AbhusAnseo

Peeling Out at 100 MPH with Ken Block

2011-01-21T15:50:00.001-05:00

2010-01-16T17:43:00.006-05:00

Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino at the starting line of Rally New York 09.

Photo: Neil McDaid

Forestburgh, New York (January 16, 2010) Earlier this week, the Town Council of Walton, New York approved the special use road permits for the 2010 edition of Rally New York USA. Together with the three-year contract with the Town of Thompson that encompasses the Village of Monticello, Rally New York, Ltd. has road permits for the event in place.

Rally New York USA, a two-day tarmac rally, is unique in that it is the only National Championship event in North America that is run entirely on tarmac roads. Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino won Rally New York USA in two previous years. Ken Block recently announced the formation of Monster World Rally Team and its participation in the 2010 World Rally Championship.

2010 Rally New York USA will be entirely based and headquartered in Walton, New York. The rally is a round of the United States Rally Championship (www.usrallychampionship.com) and allows full reconnaissance of the rally route and pace notes. Each of the two days is a separate round of New York Rally Championship (http://www.rallynewyork.net/nyrc.htm).

The program is as follows:

Thursday, April 15 – afternoon/ evening: Registration and scrutineering of competition vehicles
Friday, April 16 – morning: Reconnaissance of special stages in Walton
Friday, April 16 – afternoon / evening: Reconnaissance of special stages in Monticello, Ceremonial Start at Sullivan County Center in Monticello, racing at Concord Resort in Monticello, return to Walton in the evening
Saturday, April 17 – all day: Restart in Walton, racing in Walton, Ceremonial Finish at Delaware County Fairgrounds in Walton, post-event party and dinner in Walton
Sunday, April 18 – morning: Awards Ceremony

Rally New York, Ltd. is headquartered in Forestburgh, New York located ninety miles northwest of New York City in spectacular southern Catskill Mountains of Sullivan County. It is dedicated to furthering the sport of stage rallying in the United States.

The United States Rally Championship will continue its bold steps to make national competition in 2010 more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams. The Championship structure minimizes or, for many teams, eliminates the need for repeated cross-country travel during the Championship season by providing competition on each side of the country. The final round of the Championship at the end of the year counts both in the Atlantic Division and the Pacific Division and together with the results from all previous rounds decides the top spots in the Championship. As a result, 207 competitors, drivers and co-drivers, participated during the 2009 USRC season, nearly twice as many as in any other championship series in North America.

Atlantic Division teams will be again competing for coveted cash travel subsidies that will be awarded to top six teams in the Division. The total of $12,000 in subsidies will be distributed to Atlantic Division teams to assist them with travelling to the final round of the 2010 United States Rally Championship in Prescott, Arizona.

The Championship season consists of a combination of snow, gravel and tarmac events. Rallies in the United States Rally Championship allow for reconnaissance and pace notes. Tarmac events, full reconnaissance and pace notes make the United States Rally Championship unique in North America as no other series in North America encompasses all these features.

Source: Rally New York Media.

FIESTA TAKES ON ESPN’S X GAMES

2009-06-30T23:04:00.002-04:00

Dearborn, Mich. — The new Fiesta Rallycross cars have already created plenty of buzz in the enthusiast community with word of their North American motorsport debut in July’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado.
Now, the anticipation will be even greater as the Swedish Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution team has announced it will compete in ESPN’s X Games 15 in Los Angeles, Calif., July 30 – Aug. 2. Olsbergs MSE is entering the race with the famous Swedish driver Kenny Brack. The team will also field Ford Fiestas with Rockstar Energy Drink for drivers Tanner Foust and Brian Deegan. All three Fiestas will comply with Rally America Open Class specifications.
Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution will utilize BFGoodrich Tires at both the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and at ESPN’s X Games 15.
“The new Fiesta is already creating headlines around the world,” said Brian Wolfe, director of Ford North America Motorsport. “The announcement that it would compete at Pikes Peak was greeted so positively by enthusiasts everywhere. Now, to back it up with competition at the X Games will just create even more buzz for the car.”
The X Games, considered the premier action sports event in the world, features athletes from across the globe competing in a variety of sports, ranging from skateboarding, motocross, BMX and rally car racing. X Games 15 will be covered live on ESPN's family of networks, including ABC, as well as across ESPN's many digital media assets, including Xgames.com and ESPN360.com.
The three Fiestas will be driven by an all-star lineup, which includes an Indy 500 winner, a former X Games rally champion and a 10-time X Games medalist.
The 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack, who will drive the 2009 Fiesta 3-door hatchback, is making his X Games debut. Brack was the ‘98 IndyCar Series champion and was a factory driver for Ford Racing’s Champ Car entry Rahal Letterman Racing. Brack sustained significant injures in a major accident at Texas Motor Speedway in ‘03 while driving for RLR, but he returned to the car at the Indy 500 in ‘05, subbing for the injured Buddy Rice and posting the fastest qualifying speed (227.598 mph) of the field. Brack has been retired since ‘06, pursuing his music career, but still drives competitively in special events. Olsbergs and Kenny Brack have had a long-term partnership and at present Kenny and Olsbergs are acting as mentors for a new promising Swedish racing star, 17-year old Markus Eriksson.
Rockstar Energy Rally driver Tanner Foust will drive a race-prepared ‘09 Fiesta 5-door hatchback. He is a winning competitor in rally, drift, ice racing and time attack with a proven track record of multiple podium placements and national championships. Foust has seen success in Drift and Rally in the last few seasons. In addition to winning the both the ‘07 and ‘08 Formula Drift Pro Drift Championship, he also took the Silver medal as runner-up in the 2008 Summer X Games Pro Rally race.
Foust won the ‘07 X Games Gold Medal in the Pro Rally for the Rockstar Energy Rally team. He was selected to represent Team USA in the annual Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium in London, UK this past December. He teamed with Ford Racing NASCAR star Carl Edwards to do battle with the world's fastest drivers and riders from Formula One, World Rally Championship, Superbike and Touring Car racing.
Joining Foust will be Moto X star Brian Deegan, a 10-time medalist at the X Games, including three gold medals for Moto X Best Trick (‘02, ‘03, ‘05). Earlier this year, Deegan launched a Pro-Lite class off road truck team in Championship Off-Road Racing under a newly formed Rockstar/Metal Mulisha/Caffaro Motorsports banner. Named one of the Top 100 Action Sports Stars by ESPN in ‘04, Deegan has competed at every X Games rally event and will drive a ‘08 Fiesta 3-door hatchback.
This will be the first time a Ford race car has been part of the X Games’ Rally competition.
"We are very excited to see the Fiesta competing not only at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, but also at the X Games in LA,” said Jost Capito, director of Ford Global Motorsport Business Development. “The competition will be extremely strong in both events, but we’ve put together a strong team with the Rockstar/BF Goodrich Tires Fiestas and our all star drivers. The Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution race team is doing an outstanding job in preparing the cars for both of these world famous events."

