Title holder O’Mahony aiming to fend off Kelly
One hundred competitors will be in action with former Irish and British S1600 champion, Brian O’Mahony heading the entry list. The Carrigaline driver will campaign the Metro 6R4 he drove to victory in last year’s inaugural event. The 2.4km course is a gravel and tarmac surface where equal amounts of precision and pace will be order of the day. O’Mahony renews his rivalry with one of the surprise packets of last year’s sprint, Jakes Kelly, who will drive a hired Subaru N10. Last time, O’Mahony finished 16 seconds ahead of the Tralee ace, who will be expected to be amongst the challengers along with fellow Group N aces, Clonakilty’s, Kevin Kelleher and local, Thomas Fitzmaurice (Mitsubishi) and Banteer’s, Barry Meade in his 2.4 engined Mk. 2 Escort.
The top ten also includes Vincent O’Shea (Escort Cosworth), Mike O’Connor (Mitsubishi), Jimmy Deane (Ford Escort), Anthony Hand (Ford Escort) and John McQuaid (Ford Escort). Locals seeded outside the top ten include Charlie Hickey (Escort), Mike O’Leary (BMW Compact) and Jason Costello (Escort).
The first timed run is scheduled to begin at 11.15am. The event concludes with prize giving and a barbecue at the Meadowlands Hotel, Tralee.
The Petro Systems National Forest Rally Championship breaks new ground tomorrow with a visit to Donegal. The Abbey Hotel Forestry Rally is the fourth round of the series and will feature ten special stages. It’s been far from a vintage season in the forest series with declining entries and the cancellation of two rounds.
The Donegal event brings a welcome respite and offers long time leader and series favourite, Pat O’Connell (Mitsubishi) an opportunity to edge closer to a first national title. With maximum scores from three rounds, the Cashel ace is in fine form.
His arch rival, John Reid (Toyota Corolla WRC) has finished runner-up on each occasion and is six points adrift. Local driver, Donagh Kelly (Mitsubishi) will have designs on a strong result as will Adrian Hetherington (Ford Escort), the highest seeded driver in the modified category where his battle with Frank Kelly (Ford Escort) should be interesting. Clare’s, Christy Carey (Mitsubishi) and Northern Ireland’s, Richard Hogg, Colin Britton, John McLaughlin, all in Mitsubishi Evo’s, along with Mark Donnelly, who has yet to decide what car to drive, round out the top ten. Waterford’s, Shay Power (Ford Escort), Cork pair, Mark Murphy (Subaru) and Gerard Lucey (Toyota Celica) and Tipperary’s, James Coleman (Ford Escort) are also journeying north. Donegal’s, Manus Kelly will compete in a Ford Escort G3.
The entry also features class leaders, Andrew Fanning (Ford Ka), Mick Nevin (Escort), Mick Cuddihy (Starlet) and Sean Benskin (Escort). The opening stage near Laghey starts at 9.43am. Servicing in Donegal Mart will follow stages four and seven, the rally finish is at The Diamond, Donegal Town at 6pm.
On Sunday, the Monaghan Autocross near Ballinode and the TDC Autotest at Mondello Park both begin at 11.30am.
The announcement from Citroen confirming that Sebastien Ogier will step up to the factory team for the 2011 World Rally Championship appears to have ended the possibility of Kris Meeke joining the French manufacturer.
The Tyrone driver, who brought his Peugeot UK backed 207 S2000 to second in last week’s SATA Rally Azores and revived his IRC title aspirations, is one of several drivers also being linked with the Prodrive Mini. An announcement is expected from the Banbury outfit on Monday.
Meanwhile, French ace, Bryan Bouffier (31) will drive the new Citroen DS3 R3 on the forthcoming Ulster Rally (August 20-21).
The Top Gear Sprint Challenge forms part of the Top Gear Festival at the Citywest Event Centre in September (24-26). Organisers are inviting Ireland’s top racing and rally competitors to enter the event that will take place on a purpose built Top Gear race track that will be designed and managed by Mondello Park. From the entries received, the organisers will select ten relay teams comprising rally and rallycross vehicles, single seater racing and hillclimb cars, saloon and sports racing cars and time attack cars. There is no entry fee, however, all entrants must complete the official entry form (before July 31) that is available on the Top Gear Festival section of the Mondello Park website.
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