McBride Stopped in the Sixth by a Better Conditioned Golota

Report and images by Neil McDaid

October 6, 2007 - Madison Square Garden, NY -- With the IBF North American Heavyweight Championship on the line, Ireland’s Kevin “The Clones Colossus” McBride, fighting out of Boston, would step into the ring against Poland’s Andrew “The Polish Powerhouse“ Golota, fighting out of the Windy City. This was to be an important fight for these two big heavyweights who have recently struggling to find their way. Coming off his memorable victory over “Iron” Mike Tyson in 2005, Kevin McBride has struggled to continue on the path to a meaningful world title fight; his last outing was a disappointing loss to Mike Mollo just a year ago for the vacant WBA heavyweight title in Chicago.
Down through the years Andrew Golota has had several shots at various world titles, but he has also struggled to rise to the occasion. Golota’s last big fight was a title fight with Lamon Brewster where he lost by TKO in the first round. On this night it would all come down to the survival of the fittest, unfortunately for Kevin it would all go wrong in the sixth round.
As he made his entrance McBride was jeered and booed by the large number of Polish fans that turned out to see their man Golota, who was once again on the sport’s greatest stage. McBride would be lead to the ring by a lone piper. Kevin seemed visibly taken aback by the reception from the crowd as he peered from under his robe. Boos turned to cheers as Golota entered into view. At the prefight weigh in McBride would tip the scales at 288lbs, some 37lbs heaver that his opponent. Kevin would hold a slight height, reach and age advantage over Golota, though.
From the opening bell of the first round it was an all out battle. McBride would lunge into action first almost taking out the referee as he charged towards Golota. Both fighters would feel each other out with the left jab, soon followed by some big overhead right hooks when the opportunity arose. Standing toe to toe in center ring McBride would connect to the head of Golota, a solid connection that seemed to rock the polish heavyweight as he moved away on his heels. Golota would get a chance to regain himself as the ref called a time out to replace Golota’s mouth piece. Two overhead rights from Kevin followed up by a swift undercut had Golota in a daze again. Pushing forward Kevin would get in yet another crushing left hook, but somehow Golota would hang on until the bell. It would prove to be McBride’s best round of the bout.
Both fighters would open the second again working the jab to the head, with very little directed to the body. Showing up for this important fight weighing in at 288lbs McBride was clearly out of shape, but surprisingly Kevin was showing some improved hand speed. Golota worked around McBride’s mass, obviously the fitter fighter.
McBride looked winded as the seconds ticked away in round two, his extra weigh showing as he lunged awkwardly forward in search of Golota. It was a rough and tumble affair through the third and fourth rounds with McBride often stepping back, dropping his guard down as he gasped for air.

An accidental clash of heads in the fifth could possibly have started to open a slight cut below the left eye of McBride. With a little over a minute left in the sixth both fighters would battle hard along the ropes. McBride would drive a hard left to the body of Golota but unfortunately McBride was unable to follow up. Golota would return with a lovely left hook of his own to the head of McBride, sending Kevin back onto the ropes. Kevin had nothing left, with blood streaming from McBride’s left eye referee Arthur Mercate had seen enough. Mercate’s reason for stopping the fight was that, “Kevin was winded. He took a lot of shots; he can fight on another day.”

With his legion of loyal fans decked out in the colors of their country the victory and the title would go to Golota by way of TKO bringing his record to 40-6-1, 33 Kos. “Kevin surprised me, he was faster than I thought he would be, and he didn’t get tired. I proved tonight that I can still fight with anyone,” said Golota after the fight.
With the current state of the heavyweight title belts the dream is not dead for McBride, but in saying that he will need to get with the program, as the hill has just become steeper. Kevin will need to greatly improve his fitness level. Had McBride come into this fight in the same condition as when he took Mike Tyson to the mat, I would have to think that he could have finished Golota in the first or second round.


Images and report ©Neil McDaid

BOXING: Big Kevin McBride looks to floor Andrew Golota in NY Saturday, Also there is a last minute change of plans for John Duddy

Kevin McBride will be looking to make his mark at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night as he looks to get his World Championship hopes back on track. He will face off against Andrew Golota.

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World title fight looks to be closer than expected for Duddy.

John Duddy has been hit with a late change of opponent for his headline bout on the next Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium on October 20th.

The New York based Derryman had been set to meet Pablo Navascues but the Spaniard has been forced to withdraw courtesy of an ongoing ankle injury which had seriously disrupted his preparations for the bout.

Stepping in to fill the void is Uruguay’s Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba.

The South American is fresh from a battling bid for Felix Sturm’s WBA middleweight title in Germany this summer and believes he can work his way to a second world title shot with a win over Duddy.

Duddy of course has world title ambitions of his own and with talk of a challenge to the new middleweight kingpin Kelly Pavlik early next year Gonzalez could prove a deadly obstacle.

The sole defeat of Gonzalez 15 fight career came at the hands of Sturm in June but the 28-year-old’s points defeat in Stuttgart suggested that he is capable of mixing it with the very nest in the middleweight division.

“This is a dangerous fight for John,” said promoter Brian Peters. “With Kelly Pavlik’s impressive win over Jermain Taylor last weekend the middleweight picture has really opened up and John is perfectly positioned to take advantage of that. He’s highly ranked with all the major sanctioning bodies and a very marketable challenger for any of the champions, including Pavlik.

“All of that will go out the window though if he can’t get past Gonzalez and he is a tough, hard man. He’s just coming off the back of that points defeat for the WBA title and he made Sturm work very hard to retain his title. One judge only had Sturm winning by a margin of 116 – 112 so I expect Gonzalez to really push John and there’s no doubt it’s a risky assignment given the kind of options on the table for John now.”


Gonzalez’s performance in defeat against Sturm is all the more notable given that the German is best known for his highly controversial points defeat to Oscar De La Hoya in 2004.

The Argentinean based fighter’s trip to Germany was his first time fighting abroad and he says the experience gained in Germany will make all the difference against Duddy.

“I learned a lot from my fight with Sturm and that defeat will make me a better fighter.

“I know that Duddy will be a very hard fight but my dream is to become world champion, for me and Uruguay. My life hasn’t been easy and I want to make it better. Beating Duddy will be the next step to another world title fight and realising my dream.”

Also featuring on the night of the Celtic Tigers at the National Stadium is Irish middleweight champion Matthew Macklin, undefeated light welterweight Paul McCloskey and unbeaten Lurgan prospect Stephen Haughian.

The full 9 fight card will be confirmed next week.

Tickets for the “Celtic Tigers” Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium, Dublin on October 20th are priced from €50 and are available from Ticketmaster.ie and all usual outlets.