Ford tightens its grip on leading places in dramatic day in Italy

2009-05-24T02:29:00.003-04:00

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team strengthened its one-two position at the head of the leaderboard in Rally d'Italia Sardegna today. Overnight leaders Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila retained top spot in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car despite enduring the worst of the dusty and slippery road conditions.

The Finns are 9.9sec ahead of team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and the Ford pair extended the advantage over their nearest challenger to more than a minute. The second leg of this sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship was one of attrition. While the Focus RS WRCs ran free of problems, five leading drivers were sidelined as the rocky gravel roads and temperatures, which topped 30ºC, took a heavy toll on the entry list.After an early morning start from the rally base in Olbia, competitors tackled two identical loops of speed tests south-west of the town covering 130.74km.

The loops were split by a return to the service park in Olbia at lunchtime.Latvala faced the unenviable task of leading the 53 starters through the special stages, sweeping the roads clear of loose gravel to leave a cleaner and faster line for those behind. However, the 24-year-old delivered a superb performance over the three morning tests as he preserved much of his lead, his 39.8sec advantage only reduced to 27.0sec.

A trio of third fastest times this afternoon enabled him to stay ahead of a charging Hirvonen. "Today was almost perfect, apart from a small spin at a junction in an asphalt section of the penultimate stage," said Latvala. "I drove as well as I could in those conditions and expected to lose more time.

It was hard to judge the braking points this morning because as first car into the stages, there were no marks to help me. Running first was good for my experience and I needed to learn how to drive in those conditions."The gap to Mikko is very small and it will be hard for me to hold him off tomorrow as I will again open the stages.

I would have liked a lead of about 25sec tonight, or to be behind Mikko and force him to do the cleaning role that I had to do today. But if I can drive like I have today then a win isn't out of the question," he added.Hirvonen, second overnight, was equally impressive behind the wheel of his Focus RS WRC in both fighting off closest challenger Sébastien Loeb and closing in on Latvala.

He was fastest on the opening test of each loop and widened the gap to Loeb before the Frenchman lost a minute with a puncture on the penultimate stage. He then sliced almost 10sec off Latvala's lead in the final test to close on his fellow countryman. "I'm going for the win tomorrow," said 28-year-old Hirvonen, who has shaken off the effects of the fever which hampered him yesterday. "The situation looks good now. I took time from Jari-Matti today and he must clean the roads again tomorrow. It has been a great rally so far, but tomorrow won't be straight forward and it's easy to make a simple, but costly, mistake here. "My day was very constant and my only problems came in stage eight this morning when I twice had to slow to allow wild horses to cross the road.

On the first occasion there were about seven or eight and then I came upon two more, about 8km further on. It was like the Wild West!" he said. Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and Michael Orr enjoyed a good day to climb from 10th to seventh in their Focus RS. They enjoyed a close fight with Conrad Rautenbach this morning, swapping positions on every stage, before overcoming a lack of power steering this afternoon to move up the order. "The problem started on the liaison section after lunchtime service. I

contemplated retiring, but persevered and it was worth it – although my arms feel very tired now," said Al Qassimi. BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson praised the efforts of both Latvala and Hirvonen. "It has been the best performance of the year so far. Both have driven fantastically well, especially given the disadvantage of their start position, and stayed out of trouble on the rough stages.

