Galway plays host to round 7 of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship this weekend.
Having been crowned champion last month, Donagh Kelly has not entered the Galway Summer Rally this weekend so it is Donegal cousins Declan and Brian Boyle who head the entry list in their Ford Fiesta World Rally Car. The pair have impressed since acquiring the car in June and Galway has proved a happy hunting ground for the Boyles in recent seasons. Niall Maguire and Alan Ring appear at 2 and 3 on the entry in a brace of Subaru Impreza World Rally Cars. In fact, the Japanese marque fills 6 of the top 10 places with drivers like Steve Wood, Kevin Barrett, Paddy McVeigh and Peadar Hurson all heading west in their Subarus. Hurson, who has performed admirably in an ageing car this season could in fact be an outside bet for the win. National series stalwart Roy White is the first non turbocharged car on the entry list and will start with number 7 on the door of his unusual MGZR.
Junior World Rally Championship front runner Daniel McKenna makes a surprise appearance in an R5 Fiesta at number 9 with Kevin Glynn on the pacenotes. The top 10 is rounded out by Group N front runner, Aidan Wray.
The ever popular 2 wheel drive competitors are headed by Declan Gallagher and Ryan Moore in their Toyota Starlet but they will be hounded by the Ford Escort of Gary McPhillips and Paul Sheridan. McPhillips and Sheridan crashed heavily on the Donegal Rally in June may take a few stages to bed in but their pace is proven and McPhillips is a former outright winner of the Galway Summer Rally having won the event in 2010.
The first local driver on the entry list is Dean Raftery, the current Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year. Raftery will start at number 17 in his Citroen DS3 R3 Max. American based Galway man Frank Cuningham is the top historic seed in his Mark 2 Escort while Cormac Phelan heads the junior section in his Citroen C2 R2. The event, run by Galway Motor Club will be headquartered in the Clayton Hotel, Ballybrit, Galway with the first cars leaving the hotel at 10am on
Sunday morning before facing challenging loops of 3 stages repeated 3 times in the Athenry area.