International Rally New York

Burke takes rally Victory at International Rally New York
By Neil McDaid

Ellenville NY, September 7, 2007. It has been many years since Ulster County has heard the sound of race engines roar through the Catskill Mountains. The last official event was back in the seventies when racers attacked the historic Ellenville Hill Climb. International Rally New York (IRNY) would bring motorsports and rally fans back to Ellenville for round seven of the United States Rally Championship, which was run in conjunction with the Rally New York Championship.
The rally would be contested over two days, combining some fantastic tarmac stages on day one with some proven gravel tests on day two. For the defending USRC champion, Seamus Burke, it was an opportunity to avenge his disastrous showing in the Catskills earlier in the year. The headquarters for IRNY was located at Nevele Grande Resort just outside of Ellenville, a majestic property which is also making a comeback after some tough years.
Charlie Donnelly and co-driver Noel Gallagher would come into IRNY as the 2007 points leaders in the USRC and therefore would start number one on the road Friday. As the teams set out to tackle the 15 tarmac stages, Mitsubishis would make up the top five starting positions in the rally and were all piloted by Irish crews.
SS1, “Wintish 1,” a short 2.9 mile test would offer up a few hairy moments for those a bit rusty on their tarmac skills, none more so than Joseph Burke and co-driver Jeremy Wimpy. Joseph would roll his Acura in spectacular style about half way into SS1. Both driver and co-driver would walk away unharmed apart from a bit of bruised pride that is.

Joseph Burke, [left] would walk away unharmed from his big roll on SS1 [Piture: Neil McDaid]

Despite having some problems selecting forth gear Seamus Burke would set the fastest time on SS1 by some eight seconds over Charlie Donnelly. Enda McCormack charged to within one second off Donnelly’s time for third. Over SS2, Old “Greenfield 1,” Burke would again set fastest time, but the gap had narrowed as Charlie closed the stage time to three seconds. In one of his rare showings, New York publican Gerard Coffey took a break from pulling pints and set some very respectable times on the early tarmac stages in his Evo 8. He would set the fastest time over SS 3.

Enda McCormack had a great drive on day-one before gearbox problems arose. [Picture: Neil McDaid]

At the end of the first leg of the rally, which covered six stages, Seamus Burke had eked out a 32 second lead over an excellent drive from Gerard Coffey and Dave Dooley who moved up to second. Enda McCormack and Bernard Farrell held their starting position in third. Flying the flag for Poland, Maciej Przybysc and Constantine Mantopoulos in the Impreza held forth. Despite a big moment on SS5 Martin O’Flynn and Damien Treanor would round out the top five in their Mitsubishi Eclipse.
Trouble for the championship leader Donnelly as he rolled into the first major service of the day, almost a minute down to Burke. Charlie’s Mitsubishi was only running on three cylinders. Rally leader Burke was also having some mechanical issues; he had all but lost forth gear over the early stages.
On to leg two, SS7 “Tempaloni 1”. Those expecting to see Charlie Donnelly running first on the stage were somewhat surprised to see Burke running first. We would later learn that Donnelly returned to service with continuing problems.

A hairpin turn on SS7 would prove a little difficult for some. O’Flynn slid wide and leveled a section of stone/wood fence. Not to be outdone, Arkadiusz Gruszka would better the Irishman as he took out two sections. The rally would move from Ellenville to Monticello for the fast sweeping stage through the Concord Resort and Golf Course. It would be run four times to make up the final stages on day one. Despite missing forth gear Burke controlled all but one stage on the opening day to stay ahead of the pack. Despite a great effort on the tar Gerald Coffey would not enter the gravel section of the rally on day two.
The first of the gravel stages on day two, SS16 “Rogues Harbor 1,” would start just outside of Ellenville where the local residents turned out to get a stage-side seat for all the action. Running first on the road, Burke would roll to a stop at the spectator area suffering continued issues with gear selection. After a few frustrating moments, Seamus managed to get a gear and was off again. Maciej Przybysc would not get away as easily. Pushing hard through Burke’s dust trail, Maciej would lose control of his Impreza and collide hard into a tree ending his event. Charlie Donnelly would make a return on day two under the super rally rules but it was short lived. Donnelly would blow his engine on SS17.
With Burke still leading the charge, crews would make the long transit over to Narrowsburg for 8 stages, which were run utilizing two sections of forest roads. At the first short service on Saturday with Przybysc and Donnelly out, Enda McCormack was settling into second; Cyril Kearney held third. McCormack would begin to report gear selection problems on SS20 and things went quickly downhill from there. Coming into the only major service of the day, Enda had no clutch and could not engage 4th or 5th gears.

Finton Seeley and Carrie Wilburn were in the hunt until their retirement on day-two [photo: Neil McDaid]

Despite taking full advantage of McCormack’s problems and moving to second, things were not all rosy over in the Kearney service area. Cyril had clipped a rock and cracked the casing on his rear differential. Luckily he had a spare and his crew made the swap within the time limits. Leaving service for the final three stages of the rally, McCormack would have to get the car rolling using the starter. It was questionable if he could hold onto third or even finish the rally.
In the end McCormack would hold onto third despite a late objection from another competitor. A delighted Cyril Kearney would claim second some eleven minutes adrift of overall rally winners, the Donegal crew of Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries.
Rafal Liptopad whose VW Golf stalked the injured Mitsubishi of Enda McCormack through the final stages would claim top honors in two wheel drive.
Unofficially, this victory moves Burke ahead of Charlie Donnelly in the point’s race for the USRC. Enda McCormack sits third. With only one event left on the east coast, the Eastern States Rally Championship is wide open and will be decided at Black River Stages at the end of the month.
From there it will be onto Laughlin, Nevada for the final showdown in the desert to the decide the USRC title.

*Some video footage from the Rally can be found at

www.youtube.com/Abhusanseo

R.I.P Colin McRae 1968-2007

www.colinmcrae.com

LAUGHLIN INTERNATIONAL RALLY & RALLYMOTO™ ENTRY NOW OPEN

Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries are looking to make a return to Laughlin in hopes of claiming the USRC title.

[Picture Neil McDaid]

Video from Laughlin 2006 can be found here.

Laughlin, Nev- September 14, 2007 - American Rally Sport Group is pleased to announce the opening of competitor entry to the Laughlin International Rally and its cross-country motorcycle component, RallyMoto ™. Celebrating its tenth year, the Laughlin International Rally is headquartered in Laughlin, Nevada as part of the Laughlin Motorsports Festival on Veterans’ Day weekend, November 9-11.

From its inception in 1998 when competitors endured three days of blizzard conditions, the Laughlin International Rally has been recognized as one of America’s most challenging stage-rally events. The event remains America’s only FIA-listed International rally, sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC) in association with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) and NASA Rallysport. It is the concluding competition for the United States Rally Championship, and the regional Western States Rally Championship and the California Rally Series.

RallyMoto™ has attracted significant interest in the motorcycle community as unique point-to-point cross-country competition incorporating a stage-rally route book, and timing and scoring system. Following the Sandblast Rally in South Carolina, America’s first event, RallyMoto™ has been compared to “Rally Raid”, a competition considered by many to the toughest motorcycle sport in existence. RallyMoto™ enjoys its first western states’ debut in Laughlin.

Laughlin International Rally and RallyMoto competitors are encouraged to enter soon to take advantage of the special early entry pricing.

The Laughlin International Rally is headquartered at the Tropicana Express casino, formerly the Ramada Express in Laughlin. Additional in formation on the rally and RallyMoto™ is available at http://www.rallyusa.com/ .