It will be hard for Jari-Matti to stay ahead of Mikko as he must sweep the roads again, but the most important thing is to retain first and second," he said. News from other Ford teams Stobart drivers Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin had a troublefree day to climb from ninth to sixth in their Focus RS WRC. Team-mates Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud climbed to fifth on the opening stage, but a right rear puncture in the morning's final stage cost more than a minute and three positions. The Norwegians were sidelined this afternoon with broken front right suspension in the penultimate test and will restart tomorrow in 10th.

Munchi's drivers Federico Villagra and Jorge Perez Companc restarted under SupeRally rules after retiring yesterday but retired again at the lunchtime service when Companc felt ill. They will not restart tomorrow. Tomorrow’s Route The final day is the shortest of the event. After leaving Olbia at 06.00, drivers face two loops of stages, split by a return to the town for service. Two stages south of the town feature in both laps, with a single run in the second loop through a test to the north, near the Costa Smeralda coastline.

The finish is in Porto Cervo at 14.15. Leaderboard after Day 2

1. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 58min 03.5sec

2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 58min 13.4sec

3. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Citroen Xsara 2hr 59min 16.1sec

4. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 2hr 59min 18.3sec

5. E Novikov/D Moscatt RUS Citroen C4 3hr 00min 49.5sec

6. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 3hr 03min 06.3sec

7. K Al Qassimi/M Orr UAE Ford Focus RS 3hr 05min 01.4sec

8. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 3hr 07min 22.3sec

9. M Østberg/V Engan NOR Subaru Impreza 3hr 10min 32.5sec

10 H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 3hr 10min 33.6sec

#fiestamovement :New 2010 Ford Fiesta R2 Rally Car launched

2009-05-22T16:05:00.004-04:00

An all-new Ford Fiesta R2 rally car, based on the top-selling Ford Fiesta road car launched last year, was unveiled at the Rally d'Italia Sardegna this evening.

Designed to replace the hugely successful Fiesta ST rally car, the new vehicle is targeted at competitors in the Fiesta SportTrophy series around the globe, as well as in regional rally championships.

The Fiesta R2 will conform to the latest FIA regulations and satisfy strong customer demand for an exciting yet affordable point of entry into rallying. While the car will not compete in Sardinia, it will be driven as a course safety car ahead of the main entry by FST International Shootout winner Matthias Boon (BEL) and co-driver Massimiliano Bosi (ITA).The development bodyshell for the R2 project was revealed by M-Sport at the Autosport International Show in the UK in

January 2009.

As one of Europe’s biggest motorsport shows, the project generated great interest and excitement from potential competitors and the public alike. Work on the base design of the car, the result of successful engineering co-operation between M-Sport and Ford, is now almost complete and engineers are undertaking a comprehensive test programme in readiness for a proposed homologation date of 1 July 2009. The five-speed Fiesta R2 rally car is based on the Ford Fiesta Sport (Zetec S in the UK and Ireland) using the 1.6L Ti-Vct 120PS (1598cc) base engine as in regular production. It is built from a standard conversion kit developed by M-Sport.

The kit to convert the car to rally specification includes engine parts to increase the engine performance including pistons, conrods, camshafts, valve springs, injectors, airbox, air filter, spark plugs and a sump baffle kit. The gearbox has been replaced for a sequential shift unit with a limited slip differential, along with upgraded brakes and Reiger suspension. Beyond these specific items, the intention is for the car to use many standard components from the Ford Fiesta and other Ford road vehicles to reduce costs for the competitor. Standard conversion kits will be available from M-Sport or an appointed national sales outlet.

The knowledge gained from the world-title winning Ford Focus RS WRC has been transferred to the creation of the Fiesta R2 under the leadership of M-Sport’s Principal Engineer Chris Williams, who was also responsible for the success of the Fiesta ST, which sold in 27 different countries. Last month M-Sport announced the development of a Super 2000 Fiesta for competition at the sport's highest level. These two vehicles, the Super 2000 and the R2, will create a complete ladder of opportunity for rally competitors to graduate from grass roots level to WRC using Ford vehicles.

M-Sport Managing Director Malcolm Wilson said:“The development of this car has created a lot of excitement over the past few months and I’m delighted that we have now been able to unveil the Fiesta here in Sardinia. There’s no doubting that the R2 has large boots to fill: the GpN Fiesta ST is still achieving frequent class wins around the world and has finished as high as 25th overall in the WRC, an amazing feat for a small car.

The experience and knowledge that our engineers have gained with the ST has been key in developing the R2 into a more ‘sophisticated’ car, whilst it has inherited the basic strength and reliability that made the ST so popular – and all at a lower cost than other competing manufacturers.”Ford of Europe Motorsport Director Mark Deans said:"The continued commitment of M-Sport to its Fiesta SportTrophy series is great news and we are eager to see the new Fiesta in rallying. The road car has deservedly received huge acclaim since its launch last autumn and will provide the perfect base vehicle. I'm confident the R2 will play a key role as the ideal entry-level car.

