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