Leading contenders for Mayo Stages Rally

Leading contenders for Mayo Stages Rally


Cathal Doyle

THE overall winner of next weekend’s Mayo Stages Rally will probably come from the leading half dozen cars. They will be led away by Mayo and District Motorsport Club member Aaron McHale, a former National Rally Champion and winner of this event in 2008. Recently Aaron has been concentrating on the Irish Tarmac Championship, but will have his work cut out to take a second win in Mayo against the quality opposition lined up against him.
Welsh visitor Melvyn Evans makes his first trip to Mayo, but the Subaru WRC driver is the man to beat at the moment, having taken victory on the Dunlop National Rally Championship’s opening round in Birr a fortnight ago. Can he make it two from two?
At three and four are championship stalwarts Niall Maguire and Kevin Barrett in their matching Triton Showers-sponsored Subarus. Runner-up last year, Niall is a former multiple national champion and winner here, while Kevin has also achieved national success in the past year.
Seeded five is former Irish Tarmac Champion Derek McGarrity, who has a busy weekend, competing on the Bishopscourt Stages Rally in Northern Ireland on Saturday, before heading to Mayo for Sunday’s event.
The outside bet for victory could well be car number six, the Fiesta S2000 of Kilkenny’s Craig Breen. This car forms the basis for World Championship Rallying from next year, and despite being less sophisticated and cheaper compared to the current batch of World Rally Cars, in the hands of young Breen it has been flying, beaten only by the Focus WRC of Gareth McHale on last month’s Galway International Rally. Will we see it claim its first national win on Sunday?
Kevin Kelleher from Cork leads the Group N challengers, and will face stern opposition from the likes of Danny McBride, SeΡn Flanagan and Trevor Bustard. All of them though may struggle to beat the leading modified crews, with any of the top six crews in class 14 alone capable of finishing in the top five or higher. It is almost impossible to pick a favourite from the likes of Daniel McKenna, Manus Kelly, Maurice Moffett, Camillus Bradley, Damien Gallagher and Trevor Mulligan, while right down into the thirties and forties are competitors who would normally be seeded in the top twenty, such is the level of competition here this weekend.
Watch out also for the cars competing in the Gerry Ronan Transport Group A Challenge. Among those who will be in contention for the prize will be the Toyota Celica of Mark Courtney, the Subarus of Richard Burke and Gary McElhinney and the Escort Cosworth of Colin Flanagan.