Circuit of Kerry
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Dingle Traders Circuit of Kerry Rally 2000
After a number of years in Banna Beach the rally had returned to the picturesque setting of Dingle. Headquarters was the fabulous Benners Hotel and the weekend was blessed with brilliant sunshine. Tarmac champion Ian Greer in the Taranto de Pol Celica led the field away with a capacity entry and seven tests ahead. The Irish debut for the Ford Focus WRC was one of the major attractions and the black Hertz machine of Eamon Boland looked superb. Championship leaders Paul Harris and Eugene O’Donnell were next, all eyes on them over the first stage to see if they would yet again be quickest. Niall Maguire, George Cullen and Ray Breen followed in their Impreza’s with Donal O’Donovan debuting his new Eircom Net/Oki ex-Barrable Celica. Pete Doughty and Johnny O’Sullivan rounded off the top ten with their WRC’s. Leading the two-wheel drive brigade again would be Denis Cronin and Anthony O’Halloran.
Harris completed his hat trick of opening fastest times with another here in Kerry. Nine seconds was his margin to Ian Greer after the Connor Pass with Doughty was a further four back. Greer reckoned that his brake bias was not right while Boland in fourth was very happy with his Focus. Already in trouble though was Ray Breen whose engine lapsed onto three cylinders and he withdrew after the stage. Richard Casey also departed with an off and was joined by Tom Holton. Through Slea Head Greer had woken up and sliced two seconds from Harris but surprisingly enough it was the Tom Hogan backed Impreza of Cullen that was fastest. Cullen’s pace would be enough to see him enter service after three stages in third, fourteen seconds off the lead. He could not breath easily though as Boland was close behind. The Eircom Celica of O’Donovan was showing signs of turbo problems with no anti-lag and poor torque while National Champion Niall Maguire in the Triton Impreza was now nearing the leading pace. Englishman Doughty was just a second off Boland and starting to shake off the rust while Denis Cronin’s M3 was handling better than in Galway but it was Donie O’Sullivan that was leading the two wheel drives. Ed Synan was having his first outing in some time was starting to come onto the pace but it was the 11a class battle that was grabbing the limelight.
With Casey gone many had expected O’Halloran to sit back and watch as Mick McQuaid was intent on winning the class and Declan Wilmott would also be in the reckoning. Anthony though was going for it from the start and was swapping seconds with McQuaid while mechanical problems were slowing Wilmott. Group N was going the way of Patrick Elliott with F2 being led by Roy White who was hoping for better luck than last year. Stuart Darcy was again dominating class 2 with Owen O’Neill second. Tom Taaffe was leading class three in Integra and John O’Dowd was pulling out a lead over James Travers in the KA’s. Hovering just outside the top ten were the Celica’s of Tim McNulty and Joe McGurk while the new WRC Escort of Johnny O’Sullivan was just inside the top ten. Hugh Dunne had Greg Shinnors alongside in the Newbridge Auto Parts/Nippon Max Legacy and was finding his earlier trips into the forests this year paying off. Willie Power in his oddly engined Chevette was now pushing on the door of the leaderboard while Mickey McArdle’s M3 was on its way home to Monaghan after mechanical problems.
On the first two stages after service Harris had all but won the rally, he took 31 seconds off Greer who was now worried about his transmission. On stage six Boland would top the timesheets to crown the Focus’s debut. After the sixth stage the leaderboard saw Harris lead Greer by forty seconds with Cullen another second back and Boland a similar amount back in fourth. Doughty was fifth and had a comfortable margin to sixth, an attack was on the cards. Things would not go well for Greer, he retired on the road section with centre diff problems. Cullen would be the next to hit trouble, loosing two gears and all its oil on the last stage but struggled on with smoke pouring from the car. Boland who was now on a charge after fixing his clutch problems spun and lost twenty seconds leaving Doughty the opportunity to take second. In fairness to Doughty he stormed through the last stage to set fastest time, some fourteen seconds quicker than Maguire to claim runners up spot. Maguire now seems to be getting to grips with the car and more will be expected to come. O’Donovan kept his cool throughout the day and sixth was his reward after a steady drive to head home fellow Corkman Denis Cronin. Cronins result now moves him into second in the championship ahead of Cullen. Hugh Dunne took a spectacular seventh, he best result to date and long overdue while O’Sullivan in the Mazda backed Escort and the Pierce Celica of McNulty rounded off the top ten.
There was to be no doubt about the winner though. Harris had led from start to finish in convincing style that has seen him hassle the top Tarmac championship drivers so far this season. It seems almost like the question now is by what round will the talented Donegal driver wrap up the Dunlop series.
In the classes O’Halloran held off McQuaid, John O’Dowd’s Xtreme Sound KA was victorious and finished thirtieth overall and Stuart Darcy won F2 with Elliott taking group N.
RESULTS
1 Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell Subaru Impreza 52m57
2 Pete Doughty/Tim Sturla Ford Escort WRC 53m17
3 George Cullen/Dermot O'Gorman Subaru Impreza 53m24
4 Eamon Boland/Damien Morrissey Ford Focus WRC 53m33
5 Niall Maguire/Paul McLoughlin Subaru Impreza 54m40
6 Donal O'Donovan/Pat Lordan Toyota Celica GT4 54m47
7 Denis Cronin/Helen Sullivan BMW M3 55m15
8 Hugh Dunne/Greg Shinnors Subaru Legacy 55m29
9 Johnny O’Sullivan/Paul Nagle Ford Escort WRC 55m45
10 Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle Toyota Celica GT4 55m48