| Donnelly the man to beat |
21-Aug-09
The leading contenders in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, headed by Magheras Eugene Donnelly, will head to the start of the Toddsleap.com Ulster Rally today. Moving from Armagh, the event is back in Antrim for the first time in 20 years, even though the inaugural Ulster Rally was held in the area in 1976. |
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Heading into the penultimate tarmac round, Donnelly, who has on 60 points in the Skoda Fabia WRC, has a healthy 14-point lead over his nearest rival, Ford Focus WRC driver Gareth MacHale.
Dublin’s MacHale finally clinched his first international victory in Donegal in June.
Missing from the entry this weekend, however, is the reigning champion Eamonn Boland, who is lying fourth in the series following a fairly lacklustre season. The Wexford driver is reported to be concentrating his efforts on a couple of world rally events, including Rally Spain.
Tim McNulty is another driver who may not be lining up, but Glengormley’s Derek McGarrity certainly will and he’ll be putting his Subaru S12 through its paces on his home event.
Glenn Allen from Cookstown brings another WRC car with his Toyota Corolla and Markethill’s Darren Gass has another go in a Subaru S11.
The tarmac drivers once again join forces with the British Championship regulars in this race and, amongst the Group N protagonists, home interest centres around British series leader Keith Cronin, who jointly tops the points table with Mark Higgins.
The 23-year-old from Bantry in County Cork has been making life very tough for Higgins in his Pirelli Teg Sport Subaru, the previous race in the Isle of Man could have gone either way.
Ultimately, a puncture to Cronin’s Cremin Coaches-backed Mitsubishi Evo 9 cost him the round, leaving the pair with two wins and two seconds apiece and level on 76 points.
With two rounds to go in the championship, it’s all to play for as Cronin continues to demonstrate remarkable maturity in his debut season in the tough series.
Former Ulster Rally winner Gwyndaf Evans drives a new Mitsubishi Evo X but is not in the title chase, whereas third-placed Alastair Fisher in his Evo 9 is in tough, albeit at 19 points adrift of the leaders.
Also in Group N machinery is the Irish tarmac contingent, which sees Fisher at the top of the table in that championship. With 36 points, he’s only one point ahead of Alan Carmichael, with Ger O’Donovan one point further adrift.
In fourth place is that man Cronin who, with two wins under his belt, has 30 points.
The event is also the seventh round of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Ireland, and brings together the Irish Group N Lancers with their UK counterpart.
Cronin and co-driver Greg Shinnors will be the crew to beat this weekend, but they may feel pressure from their countrymen, the newly-crowned 2009 UK Evo Challenge champions, Daniel Barry (Enniskerry) and navigator Martin Brady.
With the Rally HQ at Holiday Inn Express, Junction One, this year’s event takes place over 350 road miles, 127 competitive miles and 14 stages in the Antrim and Mid-Ulster regions.
The race kicks off early this afternoon with a ceremonial start at Antrim’s historic Barbican Gate before the first of six stages take place.
With central service in Antrim, tonight’s action finishes in the dark at 10.40pm.
It’s an early start tomorrow for the second leg at 6.50am.
The next eight stages of the event are all run tomorrow, with the finish scheduled for 5.45pm in Antrim. |
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News item by The Irish News. |
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