The development of this car is a product of enthusiastic collaboration between Ford and M-Sport and, allied with the recently-announced Super 2000 Fiesta, offers a complete ladder of opportunity to guide ambitious and talented drivers from the sport's base level through to the very top in Ford vehicles. While Ford of Europe's principle motorsport activity remains the FIA World Rally Championship, we will do everything we can at a local level to support the Fiesta SportTrophy in individual markets and we wish M-Sport every success with their new Fiesta projects."

Fiesta R2 SpecificationDonor vehicle: Ford Fiesta 1.6 Sport / Zetec S. Model dated from September 2008 for purchase from any source.

Promotional price available from M-Sport. Engine: 1.6 Zetec 16V – 1598cc – Ti-VCT; 4 cylinders in line; DOHC; 16 valves; alloy cylinder head and block; variable cam timing. Power: 163 PS @ 7,500 rpmTorque: 182 Nm @ 5,700 rpm

Transmission: Five speed sequential gearbox developed by Sadev with plated limited slip differential and uprated driveshafts.

ECU developed by Pi with flat shift feature with full throttle closed loop control shift.Suspension: Reiger adjustable dampers with Eibach springs, spherical jointed top mounts front and rear. Front dampers adjustable for bump and rebound.

Standard rear beam with uprated mounts. 2-bolt clamped front upright. Adaptor pin mounted in uprights with spherical bearing connecting the lower arm. Five stud hub.Brakes: Gravel (front): 285 mm AP ventilated discs with four piston competition calipers. Asphalt (front): 310 mm AP ventilated discs with four piston competition calipers.

Rear: 280 mm AP ventilated discs with single piston calipers.Hydraulic handbrake.Steering: Electric power-assisted steering.Wheels: Gravel: OZ 6”x15” GravelAsphalt: OZ 6.5”x16” AsphaltBodyshell: Welded T45 steel multipoint rollcage. Optimised seat position and integrated dash bar.

Jacking points optional and seam welding is permitted.Electronics: Bespoke instrument cluster by Visteon in the same style as the standard series cluster.Dimensions: Length: 3953mm. Width: 1722mm. Height: 1481mm. Wheelbase: 2490mm. Weight: 1030kg.

Stobart improve in heat-soaked Sardinia

2009-05-22T15:59:00.002-04:00

Friday May 22nd 09: Stobart VK M-Sport Ford drivers Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson overcame early problems to put themselves in a powerful position going into day two of Rally d’Italia Sardenga, the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

With tactical driving strongly in evidence on day one as crews jostled for the best position on Saturday’s rough, dusty stages, Solberg is lying in sixth place while Wilson ended the day in ninth. Following the ceremonial start which attracted huge numbers of fans to the town hall in Olbia on Thursday night the rally got underway 70kms to the south-west of Service Park this morning with two loops of three stages.

High temperatures meant that the roads were dusty while the hard, rocky base provided a big challenge for the 58 starters.Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin had the worst possible start to their rally as they were struck by hydraulic problems less than a kilometre into the opening stage. The hydraulic failure meant that Wilson was forced to use the manual gear shift and lost a lot of the Ford Focus RS WRC’s handling as the centre diff was affected. The young Briton did well to keep his composure and make it through to the end of the morning loop but was trailing the leaders by nearly two minutes in 13th place.

However, the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team mechanics worked hard to fix the problem during the midday service and Wilson was able to push harder in the afternoon, picking up four places over the course of three stages to finish the day back inside the top ten and with good road position for day two.After posting an excellent time in shakedown on Thursday, Solberg failed to find his rhythm during the early stages today and fell down the field behind young chargers Evgeny Novikov, Sebastien Ogier and Mads Ostberg. The team made some small changes to the set-up of the car before the second loop to try and improve grip and handling, and these paid off in the afternoon as the Norwegian and co-driver Cato Menkerud moved up the leaderboard.

A loose catch meant that Solberg lost his bonnet during SS5 Loelle 2. But despite the handling issues that this caused he still managed to post the fourth fastest time on the final stage of the day SS6 Crastazza 2 leaving him in a tactically strong sixth position going into Saturday’s stages.With temperatures on the Mediterranean island soaring, the second pass of the stages was particularly hard on the tyres, but the Pirelli Scorpion rubber stood up well to the conditions.Day two will present an extra challenge for the drivers as they face two completely new stages. SS7 Sa Linea which follows a disused railway line is expected to be very rough and rocky. From there the crews move on to the 22.02km Fiorentini through the forests of central Sardinia before tackling Monte Lerno, the longest stage of the rally.

The Italian rally fans are expected to be out in force there to see one of the most famous jumps on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar. With weather conditions expected to remain dry and hot throughout the whole weekend, dust will continue to be a problem while drivers’ concentration will be tested to the maximum as they contest 130.74kms of special stage action.Other rally newsBP Ford Abu Dhabi drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen are leading the rally at the end of day one. Latvala holds a 39-second lead over his team mate who lies just ahead of Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb.

The Frenchman slowed on the final stage of the day in order to gain better road position on day two. Petter Solberg showed good pace throughout day one and is fourth in his updated Citroen Xsara just ahead of Russian youngster Evegeny Novikov who rounds of the top five.But it was a hard day for Loeb’s Citroen team mate Dani Sordo who picked up a time penalty after arriving late to SS1. Meanwhile Munchi’s Ford driver Federico Villagra is in danger of losing his 100 per cent points scoring record so far this season after suffering a mechanical failure on SS5.

