Austin McHale and Brian Murphy in the Toyota Ireland Corolla WRC lead off the capacity field of 150 starters in Sunday's Galway Spring Rally. They will be followed by a quartet of Subaru Imprezas crewed by reigning national champion Niall Maguire with Joe Downey on the pace notes, Daniel and Michael Doherty, Paul Harris and Eugene O'Donnell, George Cullen and Dermot O'Gorman.
Pete Doughty and Tim Sturla from Nottingham are seeded sixth in a Ford Escort WRC and now have the transmission trouble that caused them to retire in Mayo two weeks ago fully sorted.
Andrew Nesbitt won the opening round of the Dunlop Championship, using the Mayo Stages Rally as a shakedown for his Subaru Impreza in advance preparation for the Tarmac series. With Nesbitt not registering for the Nationals, Paul Harris (second in Mayo) is the championship leader.
Sunday's event also includes the opening round of the very competitive Ford Ka Championship. James Travers (Kilkenny), Keith Colton (Tullamore) and Gus Kearney Jnr (Clonmel) should be the pace-setters. All eyes, however, will surely be on the female crews of Noreen McDaid of Letterkenny and the Ryan sisters, Denise and Jenny, from Athy.
McDaid has been competing in rallies since 1994, first as a navigator and more recently sharing a Nissan Micra with her twin brother Patrick. She works for the Bank of Ireland in Donegal and was previously employed as a stewardess with Japan Airlines for four years.
Run out of Portumna with Rally HQ at the Shannon Oaks Hotel, the format contains eight stages in the Portumna-Woodford area. In addition to being round two of the Dunlop National championship, the rally also includes the opening round of the Top Part West Coast Championship which will have the local drivers all fired up.
McHale will no doubt set the pace up front, anxious to pack in some competitive stage miles in the Corolla WRC, which he has had recently converted from left to right hand drive. The Subaru Impreza drivers will all be quick, as will Doughty in the Escort WRC. But the dark horse could well be Loughrea-based George Cullen who knows the stages literally like the back of his hand and was going well in Mayo until he had clutch trouble which cost him a probable third place.
The Northern season of motorcycle racing roars off tomorrow with the "King of The Corner" Irish Championship Short Circuit Races at Nutts Corner, Co Antrim. Sunday sees the start of the Southern events, with rounds of the Irish Clubmans series at Mondello Park on the popular Intermediate Circuit. Mondello could do with a facelift, but at least the enthusiasts of car and motorcycle sport are thankful that the Co Kildare circuit is open for racing despite the behind the scenes disputes that looked like threatening the whole racing programme for 2000.
Details have been released concerning the North-West 200 International Road Races, to be held on May 6th. Sponsored by Coca-Cola, the meeting will feature races for all the solo classes.
