MOTORSPORT ROUND-UP:EUGENE DONNELLY and Paul Kiely won their third Donegal Rally last weekend to add to a long list of wins and championships. Not contented with reading the pace notes, Kiely drives a Mitsubishi Evo 9 in Sunday's North-East stages run out of Carrickmacross.
The Sligoman will also take the wheel on the ALMC Rally and Connacht Stages run out of Sligo, on July 6th and 13th. He will be back on the pace notes with Shaun Gallagher in a Citroen C2 in the Junior WRC event in Finland, and will no doubt team up again with Donnelly if the Derry driver contests any more events this year in the Skoda Fabia WRC, which he and the support crew have developed into a very competitive car against the hitherto dominant Ford Focus and Subaru WRCs.
World Rally cars are not permitted in the North-East MC event, in which the two top seeds in non-WRC Subarus are Andrew Purcell and Stuart Darcy.
Gary McPhillips and Pat Donegan are in two very quick Ford Escort Mk2s, seeded in front of Maurice Moffett in a Toyota Starlet and Tom Holton and Mark Courtney in Toyota Celica GT4s.
Also in the 151-strong entry are Russell Woods and Trevor Mulligan in Escorts and Mac McKenna in his unusual rear-drive Peugeot 205.
The route for next year's Rally Ireland goes to the FIA this month for approval, or should it be "ratification"? Gavin McAllister of Rally Ireland says it is the intention to "bring the rally to locations the event has not visited before" and lists the eight counties it will visit: Antrim, Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Tyrone.
Hopefully, the organisers will have a serious rethink on last year's spectator stage at Stormont, which was totally lacking in excitement and would be unlikely to attract paying spectators in any worthwhile numbers a second time.
Eamonn Boland, on 63 points, has a commanding lead in the Global Tarmac Rally Championship over Gareth MacHale (34) and Tim McNulty (29). With three events to run and a maximum 45 points to be won, Boland and co-driver Damien Morrissey are looking good to win the championship for the first time, even allowing for dropped scores. The final three rounds are: Isle of Man - July 17/19th; Ulster - August 22nd/23rd; Cork 20 - September 27/28th.
The tarmac rally organisers are reviewing the points system, taking into account the changing economic climate, the cost of WRC cars and restructured classes, including the new Super 2000.
WEEKEND FIXTURES: Saturday: SKC, Kart Racing, Tynagh, Co Galway, noon; Skibbereen District CC, Autocross, Templemartin, Bandon, Co Cork, 2pm. Sunday: North-East MC, Stage Rally, starts Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, 10am; SKC, Kart Racing, Tynagh, 10am; Mayo District MC, Autocross, The Valley, Swinford, 10.30am; Skibbereen District MC, Autocross, Templemartin, Bandon, Co Cork, 11.30am.