International Rally New York

Ellenville NY, Sep 8th 2007. Irish drivers take 1,2, and 3 @Rally New York, video report will be posted soon.

New Home for Rally New York

International Rally New York Announces a New Home and Opens Entry
Ellenville, NY -- The Rally New York Organization is pleased to announce the opening of the entry for the International Rally New York (www.RallyNewYork.com) scheduled for September 6 – 8, 2007. The entry will open on August 3. The International Rally New York is a round of the United States Rally Championship (www.usrallychampionship.com). Each of the two days of the Rally is a separate round of the New York Rally Championship (www.RallyNewYork.com).
We are expanding and moving closer to New York City into an entirely new headquarters town – Ellenville, New York. Ellenville is located just north of New York Route 17 – Quickway only 80 expressway miles from New York City. The Rally will be headquartered in a new community that is welcoming our event and will be rolling out the red carpet for competitors, service crews, staff, spectators and fans. This is an area with past racing history where the historic Mount Cathalia Hillclimb race took place for several decades. They are anxious to hear the sound of racecars in their town again!
The Rally will be based at a new single headquarters hotel location at Nevele Grande Resort that features breathtaking views of Shawangunk Mountains range! This hotel has 432 rooms and together with Fallsview Resort next door with additional 250 rooms is large enough to accommodate everyone with Central Service Park, indoor Scrutineering and indoor Parc Ferme just a short walk from your affordably priced room.
We are sure everyone will enjoy the friendly welcome atmosphere this town has to offer. Nevele Grande Resort boasts indoor and outdoor swimming pools, sauna, exercise room, lake, golf, indoor and outdoor tennis, horseback riding, babysitting service and if you come in the winter an indoor skating rink and its own ski hill. This region of New York has a lot to offer to every visitor before and after the Rally with historic Hudson River Valley, magnificent Catskill Mountains and exciting New York City nearby.
The Rally will be 450 miles long with 100 miles of special stages divided between tarmac and gravel. We will have a full day of tarmac in Ellenville, Wawarsing and Monticello on Friday and a full day of gravel rallying in Narrowsburg and Wawarsing on Saturday. Full Reconnaissance will take place all day on Thursday followed by Ceremonial Start in the center of the town in the evening. Ceremonial Finish in town is scheduled for Saturday night. The Rally will end with awards at Nevele Grande on Sunday morning.
The International Rally New York and its sister event Rally New York USA are the only two events in the United States that are conducted according to the international rules with FIA-style full Reconnaissance of the route and pace notes for increased safety.

More info:

http://www.rallynewyork.com/

http://www.nevele.com/

http://www.unitedstatesrallychampionship.com/

Burke Takes Round Five of the United States Rally Championship

Burke and Fries storm to victory at Rally West Virginia [Photo Neil McDaid]

By Neil McDaid

Elkins, West Virginia - August 3, 2007. Seamus Burke takes maximum points at Rally West Virginia in his bid to retain the United States Rally Championship title. Round five of the USRC took place in the high hills of the mountain state. The rally would not go down without its fair share of drama and excitement along the twisted back roads of Randolph County.

Rally West Virginia also counted as round three of the Eastern States Rally Championship, along with the added bonus of been a part of the 2007 Max Attack Triple Crown Series.

Day one would see the 38 crews tackle the first of the very technical all gravel mountain stages. Lined with hairpin turns and incredible drop offs, crews were given both written and verbal warnings of several triple cautions on the Friday stages.
As expected, Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries in the Shamrock Building Systems sponsored Mitsubishi would push the early pace setting the fastest time over SS1, “Turbodawg Long”. Some 34 seconds off the pace of Burke, fellow Irish driver Charlie Donnelly would claim second.
Justin Pritchard and Kyle Sarasin would lock bumpers for third.

Before the end of the first stage several crews would fall victim to the tough twists and turns of the tight country roads. Tyrone man Martin “the other” Donnelly out of NYC, who has been away from the sport for a few years, was out for the first time in his new Mitsubishi Evo 8. Martin would be first to explore the West Virginia scenery. Brake failure on a nasty downhill section into a tight hairpin turn at the bottom would be the demise of Donnelly and co-driver Stephen Duffy’s Friday stages. Luckily for the crew the car came to rest against a large tree only sustaining minimal damage. With some donated parts and a great effort by their service crew they would be back in action for day two.

Donnelly and Duffy would make a return Saturday after their off stage adventure on Friday [Photo NeilMcDaid]

Unfortunately, Carrie Wilburn’s Subaru Impreza would not come off as lightly. Carrie would leave the road and land hard on the front of the car then collided with a tree, eventually ending up on her roof. Thankfully both Carrie and navigator Damian Treanor managed to escape unharmed.
Brian Rutledge would also damage a ball joint on his Impreza, forcing him to retire. He would make repairs and return Saturday

Charlie Donnelly and Noel Gallagher, the current point leaders in the USRC, would get within 6 seconds of Burke’s pace on SS3, but trouble loomed for Donnelly on SS4. They would break a front drive on their Evo 2. Unfortunately, the car was not repairable and their rally was over. At the end of day one Seamus Burke held a two minute advantage over Justin Prichard in his Subaru. Putting in a fantastic drive teenager Kyle Sarasin was holding down third in his Ford Focus.

Day two saw crews hit the road bright and early heading south of Elkins for the first of 13 special stages. Not using the conventional continuation of stage numbers from day one, rally organizers would start the first stage on Saturday as SS1, a little confusing for some.
SS1 “Adolf Expressway” could have been more appropriately named the “eye opener.” The rally organizer suggested that this stage could possibly have more turns per mile that any other stage in the country. It would be another rerun of the Burke and Fries show; they would set fastest times over the first four stages of the day. Justin Pritchard would hold his ground maintaining second over Charles Sherrill in third.

All two wheel drive cars entered in the rally were eligible to contest for the Max Attack cash prizes. The two wheel drive competition, at times, was more exciting that the battle for the overall rally lead. The top six finishers in two wheel drive would all receive cash ranging from $800- $2,000. Mere seconds separated the top contenders throughout the rally.
Little did Seamus Burke know entering SS5 that his 4 minute advantage over the field would be erased. About half way through the stage, Burke’s gear selector would jam leaving the car stuck in high gear. Burke pulled off the stage to make repairs. After losing some six minutes he managed to get going again, his rally lead gone.

Heading into SS6, Burke was now down almost two minutes to Pritchard. He would throw caution to the wind and set a blistering pace over “UberDeustchland 3.” Burke was some 25 seconds faster than Enda McCormack who also obviously liked the conditions and found his form taking second. More importantly Burke was some 29 seconds faster than rally leader Justin Pritchard.

Justin Pritchard found himself in first if only for a while due to Burke's gearshift problems [Photo NeilMcDaid]


After setting the fastest time on SS6 over his fellow Max Attack competitors, a ruptured gas tank would be the end of the road for Seamus Burke’s son Joseph. In only his second rally “Young” Burke in his G2 Acura, with Boston’s Eamonn Sweeney guiding his way on the notes, would catch and pass several cars throughout the rally. Obviously, the apple did not fall far from the tree. We expect to see some great stuff from Joseph in the future. We would also lose Greg Healy in the Datsun 280Z. Greg would slide off the road into a field of cattle.

