Tralee Vintners Circuit of Kerry Rally

Tralee Vintners Circuit of Kerry Rally

SUNDAY APRIL 3RD 2005

Press Release #4

For immediate release :By Sean Moriarty

Kerry Motor Club has attracted a top class entry for Sundays Circuit of Kerry rally with over 200 competitors entered for the 150 places available. The organising committee faced the arduous task over the last number of days selecting who will start the 30th edition of the rally and who unfortunately had to be placed on the reserve list.

The rally is a counting round of both the Dunlop National rally championship and the Top Part West Coast championship and all leading drivers in both championships are on the entry list. There is a very high quality entry for the first of five rallies in the Kingdom in 2005 with over 30 crews representing both clubs in the county competing in this 80 stage mile event.

Leading Entries:

Leading driver in this years Circuit Of Kerry is last years National rally champion , Niall Maguire . The Monaghan man , driving a Subaru Impreza S9 ,is a regular visitor to the Kingdom and has won here in the past , justifying his number one seeding. At two is another regular visitor to the county , Macclesfield’s Jim Harrison in a near identical car to Maguire. The Englishman is currently on roll having won the seasons opener in Mayo , last month , and last seasons final round in Skibereen , has come agaonsily close to winning the Circuit of Kerry in the past. In 2002 he suffered defeat to Niall Maguire by just one second and last year finished third . H e will come to Kerry with a firm eye on that elusive podium spot that eludes him.

Donie O Sullivan and Paul Nagle are seeded three in this years event driving their Ford Focus WRC that took them to victory on this event last year . This will be O Sullivan’s first outing since finishing a splendid 17th overall on the World Championship Catalonia rally last October , but codriver Nagle has already seen some competitive action in the forests , winning the opening round with Gareth McHale.The Doherty brothers Daniel and Michael make the long trek from Caradonagh , Donegal to compete in their older version Subaru Impreza .Despite the fact that the Donegal brothers don’t have the latest spec car at their disposal , they should not be under rated, their second overall in Mayo is testament to this Dungivens Kevin Lynch completes the Subaru line up for the time being , another driver well capable of extracting a victory on the fast Kerry roads , he comes to the Circuit of Kerry for the second time. Toyota is the chosen mount for Magherafelts Charlie Donnelly who returned to National championship action last month after a number of years away. The Derry driver losing none of his flair in the intervening years , he finished third in Mayo. Ray Breen is another driver in a Ford Focus , using a 2003 version of the World Rally Car. The Kilkenny driver is well capable of victory , his win in Portlaoise last February against such opposition as Niall Maguire proof of this .Cavan’s Patrick Elliott occupies number eight in his Subaru Impreza and even though the Building Contractor has never won a round of the Dunlop National series , before he has come very, very close, twice runner up in the National Championship , he cannot be discounted for victory in Kerry.

Wexfords Noel Redmond and his Beaufort Co. Kerry codriver Diarmuid Falvey are at number nine in yet another Subaru Impreza. The Wexford/Kerry pairing are currently leading The West Coast Rally championship out right and are another crew seeking their first win .Galway’s John Joe Fleming completes the top ten driving another Ford Focus WRC .

Other drivers seeded outside the top ten driving Subaru Impreza WRC include Welsh visitor Melvyn Evans , Sean Gallagher (winner of the Kerry Winter rally last November) , Kevin Barrett and Tommy Graham .

Group N Entries:

The Group N section of the rally promises to be as hectic as the main event with all of the top Group N drivers in country entered in Kerry Motor Clubs flagship event . Seeded at seventeen is reigning Group N national champion Willie Fannin driving a Subaru N10. the Dubliner got his season off the an excellent start by finishing second in Mayo last month .Andrew Stewart makes the long journey from Donegal , in a new Mitsubishi Lancer. The Donegal driver hasn’t seen much comptive action in recent months but he did win Group N on this rally in the past. Michael Curran from Greyabbey , County Down is also Mitsubishi mounted , is making his first appearance in the Kingdom but judging by the times he set in Mayo he wont be far away at the end of the eight stage event. Local teams in the Group N rally include Castlislands Alan Ring/Sean Moriarty in Subaru N 11 and Peter Clifford /John Young(Tralee) in a. Mitsubishi. This Tralee team are the current West Coast rally champions are will be keen to follow on their success of last year. Last years championship was very much a watershed for the Tralee driver and he really should be the beachmark for other Mitsubishi drivers.