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Matthew Wilson said: “It has been a difficult first day of the rally for us. Obviously we had our problems this morning when we lost hydraulic pressure and the paddle gear shift. That put us on the back foot. But everything went fine this afternoon on the second pass, although it was difficult on the last stage as the rough conditions affected the tyre wear and the car was moving around a lot. We also struggled to make pace notes on that stage during the recce so they weren’t precise enough.

But we’re in a good road position for tomorrow. Those stages are also very difficult but we’ll just concentrate on having a good drive.”Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg said:“I am still trying to get the correct feeling with the car. There’s no major problem with it but I just don’t have full confidence at the moment.

The stages are very difficult, narrow but fast, and you have to be committed and have a good feeling with the car to push hard on them. We changed the springs during the day which helped and we will also make some minor changes in service tonight. Nothing major but hopefully it will help me to push harder tomorrow.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson said:“It has been a difficult day for both Stobart crews today, but both cars are now in an ideal position to do well tomorrow, especially Henning. We have seen today that road position is quite important so hopefully it’ll help both crews to be starting where they are tomorrow.

Matthew suffered some problems on the first three stages today but he put that behind him and had a strong finish to the day. Both crews are currently in the points and they’re in a prime position to build on a good start tomorrow.”

Leaderboard at end of day one1.

J-M Latvala/M Anttila (FIN) Ford Focus RS 1h24m14.5s2.

M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen(FIN) Ford Focus RS +39.8s3.

S Loeb/D Elena (FRA) Citroën C4 +42.8s 4.

P Solberg/P Mills (NOR) Citroën Xsara +46.4s5.

E Novikov/D Moscatt (RUS) Citroën C4 +1m04.7s6.

H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR) Ford Focus RS +1m08.2s7.

Mads Ostberg/V Engen (NOR) Subaru Impreza +1m16.6s8.

D Sordo/M Marti (ESP) Citroën C4 +1m37.3s9.

M Wilson/S Martin (GB) Ford Focus RS +2m33.8s10.

K Al Qassimi/M Orr (UAE) Ford Focus RS +2.59.9s

ACP set to defend Rally America Championship lead.

2009-04-18T00:58:00.001-04:00

April 17th 2009, Aberdeen, Washington — Rally driver Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard is set to defend his lead in the Rally America national championship at the challenging Olympus Rally in Aberdeen, Washington this weekend (April 18-19).
“We’re looking forward to a strong performance at this technical event,” said Comrie-Picard. “These are the kinds of roads that really suit our team.”
The team took back-to-back podium finishes in their NOS Energy Mitsubishi during the first two events in the season and are now tied with Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust for the championship lead.
The rugged course this weekend promises to test competitors’ range of skills, with roads that transition between twisty and tree-lined, to fast and flowing – with daunting drop-offs always a possibility should drivers end up off-course. The rally will be based in the ocean-side community of Aberdeen, with day-long Service Parks in Taholah on Saturday, April 18, and South Bend on Sunday, April 19.
“The NOS Energy car is in terrific condition, and we found 30 horsepower more on the AMS Performance dyno last week with fairly simple mods,” said Comrie-Picard. “We’re looking forward to continuing our championship charge.”
With fairly cool weather and the possibility of rain, this event could be especially challenging, particularly for the leading teams who will claw tooth-and-nail for fractions of a second advantage over the two-day contest.
The event will see Robbie Durant return to the co-driver’s seat after his podium debut with the team in Missouri.
In addition to Foust, Comrie-Picard will also be looking to ward off a challenge by the factory Subaru Rally Team USA drivers – Red Bull’s Travis Pastrana and Monster Energy’s Ken Block -- who are tied for second place overall in the championship.
Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover hundreds of miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.
The sport is also featured in the annual X Games, the premier action sports event on the globe, featuring athletes competing for medals and prize money in sports including BMX Freestyle, Moto X, Skateboard, and Rally. Comrie-Picard has been among the dozen invited drivers every year since the rally discipline was introduced to the contest, and he has already secured an early invitation to return in 2009.
Driver Comrie-Picard is also slated to begin running select events in the prestigious Formula D drifting series in the coming months.
“The two sports are awesome demonstrations of car control and I’m looking forward to this new kind of competition,” said Comrie-Picard. “It’s a different kind of driving, but there are a lot of complimentary skills and it’s an exciting challenge for the team.”
The Rally America national championship includes nine events in a cross-continent season that extends from January to late October. The Canadian Rally Championship has six events from coast to coast. ACP Rally will contest a busy season, with rally events on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, select drift events -- and the X Games.
End
Source: ACP Rally

GRAPPLE AGAINST AUTISM

2009-04-16T00:58:00.000-04:00

GRAPPLE AGAINST AUTISM
May 9 in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (April, 15, 2009) – Jonathan Cimins, nephew of Grapplers Quest founder, Brian Cimins, was diagnosed with Autism at only 18 months of age. For the last five years, the Cimins family has supported Autism Awareness and created, “Jonathan’s Team,” to help raise funds for education, treatments, and, hopefully, a cure at each Grapplers Quest Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament nationwide.