The elder Burke would continue to claw back time on SS7 but the cancellation of SS8 due to communication problems piled the pressure on Burke as stage miles dwindled. Burke could not afford to lose the rally or his hopes of retaining the championship title would be gone.

SS9 “Boney Turk,” a high speed challenge on smooth fast small gravel with a few hairpins and crests to make things interesting, scores high as a driver’s favorite. Again it was Burke that threw down a time of 4:07 over the 6.61 mile test; Charles Sherrill could only manage 4:20 to claim second.

Burke would continue his domination over the final stages to reclaim the lead and ultimately the overall victory. Justin Pritchard claimed second with Charles Sherrill taking third. Continuing his fantastic drive, Kyle Sarasin claimed forth in the FWD Focus beating out many more powerful all-wheel drive cars. Kyle would also claim the top prize in the Max Attack.

Up next for the east coast will be round seven of the USRC, International Rally New York, September 6-8th. This year the rally headquarters will relocate to Ellenville. With Donnelly still well ahead in the points Rally New York is shaping up to be a great battle. I expect to see strong entry from the Irish teams for this local event. For more information: http://www.rallynewyork.com/

Rally West Virginia report later this week

Round six Rally America Championship

Pastrana Takes Top Spot in Maine
By Neil McDaid
New England Forest Rally - Newry Maine, July 13, 2007. Defending Rally America Champion Travis Pastrana gets back to his winning ways as he takes top honors in round six of the ‘07 Rally America Championship. It would be no easy victory for Pastrana as he was pressured all the way to the last stage by the defending Canadian Rally Champion, Antoine L’Estage.

Just two days before the rally a massive rain storm hit the Newry area, resulting in scattered flash flooding which took out some sections of road around the rally headquarters. Despite the damage to the main roads there was little or no damage to the forest stages.
The rally would get underway on Friday afternoon with a super special format run twice around the ball park in the town of Mexico. For the second year the rally organizers built a massive clay jump along the back straight of the ball field. It would give spectators and locals a great opportunity to get a ring-side seat to all the high flying action.

Amy shows the boys how it's done [photo Neil McDaid]

After some big air antics last year, most drivers were somewhat cautious over the jump with the exception, that is, of the only lady driver in the event. Amy BeberVanzo would charge the jump hard and launch her Mitsubishi high in the air. Speaking with Amy later in service she commented, “I gave it a little too much power.”
With the super special being only a half a mile long there was very little difference in times between the cars. Nonetheless, Travis would set the fastest time the first run through while his Subaru team mate Ken Block would claim the fast time on SS2.

SS 3-4, “South Arm,” was run as a turnaround stage. At 9.9 miles it would be first true test of the rally. With intermittent rain falling, Pastrana would push his #199 Subaru hard over slippery conditions. He was rewarded with fastest times on both SS3 & 4. L’Estage, in the aging Libra Racing Tiburon, would edge Ken Block out for second on both stages. Multiple time SCCA National Pro Rally Champion Paul Choiniere, in the second of the Libra Racing Hyundai Tiburon’s, would suffer a small fire on SS3, which resulted in his early departure from the rally.

The last stage on day-one, SS5 “Concord Pond,” was a redemption of sorts for Team Subaru driver Ken Block. On this same stage last year, Block had a big moment on this short 5.6 mile technical test that almost ended his rally. Obviously, the memory of last year’s off had little affect on Block as he and co-driver Alex Gelsomino charged the stage setting the fastest time. Just one second separated L’Estage and Pastrana for second and third.
At the end of day one it was Pastrana, L’Estage, Block and Matt Iorio in fourth. Seamus Burke, the top seeded Irish driver was just about holding onto fifth. Once again mechanical problems plagued the Donegal man. This time the gremlins had worked their way into the gearbox; the car was not staying in gear. Burke had to hold the car in fifth through the last two stages on Friday.
In a massive effort by Burke’s service crew, and a few helping hands, they managed to swap out the gearbox and get the car back to Parc Ferme. Unfortunately, the car was checked in a little later than the allotted time, for which Burke was given a two minute penalty.

Day one proved very challenging for Pinker [Photo Neil McDaid]

No joy either for Aussie Andrew Pinker. Pinker, who had just claimed a fine victory in round five of the championship in Pennsylvania in June, was definitely not having the same luck in Maine. 2 punctures along with some damage sustained from clipping a hidden rock slowed the charge of the very quick Jack Daniels sponsored car. At the end of the first day, Andrew found himself back in eighth place.

The River Valley Regional Rally, which was run in conjunction with the national event, would be contested over the first 5 stages on Friday. Mainer Christopher Duplessis would drive the door handles off his GTI Golf to take the overall victory besting out the more powerful all wheel drive cars along the way. John Cassidy and Dave Getchell would take second in their open class Subaru with the O’Leary brothers, Michael and John, taking third overall in their Mitsubishi.

On day two the rally would move west to Berlin, New Hampshire. SS6-7, “Dillon Success,” was again another turnaround stage.
Antoine L’Estage would attack hard on the opening stage on Saturday. His time on SS6 would be good enough for the stage win posting a time 5 seconds faster than Pastrana over the 15 mile test. Block managed third while maintaining his third overall position. Day two was proving to be no better for Andrew Pinker as he was some 29 seconds slower than L’Estage on SS6.
Despite the change of gear box Seamus Burke and co-driver Eddie Fries would park the Mitsubishi on SS6. Things were just not working correctly; sadly it was ‘game over’.
Otis Dimiters and Alan Ockwell, who had moved up from GPN to open class in a hope to be more competitive in their bid for an X-Games spot, also gave up the ghost on SS6 as they lost all gears in their Subaru STI.

A Roll on SS6 would also be the end of the rally for the up and coming team of Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johansson in the G5 Focus. Fortunately, they both walked away unharmed.
Drama ensued on SS7. Pastrana, running first on the road, would meet a course worker’s car as they tried to remove a lost sump guard not knowing that the stage had started. Pastrana and Edstrom followed protocol and stopped at the first radio point and stopped the stage. After some back and forth the stage was eventually cancelled. With mere seconds between the top three cars the rally would now be decided over “Middle Dam,” one stage road that would be run four times in slightly different configurations to make up SS,8,9,10 and 11.
Pastrana would show massive commitment to the notes as he carved a fine line through SS-8 in an effort to hold off the hard charging L’Estage. Most thought that L’Estage was in Maine to grab the last X-Games spot, but it was obvious by Antoine’s pace that he was gunning for the overall victory as a priority.
Block would struggle through SS-8 & 9 with his Subaru clearly down on power. Rolling in to the final service all three top cars were showing the strain of a tough Maine Rally. Pastrana’s car was spewing fluids, L’Estage was concerned about overheating, and Block would just like to get back on four cylinders.

