Never mind the weather and the Roman calendar, winter in Irish motorsport officially starts with the first `mud plug' of the 2000/2001 season, the MEC's Rhodes Cup Sporting Trial, at Glenealy, Co Wicklow, tomorrow.
Erskine-designed and built cars will be out in force, driven by Gordon and Philip Erskine, Jonathan and Ken Fildes, Percy Pennefather, Tony Farrell, Stephen and Robert Bell.
John Bolton, Joe McCann, Brian Miley, Alan Kilkenny, Pat Fox, Alex and Gordon Watkins, Tony Hennessy, Ian Meredith and David Meeke will provide lots of competition. The list of graded entries for the season tops the 80-mark.
The TDC's two-day Retro Rally starts from Kilruddery, Bray, tomorrow and will finish in Kilkenny on Sunday. The Ganly Walters-sponsored event has attracted 67 entries, headed by last year's winner Robin Eyre-Maunsell, Conor Falvey and Ronnie Griffin.
Robbie McGurk, Derek McGarrity, James Gillen, Denis Biggerstaff and Kevin O'Kane are the top seeds in tomorrow's Bushwhacker Rally at Omagh, the penultimate round of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship. The event has a full entry of 100, plus 50 reserves.
David Armstrong and Connie Smith in Ford Escort Cosworths, Tim McNulty in a Toyota Celica, and Paddy Elliott in a Mitsubishi Lancer are some of the quick drivers competing in Sunday's Single Stage Rally, run by the Castle Auto Club near Mullingar. Fingal MC's Irish Clubmans Championship meeting at Mondello Park brings down the curtain of the motorcycle racing year. Cork riders Derek Wilson (Honda) and Declan Swanton are the men to watch in the sportstock races. West Cork MCC has handed over a cheque for £1,500 to the Romanian Orphans Fund, raised at the club's hillclimb at Clonakilty in July. The final round of the Irish Motocross Championship, promoted by the Irish Schoolboy MCC, takes place on Sunday at Clone, near Ferns, Co Wexford. The overall winner Trevor Cubitt was a member of the Irish team which finished a very creditable 11th in the Motocross des Nations in France on September 10th.
WEEKEND FIXTURES Saturday: TDC Retro Rally, starts Kilruddery, Bray, Co Wicklow, 9.30; Bushwhacker Rally, starts Molly Sweeneys, Omagh, Co Tyrone, 10.30; MEC Rhodes Cup Sporting Trial, Glenealy, Co Wicklow, 12.30.
Sunday: Castle AC Stage Rally, Mullingar, 10.30; Co Kildare MC 4x4 trial, Blessington, Co Wicklow, 12.0; ISBMCC Irish Motocross Championship final, Clone, Ferns, Co Wexford, 12.0; Fingal MC motorcycle racing, Mondello Park, 12.0.