Grapplers Quest --“The World’s Largest Grappling Competition” -- is celebrating its 10th anniversary by bringing the 15th West Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships to The Sports Center (121 East Sunset Road) in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 9 (10:30 AM--6:30 PM).

One dollar from each spectator ticket or competitor fee purchased will be donated to help support the founder’s nephew, Jonathan’s alternative Autism Biomedical Treatment, by Dr. Neubrander, of Princeton, New Jersey. For tickets to Grapplers Quest go to http://www.grapplersquest.com/store/content.cfm?product_type=ticket

Submission Grappling is the ground fighting art of Mixed Martial Arts, combining the throws of Olympic Judo, takedowns of Greco-Roman and/or Freestyle Wrestling, leg locks from Russian Sambo, and various other submissions loke arm-bars and chokes from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Grapplers Quest organizes the official National, Regional, North American and World competitions for Submission Grappling, the submission style ground-fighting sport.

“Grapplers Quest will crown the Best Submission Grapplers and Jiu Jitsu fighters in the West in all age groups and skill levels in the largest grappling tournament in the history of the sport on May 9,” Brian Cimins explained. “It is an event not to be missed. Grapplers Quest draws some of the best fighters and grapplers in the world, plus you’ll meet tons of MMA Superstars in attendance. MMA and wrestling fans will love the sport of Submission Grappling, as well as support Autism Awareness by attending this event. See you mat-side, May 9th.”

Grapplers Quest will host the 2009 Grappling World Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for Ultimate Fighter, Season 2 Champion and Las Vegas favorite, Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, who will be there coaching his team, meeting fans, and accepting the prestigious Hall of Fame Award.

About Autism:
Autism is a complex brain disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships as well behavioral challenges. Autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed in one in 150 children in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called Autism a national public health crisis whose cause and cure remain unknown. For more information on Autism, visit: www.AutismSpeaks.org

About Grapplers Quest:
Grapplers Quest is the world’s largest submission grappling organization with 300,000+ competitors worldwide since 1998 and owned by The Grapplers Company. Grappling Events feature divisions for men, women, and children of all ages and skill levels with events in major metropolitan cities throughout North America and Europe. For more information, go to: www.GrapplersQuest.com
###

Rally New York 2009

2009-04-15T20:32:00.012-04:00

Ulster County Legislative Representative, Susan Cummings (R-C-I) Starts Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino @ Rally New York 2009

"The Excitement is Back" Rally New York, 2009
Report and pictures by Neil McDaid

Ellenville, New York - After a long and snowy winter rally fans in the Northeast finally got back out onto the stages for the 2009 running of Rally New York. This was round one of the United States Rally Championship. Despite the wind, a couple of torrential downpours and a few snow flurries for good measure, rally fans were treated to some high speed action and a front row seat to some big moments over the two day event. The 2008 Rally New York champion, Team Subaru USA driver Ken Block, and co-driver Alex Gelsomino were back seeking a repeat. And repeat they did in dominating style.

Despite the still struggling economy [in case you needed reminding] Rally New York enjoyed a healthy entry with 39 cars set to take to the stages on day one. Much excitement, anticipation and speculation swirled in the weeks and days leading up to the rally with this very competitive lineup in place.
After a ceremonial start in Kerhonkson, NY, the rally finally got underway on Friday morning. The first stage was just a few miles from Rally Headquarters, which was at the newly renovated Honor’s Heaven Resort in Ellenville. SS1, named once again in honor of wounded gulf war veteran Sgt. Eddie Ryan, would give the crews a taste for the conditions that lay ahead.
As returning champions Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino would lead the charge. Block would drive his 2007 car, as his new style ‘09 spec Subaru was already on its way to the Olympus Rally on the west coast.

Subaru Rally Team USA Drive Ken Block at full tilt on ss14

Block was followed on the road by the Donegal duo of Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries in their Mitsubishi Evo 9. Third on the road, coming out of a semi-retirement from rally, representing the Co Louth, "Lawless by name and lawless by nature" - Tom Lawless. He had big hopes, or should I say big predictions, for his newly developed Mitsubishi. Otis Dimiters, flying the colors of his native Latvia, would start fourth on this opening day. Rounding out the top five was the promising newcomer to rally, Joseph Burke.

Unfortunately for Joseph and co-driver Ole Holter in their Kearney Motorsport Subaru, their Rally would come to a spectacular and sudden stop just several miles into the very first stage. Joseph has had some very successful outings on gravel, but the tarmac and SS1 at Rally New York are definitely proving a challenge for the young gun. Not 200 yards from where he rolled in 2007, Joseph went off hitting several large trees. Thankfully, both driver and co-driver walked away unharmed.

As most slipped and slided through the first stage, struggling for traction on cut slicks, Ken Block and Team Subaru had clearly made the correct tire choice and ran on full wets. They were rewarded with the stage victory, some 7 seconds faster than Tom Lawless who claimed second.
At the first service stop of the day, with six stages complete, Block had already put a 25 second gap between him and the rest of the competitors. Otis Dimiters was sitting second, with Tyrone man Charlie Donnelly in third.

