Dick Bailey (Wexford) Stages Rally - 14-15 Sept 02

Posted: September 17, 2002 9:22 AM

The Wexfordian steered his Subaru quicker than everyone else on virtually every stage, only being pipped early on in the weekend by Bob Fowden, and at the death, in the final showpiece stage on Forth Mountain, when Tim Ball came through to score with a remarkable run of five minutes and three seconds.

In truth though, Boland's victory was as comprehensive as it was impressive, with the opening stage provided an adequate taster of what was to come.

He powered through the first traversal of Ballycullane 23 seconds faster than anyone else, leaving the likes of Steve Hendy, Bob Fowden, Tom Holton and Jimmy Lambert in his wake.

From then on, everybody else would be playing catch-up.

Boland's advantage had stretched to a minute by the time the first loop had been completed - and by that stage, the event was over for many.

Royston Carey's hopes of continuing his assault on the UK Tarmacadam Championship were put on hold after the Kent driver rolled his Clio on Special Stage 4 from Arnestown to Knockmullin.

Carey was third in the overall championship standings, and going into this race, was leading the clubman's category.

There were no injuries as a result of this crash, but all those running after Carey were all given the same time for the stage in case of delays.

Francis Corrigan went in a minor crash, while Willie Carroll broke down to be left twiddling his thumbs for the weekend. Stage Five around Ballycullane had to be cancelled following an accident on the first traversal, and when the sun set on Rosslare Saturday night, the leader's advantage had been copperfastened.

One minute 29 seconds at halfway was always going to be a huge deficit for all and sundry to pull back - and that was just Hendy's task, as the rest of the field were even further under the Wexfordman's thumb.

However, there was quite a race developing below Boland, as a mere 24 seconds divided fifth from eleventh, with Shay Power, Aaron McHale, Martin O'Connell, Kieran Molloy and Derek Smith certain to turn up the heat on each other in the second half of this year's rally.

That's precisely what happened, though at the top, there was no stopping the man driving car number one.

Come 5:30 Sunday evening, Eamonn Boland and his literal right-hand-man Damien Morrissey - Boland's Subaru WRC S7 is a left-sided drive - had come through to claim Wexford Rally win number five - the first under the banner of the Dick Bailey Stages Rally - by a margin of 3'04" from the Dorset combination of Steve Hendy and Aled Davies.

Welshman Bob Fowden came in third, 42 seconds down on Hendy.

Tim Ball did tremendously to drag himself up to fourth, but both he and navigator Rob Watson felt their final stage time of 5'03" may have been miscalculated - even a 39-second drop would still have given them the edge over Hereford veteran John Price.

However, their time was correct, and they had the honour of ending the weekend on a high.

Fethard Rally champion David James claimed a more-than-creditable sixth spot meanwhile.
The Gorey speedster's new partner in the Escort BDX, Jim Crowe, aided James to a time seven seconds swifter than Aaron McHale's, as calculated by the Dubliner's navigator Elva Roe. Elva was sitting in for McHale's regular number two Damien Connolly.

There were plenty of class acts across the field.
Fourth-placed Ball in his cute canary Darrian won Class 13, with David James a spectacular second in that category.

Fair to say that both men performed well beyond the call of duty, with their two-wheel drives doing battle with the best of the four-wheelers.

Fifth-placed John Price claimed Class 15, with Derek Smith's Escort taking the Class 14 honours and the O'Rourke combination of Tomás and John did more than enough to secure Class 3. Class 2 champions Margo Doyle of Wexford town and Maria Dunne of Bunclody also claimed the women's team prize.

Quite a weekend for double acts too - John and Geraldine Somers won through in Class 9 in their Nova to claim the Mick Sutton Memorial Trophy, with Shay and Bea White doing likewise in their Starlet in Class 10 to earn the Brian Byrne Memorial Cup... not bad for reserves!

 1 Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrisey (Subaru Impreza WRC S7)..01:31:57
 2 Steve Hendy/Aled Davies (Ford Escort Cosworth).........01:35:01
 3 Bob Fowden/Jerry Hynes (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6).......01:35:43
 4 Tim Ball/Rob Watson (Darrian T90)......................01:37:55
 5 John Price/Caroline Price (Metro 6R4)..................01:38:39
 6 David James/Jim Crowe (Ford Escort BDX)................01:39:04
 7 Aaron MacHale/Elva Roe (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5).......01:39:11
 8 Derek Smith/Paddy Flanigan (Ford Escort 2.4)...........01:39:50
 9 Kieran Molloy/Brian Boland (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6)...01:40:21
10 Noel Redmond/David Doyle (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6).....01:42:17
11 Tim Wilson/Laurie Walker (Subaru Impreza WRC)..........01:42:36
12 Tomas O'Rourke/John O'Rourke (Vauxhall Astra Gsi)......01:43:25
13 Tom Holton/Ron Guha (Toyota Celicia Turbo 4WD).........01:43:46
14 Padraig Price/Richard Price (Ford Escort 2.0)..........01:44:02
15 Willie Fannin/Brian Duggan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6)...01:44:08
16 Enda O'Brien/John Butler (Ford Escort 1.6 16V).........01:44:18
17 Raymond Spence/Anthony Jordan (Ford Escort 2.0)........01:46:12
18 Mark Nangle/Brendan Stears (Toyota Corolla G6).........01:46:45
19 Eugene & Mary Fitzpatrick (Ford Escort G3).............01:47:03
20 Billy Collins/Denis Foley (Ford Escort)................01:47:04

Class winners
Class 1 Ray Martin Martin Brady Suzuki Swift GTi
Class 2 Margo Doyle Maria Dunne Honda Civic
Class 3 Tomás O'Rourke John O'Rourke Astra GSI
Class 4 Aaron McHale Elva Roe Mitsubishi Lancer
Class 5 Nigel Pugh Ian Pryce Nissan Micra
Class 6 Ivan Allen Noel Byrne Peugeot 106
Class 7 Mick Kehoe Tim Boyle Peugeot 205
Class 8 Tim Wilson Laurie Walker Subaru Impreza WRC
Class 9 John Somers Geraldine Somers Nova
Class 10 Shay White Bea White Toyota Starlet
Class 11 Enda O'Brien John Butler Ford Escort
Class 12 David Harris Brian Featherstone Ford Escort
Class 13 Tim Ball Rob Watson Darrian T90
Class 14 Derek Smith Paddy Flanagan Ford Escort
Class 15 John Price Caroline Price Metro 6R4
Class 17 Wayne Evans Alan Davies Ford Escort

• Results and Stage Times
• Full Results and Stagetimes also on wexfordrally.tripod.com & British Special Stage Rally Championships
• Photos by Seamus Counihan