Pressure all the way from L'Estage [Photo Neil McDaid]

In one final attack L’Estage would push the Tiburon to the max, taking fastest times on SS10 & 11. Despite his great effort it would not be enough to unseat Pastrana who took the overall rally victory by just 7.2 seconds. L’Estage’s podium finish in Maine unofficially secures him the wildcard spot at the second X-Games rally competition.
Despite Block’s problems on the final stages he had done enough early in the rally to secure third. Matt Iorio almost did not make it to the final control as his motor let go on the transit back to the finish. In a fine show of sportsmanship Andrew Pinker and Patrick Moro took turns pulling Iorio home to claim his forth place.
I am sure that Andrew Pinker would rather forget Maine but, nonetheless finishing in 5th keeps him in the championship running. Pinker stays just nine points ahead of Pastrana in the race to the championship. Ken Block’s third place finish leaves him just 12 championship points behind Pinker. With only three rounds left, it looks like this year’s championship is going to be contested right down to the wire.

The Bethel Rally, the second of the regional events, was run over the Saturday stages. It was won by Allen Downs and Bernhard Obry, a great result for them considering that they broke an axle on the practice stage forcing them to miss the Friday stages. Duplessis slid the wee Golf into second with John Cassidy claiming third.
Further down the overall leader board, Michael and John O’Leary would claim the top finish for the Irish in 21st overall. The O’Leary’s would also claim 4th overall in the Bethel Regional Rally which, in all was a great weekend for the Cork men.

In only his first outing, seventeen year old Joseph Burke, the son of Seamus Burke, managed to put his G2 Acura on the podium with a well earned 3rd in his class. Joseph pictured here with his co-driver for Maine Chrissy Beavis. [Photo Neil McDaid]

From here it’s off the X-Games in early August for Rally America’s top drivers. They will be joined by WRC Champ Colin McRae and a few mystery drivers yet to be named. For more details check out http://www.rally-america.com/

Additional pictures from the event will be posted to gallery soon!

Boston GAA to host International Camogie Tournament

Boston Ma, July 16, 2007. Eire Og's International Camogie Tournament will take place July 20 - 22 at the Irish Cultural Center, in Canton MA. The event will feature 11 camogie teams from all over Ireland and the USA. Castlegar, Mullagh and Davitts from Co. Galway, Ferns and Bunclody from Co. Wexford, Bredagh, Ardoyne and Kilcoo from Co. Down and from the USA teams will make their way from Chicago and Milwaukee.

The Schedule is as followsFriday July 20th

Field A - Senior Camogie

3.00 Davitts -v- Bunclody

4.00 Castlegar -v- Mullagh

5.00 Eire Og -v- Ferns

Field B - Junior Camogie

4.00 Ardoyne -v- Bredagh

Saturday July 21stField A - Senior Camogie

9.00 Castlegar -v- Davitts

10.00 Ferns -v- Bunclody

11.00 Eire Og -v- Mullagh

12.00 Ferns -v- Davitts

1.00 Eire Og -v- Castlegar

2.00 Bunclody -v- Mullagh

3.30 Senior Semi-Final

4.30 Senior Semi-Final

Field B - Junior Camogie

9.00 Milwaukee -v- Kilcoo

10.00 Ardoyne -v- Chicago

11.00 Milwaukee -v- Bredagh

12.00 Chicago -v- Kilcoo

2.30 Junior Semi-final

Sunday July 22nd Field A

12.00 Junior Final

1.15 Senior Final

Field B

10.30 Junior Shield

2.30 Senior Shield

The Guest of Honor is one of Eire Og's founding members Rene Bligh - Rene has been a great Camogie Gael over the last 30 years and has shown her dedication to the camogie club and the youth board in many many ways. The club is honored to have her as part of our camogie club for the last 30 years and hopefully for 30 more!!!

The club will hold a banquet on the Sunday night after the games at the Irish Cultural Center, starting at 7 pm, music is by Dan Hallissey and the cost of the tickets are $40.

If you would like to attend the banquet you can contact Caroline @ 781-308-1303 or pay at the banquet.

Sebastien Loeb Tames the Hills Of Donegal

Daniel Elena and Sebastien Loeb
celebrate their first rally victory in Ireland. Photo Neil McDaid

By Neil McDaid

Letterkenny, Ireland, June 17, 2007. Three time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb takes the overall victory in the 36th running of the Donegal International Rally.
In 2006, the Donegal Motor Club built a frenzy of sorts when they lured WRC Champion Colin McRae out of semi-retirement to compete in a Metro 6R4. With the additional attraction of the WRC Mitsubishi Works cars on the start line the event was a great success. After the event many thought the club would be hard pressed to top the success of the 2006 rally. Roll on to 2007. With Ireland securing its first-ever round of the World Rally Championship in Sligo this coming November, top WRC teams began scrambling to get some experience on the Irish roads.
With two time WRC Champion Marcus Gronholm, who is also the most successful Finnish driver in the history of the WRC, showing up at the Galway Rally in February rumors and speculations were running wild as to who might show up in the hills of Donegal in June. Just two weeks before the start of the rally the Donegal Motor Club announced that they had confirmation from Citron WRC team boss Guy Frequelin that he would enter their 07 WRC Citron C4 in the event and it would be piloted by ace driver Sebastien Loeb. With British Rally Champion Mark Higgins, along with 30 WRC cars among the 200 cars entered, rally fans flocking to Donegal were in for a great weekend of action on some of the most unique tarmac stages in the world.

The rally would get underway Friday with the first stage taking place just outside of Letterkenny. In the many years I have attended this rally, I cannot recall ever seeing such a large crowd on the Friday stages. Obviously, they were all there to get an early peek at Loeb.
SS1, Breenagh, would see Mark Higgins, along with local co-driver Rory Kennedy, master the wet conditions setting the fastest time for the stage. Seventeen year old Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen, known on the Irish Tarmac Championship as “The Special One,” would slot his WRC Ford Focus into second. Amazingly, the Norwegian teenager was just four seconds off the pace of Higgins, while also edging out Eugene Donnelly who had to settle for third.
Northern Ireland driver Andrew Nesbitt, who has won the Donegal a record five times and is the defending champion, would not make it through SS2, Cark Mountain. His McKinstry Motorsports Subaru S10 would stop with suspected electrical problems after cresting a few big jumps. Too bad, as we were now left wondering how the master of the Donegal Rally would have faired again the boss, Loeb. Higgins would maintain the pace through the first three stages of day one.

The Citron service crew would look to improve the set-up on Loeb's C4 @ the first service in Letterkenny on Friday. Photo Neil McDaid

Heading into the first service of the rally in Letterkenny, the early leader board would show Higgins, Loeb and then Eugene Donnelly in third.
Team Citron and Loeb made it perfectly clear in several TV interviews that their goal for the rally was to gain experience for Rally Ireland; it was not a priority to win the event.
Neither Loeb nor Team Citron had ever competed in Ireland and were in need of some experience on the very unique tarmac stages.
They would quickly realize that the Irish stages were, in Sebastien’s own words, “fast, narrow and bumpy, with this very special type of tarmac.” In their four hot runs on the shake down stage on Thursday they determined that they did not have a suspension set up to deal with the bumpy Irish stages. It was obvious by Loeb’s pace on the first few stages on Friday that they were not totally confident with how the car was handling.
During the first service, Loeb’s C4 would get yet another new set of suspension in an ongoing effort by the service crew to find the correct set-up for the conditions at hand. The Citron mechanics would also slip in a new gearbox in record time.

