then be allowed to drive over the three stages, a maximum of three times normal road speed in their road cars to check or amend their pacenotes. The rally cars are then presented for scrutiny at the Car Perfect Crash Repair Centre where a team of scrutineers will check all the safety features, brakes, roll cages, tyres, racesuits, helmets and so on. This will give spectators a chance to see some of the top rally cars in the country and also meet with the drivers and their navigators.
The ceremonial start, which will take place at the square in the centre of Ennis Town at 7.45pm. The organising committee will bring the top 20 cars and also the local Clare drivers to the start ramp in the square where they will be interviewed by Duggie Hughes.
There are a total of 24 Clare Motor Club crews taking part in this year’s event.
The Clare club have teamed up with Clare County Council and the gardaí to promote road safety over the weekend.
The first car leaves the Auburn Lodge Hotel at 8.30am on Sunday morning for the three stages at Dromore, Ballinruan and Clondegad. The cars will return to the industrial estate on the Gort Road for service at 11.22am and 2.14pm.
The cars will finish back at the Auburn Lodge at the finish ramp at 5pm where the winner will be announced.