Nieuws

After victories on the opening two rounds of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, in Galway and the Circuit of Ireland, the Donnelly Motorsport team were in confident mood as they headed for Killarney and round three, the famous Rally of the Lakes. Dry weather, and then prospect of the fast, flowing Killarney roads, made for high speeds on the May Bank Holiday weekend, as the massive crowds rolled into Killarney for the two day rally feast. The Skoda Fabia WRC had been re- worked for the Killarney roads, by the McGeehan Motorsport team, and Eugene was aiming for his second Killarney victory. The event started well for Eugene, co driver Paddy Toner and the Digiprintz Fabia WRC. After stage three Gortnagane, Tim McNulty in the S12 B Subaru had stolen the early march, with Gareth MacHale second in the 2005 Focus, and Eugene in the more outdated Skoda third, just nineteen seconds off the lead. But that third place was soon to become second, as leader McNulty slid off for one minute on stage four, and after stage six, the re run of Gortnagane, Eugene was second to MacHale just two seconds behind. "I was happy with our first day, and after stage eight the days final test, we were just two seconds behind, with Eamonn Boland not far behind us. We hadn't taken any real chances however and really a large part of the rally had to be played out on Sunday afternoon. The car and the Kumho Tyres were working well in the dry conditions, and we were happy."

First thing on Sunday morning were runs over the classic Molls Gap and Tim Healey Pass stages, and by the end of stage 10 Tim Healey, Eugene had slipped back to third, albeit just 8.3 seconds off the lead. "We had a steady enough run up the Gap, and on Tim Healey we expected to loose out to the power of the Subaru's, which did happen, and Eamonn moved up to second. However it was Cods Head and Ardgroom that I really planned to attack on, and that's were I felt the rally would be won or lost, and it proved to be correct! On stage 11, Cods Head 1, I passed Gareth, who had crashed, and he was out of the car and waved me on, but after I saw him off the road, I wasn't concentrating properly. Really I had the rally in my lap then, but on down the stage, I just didn't hear a pace note at all, and arrived into a tight left about forty miles an hour too fast, and hit the bank and telegraph pole on the outside of the corner. With the radiator broken we were unable to continue. The car thankfully isn't too bad, and the boys have it stripped and away to the Netherlands to be checked for alignment at Wevers Sport before the next round in Scotland. It was just one of those things, and we have to move on. At least we know we were on the pace again."

Despite the non score at the weekend, Eugene still leads the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, and the four times champion, is still gunning for his fifth Irish Tarmac title, as the series moves to Edinburgh for the start of the Jim Clark Memorial Rally on May 22nd-24th. Eugene tasted victory on this event two years ago, but the Borders by-roads can be especially challenging if the rain decides to play.