After an impressive start, Seamus Burke would limp into service with a mangled right
front corner on his Mitsubishi. Burke had been caught out on a slippy crest near the end of SS6, where he got up close and personal with a section of Armco barrier at over 95mph! Burke dropped to fourth. Tom Lawless and Brian Sharkey rounded out the top five.

Robert Martai became the second victim of the rally, when he slid wide in his brand new Evo 10 on SS4 and relocated an outhouse. Thankfully, the facility was vacant at the time. Robert was able to make repairs and return under the super rally rules later in the day.
Rain and thunder continued to pummel the undaunted fans as they lined up on SS7 for one of three passes for the very popular and exciting "stone pillar hair pin." Again, Block would set a blistering pace on the short 4.1 miles stage, Block was a second a mile faster than Dimiters who was stilling on the 2nd place.

Brothers Josh and Jeremy Wimpy had been dominating the pace among the two drive cars in their VW Golf, but late use of the hand brake on SS9 ended their rally as they demolished two of the stone piers resulting in a broken axel.

With the rain finally letting up the teams would make the transit to Monticello for the final four stages on day one, a high speed attack down the service road that ran through the middle of Concord Golf Course. Block would take three of the four stages in Monticello, with Otis Dimiters eking out a .06 advantage to take the stage victory, SS15, which was the last stage on day one.
As crews returned to Ellenville for the overnight halt, it was clearly Ken Block’s rally to lose. He was now ahead of Dimiters by 51 seconds. Despite their hair rising moment on SS6 and turbo problems on SS7, Burke and Fries fought and scratched their way back to third. Further down the field Dan Brosnan and Shane McCann in their Mayo Group sponsored Nissan were taking control of the 2WD class.

Day one would also see the retirement of Charlie Donnelly and Barry Smyth despite being well in the hunt early in the day and setting the fastest time on SS9. Rally New York is Charlie’s Achilles Heel, as he just can’t seem to finish the event.

Tom Lawless, getting back in form after being missing from competition for some time.

Day-two, with the sun making a brief appearance, drivers were quickly awakened with the steep and twisty challenge of SS 16-17 "South Gully." Tom Lawless, with the bit between his teeth, managed to better Block by a few ticks of the clock on the first test. Keeping things in check, Block took the second charge up the hill, to claim his 14th stage win of the rally.
The rally would then move some 70 miles northwest to the town of Walton for the final six stages. Rally New York lost a great member of their team earlier this year to a medical condition, Steve Bogart. In his memory three of the six stages in Walton were named in his honor.

As the crews started the first of the Walton stages, the weather again rapidly deteriorated. Winds gusted to 30mph with rain and occasional snow. These were some of the fastest tarmac stages seen at Rally New York in years, and they were made even more treacherous by the mud and gravel pulled onto the roads with each pass, as the front runner cut the corners to shave time. Average speeds were well in access of 80mph.

Otis Dimiters and co-driver Dominik Jozwiak had a heart stopping spin on SS18. The
car would aquaplane on some standing water and rotated 360 degrees, at well over 110mph. They mowed down several small pine trees before coming to rest on a grassy lane. Somehow the cars sustained only minor damage and were able to continue. The entire moment was caught on in-car video and is making the rounds on YouTube. Tom Lawless set a blistering time on SS21, Houck Mountain 2 to take his second stage win of the rally.

After two very challenging days Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino were joined on the podium by Otis Dimiters and Dominik Jozwiak in second and Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries in third. Daniel O’Brien [Kerry] and Paddy Brennan [Cavan] took fourth and fifth to round out the top five.
Dan Brosnan and Shane McCann had the tri-color flying as they celebrated taking the win in the2WD category. Another great time @ Rally New York was in the bag.
Next up: Block heads west to continue his pursuit of his first Rally America Championship. For the Irish it’s onto round two of the USRC @ Rally Tennessee in May, Block has also confirmed he will attend this rally, and will debut his newly prepared Mk11 Escort, I hope he got a few spare taillight and bumpers.

Manfredo calls out John Duddy

2009-04-15T15:28:00.000-04:00

Manfredo goes back to the future
Fights Walid Smichet Saturday in Montreal

PROVIDENCE (April 15, 2009) – Former world title challenger Peter Manfredo, Jr., free from his promotional contract ties with the Tournament of Contenders, has gone back to the future, hooking-up with his original promoter, Jimmy Burchfield, and fighting against Walid “Tempete de Sable” Smichet this Saturday afternoon at Montreal Casino.

Manfredo (31-6, 16 KOs), 28, faces Schmidt (20-5-3, 14 KOs) in the10-round co-feature that has career-determining implications for both fighters. Manfredo, star of The Contender, Season I, plans to work his way down to the middleweight division, although this bout is at 168-pounds.

