“Great Stuff Caterers” Mini Stage Rally is GO! – Motorsport.ie

The wait is finally over and the Great Stuff Caterers Mini Stages Rally promoted by the Imokilly Motor Club with Rally  HQ for the weekend the Park Hotel Dungarvan is ready to go.

The club is delighted to have received over 120 entries for its event and it shows the work that has been put in to this event over the last 6 months is after paying off. Seeded at number 1 is the Powerful MK2 Escort of last year’s winner Wesley Patterson / Johnny Baird. This crew are on a serious pace and will once again be in the fight for the win. Seeded at two is one of Cork’s finest Denis Cronin. Denis is a former winner of national and International rally’s here in Ireland and although he drives the ageing Subaru he is not in Dungarvan this weekend to come second. He is co driven by a former winner of this event Coleman Hurley.

Seeded at 3,4 & 5 are more high powered Escorts of Ed Murphy, Trevor Mulligan and Ed O’Callaghan. All these lads are well capable of a win and will be giving 100%. At number 6 and first local and IMC crew on the road is Clashmore’s Brian O Keeffe with the GpN Subaru. He has Sean Hayde on the notes and Brian would love a good result at home. Next up is Gary Kiernan one of the younger breed of super quick Escort drivers. Gary only knows one way to drive and that’s flat out!

At 8 is another IMC crew. One of the quickest drivers in class 11f. Fresh from a class win in both Limerick and the recent Ravens Rock rally, expect a serious pace from Youghal’s Jason Ryan with Peter Falvey on the notes.  These lads may be down 100bhp and more on the cars around them but expect a top five place from the self-built 1600 Starlet with its Honda Engine. At 9 is Enda O Brien in the Escort, while at 10 is David Guest in the GpN Mitsubishi  .

Just outside the top 10 are George Condell, Liam Howlett, Mark Dolphin, Tom Flaherty, David Condell, Eddie Power and Charlie Hickey to name but a few who aim to push their way into the top 10.

The rally is a huge tourist boom for the Dungarvan area with over 120 cars taking the start. Factor in service crews, partners, family and friends for each car plus the added influx of spectators and one can see how a huge crowd should decend on Dungarvan for the Great Stuff Caterers Rally  this weekend.

Derek Power,  Clerk Of the Course: “The rally is nearly here and I must thank my team at the Imokilly Motor Club for the hard work put in over the last few months. I would like to thank the residents on the route and everyone who is helping run the rally. I would appeal to people going to the rally to stand in a safe place and obey the marshals. Safety is paramount and common sense is vital. I would appeal to all road users on the weekend to drive with respect and caution and put safety first and in other words “Keep The Race In It’s Place.” Derek also said he was delighted to be bringing the rally to his home town of Dungarvan  and wished everyone attending the rally a safe and enjoyable weekend

The race within the rally is for the Brian Hurley Award for the first IMC crew home. This was won last year by Jason Ryan but expect Brian O Keeffe and Mark Dolphin to be pushing hard for this award.

Good luck to local club member Sean Young from Ring who takes part in his first rally, co driving for Dungarvan’s Shane Kenneally. The lads compete in the Junior Class in the Escort.

The Imokilly Motor Club are hugely indebted to its sponsors Great Stuff Caterers, our title sponsor and also our associate sponsors, Ace Signs and our Rally HQ for the weekend, The Park Hotel Dungarvan .

The first car leaves the start Ramp at the Hotel at 10.43am on Sunday.

First Stage is at 11.00

Service during the day at 12.10 and 14.27 in Dungarvan Business Park

First car due back to the finish Ramp at the Hotel at approximately 16:40.

Maps of the stages, full entry list and everything else you’ll need to know about the rally will be in the rally programme which is only 5 euro will be available in most of the local service stations and at Rally Headquarters, The Park Hotel fromThursday evening.  A list of retailers of the programme will be available on www.imokillymotorclub.com by mid week. Follow us on Facebook at Imokillyministages for any late news during the week and for updates on Sunday.

The full seeded entry list can be found HERE.

Images from Ger Leahy Photography