Mayo start for rallying aces

Sunday's Mayo Stages Rally is the opening round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship, run out of Ballina over 84 stage miles.

The top six seeds are Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien in a Subaru WRC, Pete Doughty/ Tim Surla in a Ford Escort Cosworth WRC, two more Subaru Imprezas of Paul Harris/ Eugene O'Donnell and Ray Breen/John Purcell and two more Escort Cosworths of David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn and James Harrison (co-driver to be nominated).

Also on Sunday, the National Autocross Championship starts with the Birr Club's event at Nenagh. Reigning champion Ger Brennan (Killarney) will face strong competition from Tipperary brothers Gordon and Richard Percy and Cathal Hogan (Galway).

The motor racing season is due to get under way at Mondello Park on March 19th. All the classes for 2000 have been confirmed and there will be races for the new Formula Sheane 1800 for Volkswagen-powered single-seater cars.

The Circuit of Ireland came in for heavy criticism in recent years but now that this Easter classic has been dropped from the 2000 calendar there is a massive void in Irish rallying. However, the ALMC deserve a clap on the back for their initiative in bringing their round of the National Rally Championship to Dublin on the weekend of August 26th/27th. The event will be based in Tallaght with stages in the Dublin-Wicklow Mountains, and also spectator stages in The Square and at Punchestown racecourse.

The Saturday route through Wicklow will go to Arklow and on Sunday the route will be to Portlaoise and back to the finish in Tallaght. This event is not a round of the Dunlop Championship, but is expected to attract the usual quality entry.

This year the Galway Motor Club celebrate 40 years of activity and will run their first retro rally on April 15/16th. To be called the Circuit of Galway Classic Rally, the event will cater primarily for cars registered before 1976 and will be run out of Oranmore.