Lat years circuit of Kerry Group N winners Gabriel Martin / Mark Kane are back again , this time in a similar Subaru to Alan Rings while Cork driver James o Sullivan faces a race against time to a have his car ready for the Circuit following a crash on the recent West Cork rally .Ray Hilliard in another Mitsubishi will be another strong contender for this class as will Boherbue driver Tadgh Lenihan in his Subaru N9

Modified Entries:

The drivers of the rally cars in the modified section of the rally always offer the greatest spectacle to the spectators and this years line up in no exception . The first rear wheel drive car on the entry is Monaghans Maurice Moffat driving a 2.4 Toyota Starlet . The spectacular driving style of the Monaghanman is bound to go down a treat with the spectaors.Another flamboyant driver is Clare man Anthony O Halloran in a Manta 400 . the Clare driver is consistently one the fastest two wheel drive exponents in the country. Both Mick McQuaide and Aidan Walsh are regular visitors to the circuit of Kerry and bring with them two well prepared Mk2 Ford Escorts for battle of the fast and flowing North Kerry stages There is a strong local entry for the modified classes and fleet of well driven and well prepared Escorts will take to stages on Sunday next . Leading local modified driver is Mick Quinn , who finished a fine third overall in the Single Stage last November . John Kearney from Ardfert makes a welcome return to rally driving and his class 13 Escort will be pitched against such notable local drivers as Adrian Randles , Pat Barry , and Charlie Hickey. All driving self prepared Class13 Ford Escorts.

Kerry Motor Club Members

One of the most eagerly contested awards in every Circuit of Kerry rally is the battle for supremacy amongst Kerry Motor Club members. The highest place Kerry Motor Club crew at the end of the days eight special stages will be presented with the James O Rourke trophy , presented in memory of one of the clubs more popular members , who died tragically in 2001 . Previous winners of this prestigious award include Pat Barry , Peter Clifford and Ray Hilliard. This year the contestants include

Peter Clifford/John Young, Mitsubishi ,Ray Hillard /Edward Walsh . Mitsubishi ,Mike Quinn /Sean Enright , Escort , John Kearney /Dennis o Connell , Escort , Pat Barry / Stephen O Connell , Escort and Paddy o Rourke / Billy Roach , Escort.

Paudie Casey/Keith McCarthy compete in a Toyota Corolla while Mike Kenny /Gene Stack are Escort mounted. Husband and wife team Tommy Sullivan and Mags Costello make their first appearance in 2005. Ger O Brien , Abbeydorney, and his Tralee codriver Donal Lynch are in action in the Toyota powered Sunbeam .Mark Dickinson and Maurice Mc Elligott are another local crew in an Escort. Ray Stack from Tralee codrives for Wexford driver Ian Laracy.

Other Local Crews

Other local crews include the Kilgarvins Tommy Randles in a Toyota Celica and Killarney’s Kevin o Donoghue in a Mitsubishi Lancer. Both drivers enjoyed good runs in West Cork over St. Patrick’s weekend.Genflesks Bob Moran will be hoping to repeat the class win he secured in both Cork and Galway already this year , while Killarney’s Dave Randles will be a strong contender for class seven honours. Cyril Wharton from Firies is the reigning West Coast class 12 champion and he comes to Tralee in defence of his title.

Junior Rally

A new innovation for 2005 is the addition of a junior rally . The junior section of the rally will compete over the final four stages giving younger drivers an opportunity to compete at National level with reduced costs and entry fees. Top three drivers in this section are Colin O Toole from Carlow , Keith Power from Waterford and Barry Meade from Kanturk . Only one local crew opted for the Junior section , namely Raymond Lynch and Jack O Shea from Glenbeigh in a Austin Mini .

Timetable and Programme

The weekends action kicks off in the Abbeygate Hotel Tralee at 8.30 am on Saturday 2nd April when the 151 crews sign on for the official reconnaissance of the route . Mechanical scrutiny takes place in The NCT Centre in Tralee from 3pm until 8pm Saturday afternoon , after which the cars are placed in overnight parc ferme at the multi story car park in Maine St.

The first car leaves the ceremonial ramp in the tow Square at 9.40a.m Sunday morning , flagged away by town Mayor Johnny Wall. The crews the tackle eight special stages in the North Kerry area before returning to the Town Square at 5.20 pm .

Official Programme

Full details of the route and entry list are available in the Official Programme .This 40 page full colour souvenir programme is priced at Eu10 and Kerry Motor Club will donate a percentage of all sales to the Kerry Parents and Friends of the Mentally Handicaped.The book will will make an ideal souvenir of this top class event as well as supporting a very worthy local charity.. It is available from the following locations:

DILLON’S SUPERMARKET, Tralee.

MORIARTYS LONDIS, Farranfore.

KELLIHERS GARAGE, Rathass, Tralee

BYRNES Spar Oakpark , Tralee

N.C.T. CENTRE, Caherslee.

HORGANS TEXACO, Ardfert.

KELLYS TOPSHOP, Six-crosses, Listowel Road.

MOLONEY’S, Listowel.

HEGARTY’S, Lisselton.

DILLANES SUPERMARKET, Abbeydorney

McGALEY’S STATOIL, Castelisland.

O’CONNORS, Duagh.

Abbeygate Hotel , Tralee

Rose of Tralee

The winning driver will be greeted at the finish ramp in the town square , Tralee by current Rose of Tralee Orla Tobin at 17.30 on Sunday evening . This area will provide an excellent opportunity for the general public to meet the rally drivers after the though event and to view the cars at close quarters. The atmosphere in the square will be electric as the winning driver is presented to the crowds , complete with champagne spraying and , the winning laurels to be presented by The Rose of Tralee , Orla Tobin .Come early!

(ENDS)

Further details from Sean Moriarty , P.R.O Kerry Motor Club , 00353-861005265 , , contact details not for publication /broadcast please.