The teams would go out and repeat the first three stages of the day. Conditions would continue to worsen as the day rolled on. Heavy down pours began to leave large puddles on the stages. Nonetheless Higgins would continue to set the pace over SS4-5. Loeb would eventually show form by taking his first stage win on SS6, Mongorry, bettering Higgins by just two seconds.
By the end of day one Mark Higgins, who is currently the points leader in the 07 Irish Tarmac Championship, would be delighted to have a 37-second lead over Loeb, not to mention setting faster stage times over the World Champion. Continuing a great drive, Andreas Mikkelsen would sit comfortably in third.

A massive drive from Seamus Leonard secures the GPN victory and 6th overall. Photo Neil McDaid

With a guarded promise from RTE of clearing skies day two would take teams, and the ever increasing throng of spectators, up onto the Fanad Peninsula. Early drama would come courtesy of Andreas Mikkelsen on SS7, Fanad Head. Reports were coming over the rally radio that there was a car off and no sign of the crew. Eventually, Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Floene would clamber up to the road side and display the OK board. Their Ford Focus WRC was lodged deep in the Fanad scenery and sustained enough damage that it could not continue.

Reportedly, Loeb’s engineers had come up with a suspension set-up during the day Friday that was already fitted in Loeb’s car. And so it would be the beginning of some blistering times from the reigning WRC Champion; he was fastest by 15 seconds over Fanad Head.
There were several stages on the Donegal that everyone expected Loeb to excel on. The second stage on Saturday, SS 8 Knockalla, was definitely one of them. Spectators in small RVs had begun to claim prime viewing spots on the mountain some 24 hrs before the stage was due to run. Although the road up over Knockalla is two lanes wide with smooth fast tar, the first seven miles of the stage can be an extremely fast, hair raising adrenaline rush to say the least. Competitors would start by charging up through the mountain’s hairpin turns from the Portsalon side. Then they would go down a long, twisty high speed decent with several deadly drop offs that were just waiting for the slightest mistake by the drivers.

Coming out of Friday with the overall lead, Mark Higgins was now running first on the road on the early Saturday stages. He would attack hard over Knockalla, committing fully to the notes he was receiving from navigator Rory Kennedy. Higgins would push his Pirelli sponsored Subaru a little too hard over the big jump at Oughterlin Chapel sending the car high in the air and taking a hard hit on the landing. The impact damaged a front rim that eventually caused a flat. By the time Loeb completed the stage and stopped the clocks on SS8, the forty-second lead that Higgins had the night before had now diminished to just two seconds. Loeb was definitely finding his form.

Eugene Donnelly struggles on Friday to stay on the pace. Photo Neil McDaid

It had been a disappointing first day for Ireland’s reigning Tarmac Champion and two-time winner of the Donegal, Eugene Donnelly. The Derry man struggled Friday with neck pain from an old injury and some mechanical issues with the gear box. He just about managed to stay within the top five. Feeling somewhat better Saturday, Eugene would start clawing back some time on Kevin Lynch who had moved his WRC Ford Focus into third with the early departure of Mikkelsen in Fanad.
By the second service in Milford, which was close to the mid point in the rally, Loeb had taken command of the overall lead by 10 seconds over Mark Higgins. Kevin Lynch was holding off Donnelly for third by the narrowest margin while Donegal driver Paul Harris was having a great run in his hired WRC Corolla in fifth.
The Group N battle was firmly in the hands of Seamus Leonard [Omagh] in his newly prepared Mitsubishi. Colm Murphy, who had been running second to Leonard throughout the stages, rolled his Subaru STI on Knockalla. This moved Gary Jennings to second; Stuart Darcy would make it a 1-2-3 for Mitsubishi. The national rally, which really should have been called the MK11 Rally, would see a great battle between English driver Phil Collins and local driver Brian Brogan. Unfortunately, Brogan would have a big off a few stages later ending his charge.
Through the remaining six stages of day two, Loeb would continue to gain confidence on the narrow Donegal roads. He opened up a forty second lead over Higgins by the end of the day.
Day three. With three stages being run twice to make up the final six stages of the rally, one needs to plan on either Glen Village or Atlantic Drive. With thousands of cars following the action traveling on the roads between stages was nearly impossible, so Glen it was. Although we could have witnessed Loeb and the others at a higher rate of speed tearing over Atlantic Drive, the atmosphere in Glen is hard to pass up. Maybe it’s because it is the last resemblance of the great, town stages that used to a big part of the Donegal Rally. For this one day in the year thousands descend on this sleepy little village with about 8-10 houses, and one pub, for the infamous High Glen Stage.

Wall to wall rally fans lines the streets of Glen village Sunday. Photo Neil McDaid

SS17-20 would pass through Glen and on both occasions Loeb would be untouchable. On his second run through Glen he was 10 seconds faster over his nearest rival. Eugene Donnelly would find his form on SS19, Atlantic Drive, matching times with Loeb. Donnelly was elated, as he is himself a big Loeb fan.
Kevin Lynch’s rally would come a sunder on the penultimate stage SS21 Port Lake. Lynch would hit a rock, puncture a wheel and damage his steering rack ending his rally. Donnelly suffered a loss of power on Port Lake, but managed to nurse the Subaru back to service.
Loeb came to Donegal with a focus on testing for Rally Ireland, he left satisfied that his Citron team had learned a lot about the challenges they will face in November. As Loeb pulled his Citron on to the finish ramp in Letterkenny to claim victory you could clearly see he was in awe at the reception he received from the enthusiastic Irish rally fans that lined his way.

Loeb would go on to say that he loved taking part in the rally. “We didn’t have the pressure of the world championships and the Irish have a strong rally culture. There was a massive crowd. It’s not like some of the rallies, during some trips between stages, you’re stopped at the lights, with people in the car next to you looking down at you and the car as if to say who’s the idiot in the car covered in stickers. No, here the public really are connoisseurs. The atmosphere is very similar to Le Mans. There were spectators camped everywhere in all imaginable spots. Some were even camping in the town centre. We could smell the barbeques, hear the modified cars and see fountains of beer! It was such a party! I’m sure we’ll see the same atmosphere in November.”
As a added bonus for future winners of the Donegal rally, their names will now be added to the Jim Callaghan Memorial Trophy alongside that of Sebastien Loeb who, quite possibly, could become the greatest rally driver of all time. Two minutes a drift of Loeb, Mark Higgins and Rory Kennedy would happily claim second, which secured them maximum Irish Tarmac Championship points. Eugene Donnelly, just happy to be there, claimed third with the departure of Kevin Lynch. Seamus Leonard had a great drive setting the fastest time on every stage to claim the Group N victory.
After starting the rally for the past 23 years and not finishing the event one time, Phil Collins not only finished the rally but also claimed top honors in his MK11 Escort in the national rally. Of the 16 cars competing in the Historic Class, Richard Hall would take his beautiful Ford Escort home in first.
Based on the interest in this year’s Donegal Rally, with only one WRC star in attendance, one can only imagine the amount of spectators that will line the ditches during Rally Ireland in November.

