MOTOR SPORT: Alan Kilkenny has so far scored three wins in the winter series of 'mud plugs' at the wheel of an Erskine-Yamaha but tomorrow he'll come under pressure from the designers of his machine, the Erskine twins themselves, who will be bidding to end Kilkenny's winning streak at the MEC Freeman Cup Trial at Crosschapel, near Blessington.
After a Christmas break, Gordon and Philip Erskine will double drive their Erskine-Harley Davidson and veteran racer Ken Fildes will also challenge for a win in his Erskine-Yamaha. Siobhán McCann, back from a year in Australia, is one of the leading VW-powered drivers with an outright win to her name.
She is invariably good for a top 10 finish and could well take an overdue second win.
The serious 2005 domestic rally season is only a few weeks away, commencing with the First Choice Flooring-sponsored Galway International on February 4-6th. This is the opening round of the Pirelli Tarmac Rally Championship, jointly awarded last year to Eugene Donnelly and Derek McGarrity. Donnelly will campaign his Toyota Corolla WRC for a second championship season but McGarrity may change from Subaru to a Skoda WRC.
Austin McHale finished second in last year's Pirelli British Rally Championship and third in the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship. He will again contest both championships in his Ford Focus WRC, and is all fired up to add another Galway win to his record of Irish internationals. The Galway International will cover 17 stages over two days, in South Galway on Saturday 5th, with service on the Oranmore Coast Road, and the day after in East Galway, with service in Ballinasloe. For the first time the Sunday run will include a Junior Rally, open to drivers under the age of 27.
The first of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Marshals training courses takes place next Monday in the Sligo Park Hotel at 7.30pm. To encourage participation in the courses Motorsport Ireland will run a promotion throughout the scheme with the top prize being a trip to the Swedish round of the World Rally Championship in 2006, plus five runner-up prizes of vouchers for Monaghan-based Rally School Ireland.
Connacht Motor Club's Sligo Stage Rally is scheduled for January 30th, an ideal event for rally marshals to prepare for an extremely busy year which ends with the Killarney Historic Rally, which for the first time will be run over two days, on December 3rd and 4th.
We regret to record the sudden death, recently, of Noel Smith (73) whilst on a skiing holiday in France. The retired Dublin solicitor, who lived in Greystones, won the National Rally Championship four times between 1965 and 1971.
His son Derek Smith is one of the leading clubman rally competitors in the country, an extremely polished driver with many successes at the wheel of his self-prepared 2.4 Ford Escort Mk2.
WEEKEND FIXTURES:
Saturday: MEC, Freeman Cup Sporting Trial, Crosschapel, Blessington, Co Wicklow, 11.30am; Cork MC, 1000 Shakes Trial, starts Coolcower House, Cork Road, Macroom, Co Cork, 12.0 noon.