Duddys Homecoming Fight Dublin Ireland July 14th.

The Italian Alessio Furlan is talking the talk ahead of his middleweight clash with John Duddy on the next Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium, Dublin on July 14th.
After 20 fights Stateside Duddy returns home for his first pro fight on Irish soil as he looks to press his claims for a shot at the European title.
Standing in the opposite corner will be Furlan a tough, seasoned pro who recently lasted into the 12th and final round with current European Champion, Sebastian Sylvester. The man known as "Il Guerriero" (The Warrior) believes he can spoil Duddy's homecoming and upset his perfect record.
Speaking from his training camp in Italy the 30-year-old said, "I have great respect for John Duddy but I will come with my own tactical plan to beat him. He is tough and not afraid of anyone so he's just like me in that respect. I will be out to spoil his homecoming but I'll buy Duddy a pint of Guinness afterwards to apologise for beating him!
The former Italian and IBF Mediterranean Champion believes he has seen some weakness in Duddy's style that he intends to exploit. "I've seen Duddy's fight with Yory Boy Campas and it was a real war. Those are the kind of fights that I love to be involved in.
"I don't think Duddy is an especially big puncher, but he does wear his opponents down with an impressive work-rate. He has some boxing skills but he's mainly a fighter and I see some flaws in his defence. I'm not underestimating him because he's definitely a tough fighter."
Duddy expects to have a huge travelling contingent from Derry at the National Stadium not to mention boxing fans who followed his amateur feats down through the years at that same venue. Furlan though is not worried at the thoughts of entering the lions den.
"I love fighting in front of big, passionate crowds and I'm sure that's what will await me in Dublin. I travelled to Germany to take on the current European Champion Sebastian Sylvester and I loved every minute of that trip. I sure as hell plan on enjoying my trip to Dublin too."
Furlan has a record of 19 wins, 8 losses and 5 draws from his 32 professional outings and has vast experience having campaigned in eight title fights.
Another undefeated Derryman on the card up against an experienced foe is Paul McCloskey. The Dungiven light welterweight will have his first 10 round contest on the card when he meets former European title challenger Laszlo Komjathi. The Hungarian is hugely experienced and represents the first big test of McCloskey's career.
Komjathi is one of the few men to have taken red hot prospect Amir Khan the distance and in his last fight Komjathi gave the Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik a tough night before losing on points. In Kotelnik's previous outing he had drawn with Souleymane M'baye for the WBA light welterweight title so it shows just how risky an assignment this is for McCloskey.
Manager and trainer John Breen is convinced that McCloskey will pass his upcoming test with flying colours. "Paul fights to the level of his opponents so I expect to see the best of him at the National Stadium. I've said right from day one that Paul can go all the way in the sport and I think he'll start proving that against Komjathi."
In recent weeks McCloskey has been in Scotland sparring with Willie Limond ahead of his Commonwealth title defence against Amir Khan. The unbeaten light welterweight is also expected to spar with Alex Arthur over the coming weeks as the Edinburgh man prepares for his WBO world title shot.
Another of the Breen Team set for a stiff test at the National Stadium is Stephen Haughian. The unbeaten Lurgan man tackles Manchester based Irishman Gary O' Connor in an 8 round light welterweight battle.
Breen's interest doesn't end there however with his super featherweight hope Kevin O'Hara also set for action. The Belfast man clashes with the teak tough Pole Dariusz Snarski over 8 rounds.
Dublin fight fans will be looking forward to seeing unbeaten super featherweight Patrick Hyland back in action so quickly, following on from his impressive first round stoppage win at the Point on the Bernard Dunne undercard last weekend.
Another unbeaten prospect in action is Huddersfield based Irishman Eugene Heagney. He takes on Belfast's Colin Moffett over 8 rounds.
Rounding out the action packed card is unbeaten Mayo heavyweight Declan Timlin. The Sean Mannion trained prospect will look to take his unbeaten record to 4 and 0.
Tickets for the event priced from €50 are currently on sale from Ticketmaster.ie and all usual outlets.

"The Homecoming" on PPV
"The Homecoming," featuring unbeaten middleweight sensation "Ireland's" John Duddy, will be broadcast live July 14 in the United States on cable pay-per-view starting at 5:00 PM/ET, 3:00 PM/PT from Dublin, Ireland. The event is being produced by RTE and distributed for pay-per-view by Integrated Sports and will be available via iN Demand and TVN for a suggested retail price of only $19.95. "The Homecoming" will also be available via Closed Circuit throughout the United States. A replay broadcast will be shown at 10:00 PM/ET on July 14.
For more information about John Duddy, Irish Ropes or "The Homecoming" PPV go to www.irishropes.com or www.Integratedsportsnet.com.

Donegal International Rally 2007

Pictures/Neil McDaid

Sebastien Loeb makes his first run on the Thursday shake down stage @Muckish Mountain as he gets ready to tackle the stages of the 2007 Donegal International Rally. Loeb commented that the roads were "very bumpy, but looked forward to the rally."

The rally gets underway tomorrow, Friday. 154 cars are listed to start in the main field, 15 Historic , 30 Juniors, and 6 cars running in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy Challange. The rally will run over three days on some of the best tarmac stages in the world.

Getting to grips with her new class 7 Honda Civic Type R, Letterkenny's own Miss Toni Kelly will be looking to better her great result in '06.
www.donegalinternationalrally.com

STPR 2007

Pinker puts Jack Daniels Back on the
Top Shelf
By Neil McDaid
Wellsboro, PA. June 2, 2007. Australian Andrew Pinker, along with his English co-driver Robbie Durant, powered their Jack Daniels sponsored Subaru STI to victory in round five of the 2007 Rally America Championship. This victory pushes Pinker to the top of the championship points standings and also qualifies him for a place in the second running of the rally at the ESPN X-Games in L.A. this August.
The Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally or, as it’s known to most, STPR is now in its 31st year. It is definitely one of the fastest gravel rallies run in the USA. With its many long straights, speeds can get up in access of 100mph. Throw in multiple tricky hairpin turns along the tree lined stages and the occasional thunder shower, it generally makes for a challenging, and at times, a treacherous rally. The surface varies between hard packed clay surfaces that can become very slick when wet to sections of small to medium stones that roll like marbles under the tires.

Although the rally did not officially start until Saturday, standing on the practice stage on Friday evening one would be hard pressed to tell it from an actual competitive stage. The pace was ballistic.
There is a slight crest at the end of the practice stage where there have been some hairy moments in the past. Ken Block, with co-driver Alex Gelsomino, had a narrow escape there in 2005, when they landed in the middle of a swamp after taking the jump at full tilt. They were lucky to land on their wheels not their roof.

Close call for Block and Gelsomino on the shake down stage, as they have a Monster of a wreck. [Photo/ Neil McDaid].

This year the crew of Car #43 would not make it as far as the jump. A little over a mile into the practice stage they would slid wide and connect hard with a large tree, resulting in heavy damage to their open class Factory team Subaru. Alex would suffer a mild concussion; Ken was shaken but unharmed. Making every effort to preserve his slight lead in the Rally America Championship, Subaru USA Rally team opted to send to Vermont for the back up car . Because of Alex’s concussion, Block would also have to locate another co-driver to get back into the rally.
Step up veteran US Rally Champion Driver, and sometimes co-driver, and also multiple winner of STPR, John Buffum. With a great effort by the Subaru service crew that ran into the wee hours, Block and Buffum were ready to roll from the green in Wellsboro on Saturday morning.

Down from previous years, some 52 teams were scheduled to start the rally. Despite the lower entry the quality of equipment had improved greatly over prior years, STPR would also enjoy one of the largest number of spectators ever.
The action got going on SS1, “Asaph Run.” Andrew Pinker, behind the wheel of his black Subaru STI, would throw down the early marker. Running first on the road, he set the fastest time for the stage with Canadians Antoine L'Estage, in the Hyundai, in second and Andrew Comrie-Picard flying the Mitsubishi colors, at full of rack through the spactator area in third.

Seamus Burke, with Eddie Fries on the notes, would lead the attack for the Irish in their Evo 8, starting seventh on the road. Unfortunately for Burke, about half way through the first stage he would catch Otis Dimiters who had lost time due to a slight off. Battling the dust and stones from Dimiters, Seamus could only manage tenth quickest over the 9.8 mile stage. He would also suffer a severely cracked windscreen from the rocks.

Charlie Donnelly and Noel Gallagher would set fastest time for the Irish on SS1, posting a time good enough for ninth overall. Despite the great effort by the Subaru service team throughout the night, fuel problems would force the retirement of Ken Block and John Buffum on SS2.
Without question the most popular stage for spectators at STPR is the “Subaru Water Splash.” In the past this stage had been run as the first stage, but this year the organizers would change it to SS4. It gets its name from the dramatic flying finish in the middle of a small river which has been notorious over the years for ending the event early for some.
The large number of spectators in attendance at the Subaru Water Splash were not disappointed with the nonstop action. Antoine L'Estage would set the fastest time by some four seconds over Andrew Pinker. Seamus Burke would set the sixth fastest time but would have a few tense moments after crossing the water as he struggled to keep his partially drown Mitsubishi running.
With 4 of the 10 scheduled stages complete, teams would return to Wellsboro for the lunch

break and the longest service of the day.

Donnelly takes the victory in the Sherwood Forest rally, before it would all come to a suddent stop on SS9.[Photo/ NeilMcDaid]

In conjunction with the main Rally America national event, two regional rallies are also run on the same stages. Competitors can opt to enter one or all three events. Stages 1-4 would make up the Sherwood Forest Rally. Charlie Donnelly and Noel Gallagher would take the top honors. Taking second overall would be fellow Irish driver Paddy Brennan with Barry McCann. It would be the highlight for the Irish at STPR as trouble loomed ahead.
Under heavy skies, the competitors would make the long transit to SS5 and the beginning of the evening section of the rally.
SS5 “Twelve to Lebo 1” would be the first stage victory by the defending Rally America Champion, Travis Pastrana, who had struggled to get on the pace all day. Pastrana had just returned from Ireland where he took first place in the motorcycle technical freestyle competition in the Red Bull X-Fighters Tour, which was held in front of 35,000 at Slane Castle.
Ramana Lagemann would take his second stage of the day setting the fastest time on SS6 “Francis Lee 1.” Andrew Pinker would take second and the Donegal duo of Burke and Fries would find their pace to take third. Pastrana would capture fourth, after a close encounter with a

ditch.

"Don't cut".Travis cuts a little to much on ss6,

Paddy Brennan and Shane McCann would approach our location about 8 miles into SS6, with smoke billowing from the car from a suspected blown turbo. To avoid further damage, Paddy pulled his Subaru aside and retired from the event.
SS7 would be canceled due to spectators problems. At the final service of the day, with three stages remaining, Andrew Pinker had a firm hold on the overall lead with a 17 second advantage over Ramana Lagemann. Pastrana would hold third and Seamus Burke was holding down fourth.
Defending STPR Champion Matt Iorio would not come out of the last service. A mishap in fuel filling earlier in the day left Iorio battling gasoline fumes in the cockpit and ultimately forced them to retire with a damaged transmission.

Lagemann, holds down second, to seal his spot in the X-GAMES [Photo/ NeilMcDaid]

SS8, “Twelve to Lebo 2” would see Lagemann putting pressure on Pinker setting the fastest time by a mere 2 seconds.

SS9 “ Francis Lee 1” would prove to be a disaster for the remaining Irish drivers in the hunt. Two miles into the 10 mile stage, Seamus Burke would clip something on the road and puncture a front wheel. Rather than loosing the three minutes it would take to change the wheel, Burke would drive the remain 8 miles on the rim. By the end of the stage the flapping tire shred and the disintegrating rim tore the front fender [wing] to pieces. Burke would be 2:38 off the pace of Andrew Pinker, who set the fastest time for the stage.

For Charlie Donnelly and Noel Gallagher their rally would come to a sudden and spectacular end on stage 9. “We slid wide just before we wrecked,” said Donnelly. “I think we must have damaged a rear control arm. The car just became uncontrollable and we went off. I think we rolled three times; we were lucky to walk away.”

Charlie had a bit of a stiff neck but apart from a bit of bruised pride, he and Noel were just glad to be walking around. For the car, that might be a different story as it sustained heavy damage.
There are two major rally championships in the USA; Rally America and the United States Rally Championship. Charlie set out in ‘07 to focus on the United States Rally Championship and, up until this point, things were going according to plan. He is still currently well ahead in the points. This was his first and only planned rally in the Rally America series. Hopefully the car is repairable and Charlie can get back on track for the championship.

The final stage of the rally was also canceled due to continued spectators issues. In the end it would be all Andrew Pinker, collecting his second outright victory of the year, which moved him to the top in the Rally America Championship. Ramana Lagemann was second and Travis Pastrana third overall. Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries would have to settle for fifth overall after the puncture on SS9. They were also the only surviving Irish team left in the event.

Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries approch the water crossing on SS4[Photo/ Neil McDaid ]

After STPR, the nine drivers expected to secure an X-Games invitation are: Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, Colin McRae -- the three medalists from last year's race -- and Tanner Foust, Andrew Pinker, Matt Iorio, Paul Choiniere, Ramana Lagemann and Andrew Comrie-Picard. All but Pinker competed at last summer's X-Games.Round six of the Rally America series moves to the northeast in July for the New England Forest Rally, formally known as The Maine Rally. One more top finishing driver is expected to earn a last-chance invitation which will be decided in Maine. Can Seamus Burke step up and grab a place in the X-Games to represent the Irish? Rally America also plans to extend two more special invitations but there are no indications yet as to who those final drivers might be.

Between now and Maine we are off to the Donegal International Rally. The organizers are expecting to see the largest turnout in the rally’s history. There’s not a bed or a shed available for miles. All this is due to the entry of WRC Champion Sebastian Loeb, who will come to Donegal to test for Ireland’s first WRC event. Look for a full report in the coming weeks.