“I only had three weeks to get ready for this fight, so making it for 168 is a trade off, I guess, for fighting this guy in his backyard,” Manfredo explained. “I feel good about dropping my weight to 160. I was too small as a super middleweight and I’ll be just right at middleweight. I won’t be a huge middleweight like Kelly Pavlik, but look at Sergio Mora. I beat him our second fight (Mora won a controversial decision); he beat me the first fight. He won a world title at 154 and now he’s fighting Pavlik for the middleweight title. I see myself as better, or at least the equal of Mora. I know I can be world champion. I have to rebuild but I’m a fighter and that’s what we do….fight! Walid may not be a world champion, but he’s a tough competitor who can fight. Everybody saw what he did to (John) Duddy (Smichet busted-up Duddy, who received 30-plus stitches and lost out on a $1.45 million fight against Pavlik).”

Burchfield, president of Classic Entertainment and Sports, Inc. (CES), signed Manfredo in 2000 and masterfully moved Peter to 21-0 in 3 ½ years, including wins against former world champion Frankie Randall and The Contender III eventual winner Grady Brewer, as well as The Contender I star Anthony Bonsante, before agreeing to release “The Pride of Providence” in order to participate in The Contender, in which, Manfredo reached the season finale against Mora. For the past three years, CES worked in association with the Tournament of Contenders, outside of the television reality series, on behalf of Manfredo.

“We’re picking-up where we left off,” an excited Burchfield said about getting back with

(More…..)

2 – Manfredo-Smichet

Manfredo. “Peter is still one of the most marketable fighters in the world. He’s only 28 and wants to be world champion There’s a lot of upside. We had just signed a 3-year promotional contract and passed the CES ceremonial torch from Vinny Paz to Peter, when he asked for permission to fight on The Contender. He was the NABO champion and No. 3 in the WBO, but Peter’s like a son to me, and I couldn’t stop him from getting a shot at a $1-million prize for his family. That experience helped him become a household name in boxing circles. Our plan now calls for him to fight outside of New England for awhile, possibly one time in Italy, before fighting back at home. We have targeted (John) Duddy at middleweight.”

Nothing happens for Manfredo, however, unless he gets past Smichet, the former Canadian middleweight title-holder who has knocked-off previously unbeaten Matt O’Brien, fought a draw with Donny McCrary, and been in tough against Sebastien Demers and Duddy.

“He is a tough, hard-nosed, come forward fighter,” Manfredo’s father/head trainer Peter Manfredo, Sr. broke-down Smichet. “He is easy to figure out. Peter needs fight smart – box, angles, double-up on his jab, and work behind it. He can’t stand in front of him or it’s going to be a much harder fight. Everyone saw what this guy did to Duddy. You can’t get in too close with him because he has a nice right hand. I give a lot of credit to his trainer, Otis Grant.”

All of Manfredo’s pro losses have been to world champions or world-class fighters --Joe Calzaghe, Mora (twice), Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika and Alfonso Gomez – and half were of them super middleweight. Peter is on his way down to 160 pounds with Duddy clearly in his sights.

“Duddy’s a great guy, unbeaten contender and a big draw,” Manfredo concluded. “We could make a lot of money for each other, Italian versus Irishman, in a great fight for fans like (Arturo) Gatti and (Micky) Ward. If that fight doesn’t happen there’s guys like Demers and others, but I have to take care of Smichet first and show people I still have it.

“I’m glad to be back with Jimmy. He’s a great guy, like family. I started with him and trust him. I can talk to him about what’s on my mind, vent if I have to, and he’ll always send me in the right direction. I believe he can take me to the place I want to be – world champion. I have the name and he has the connections. Together we can make one last run. I’m taking it one fight at a time and we’ll see where it takes us.”

Go to www.cesboxng.com for more information about Classic Entertainment and Sports and Manfredo.

-CES-

CONTACT: Bob Trieger, Full Court Press, 978.64.4482, bobtfcp@hotmail.com

Petrol bombs fly again in Northern Ireland

2009-03-15T00:09:00.003-04:00

BELFAST, Ireland, March 15th 2009(AFP) — Gangs of youths threw petrol bombs at police in Northern Ireland on Saturday after a prominent republican was among three people arrested over the murder of two British soldiers.
The troubled province's police chief, meanwhile, warned that hundreds of dissidents, whom he described as "very dangerous", were aiming to derail its fledgling peace process.
The three men, aged 21, 32 and 41, were being questioned by police over the shooting of the soldiers at Massereene Barracks in Antrim, on March 7.
According to a police source, the 41-year-old was Colin Duffy, who has distanced himself from Republican party Sinn Fein since it agreed to share power with pro-London unionists.
In the aftermath of his arrest, gangs of masked youths threw stones at police near Duffy's home in Lurgan, and petrol bombs were later thrown at vehicles belonging to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), a police spokesman said.
"Missiles including petrol bombs and stones have been thrown at police at a number of locations in Lurgan," a PSNI spokesman said, adding that no one had been injured and no petrol bombs had been thrown since around 7:00 pm (1900 GMT).
The spokesman estimated that the youths had numbered around 20, and said that a male in his late teens was arrested but later released, while a male in his early teens had also been arrested.

Colin Duffy arrested

2009-03-14T16:11:00.002-04:00

Belfast Ireland, March 14th 2009, Eirigi spokesman Colin Duffy has been arrested by the PSNI police following a series of early morning raids across the North of Ireland.

PSNI teams in forensic suits have been searching Mr Duffy's house in a private estate in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Two other men have also been arrested in Lurgan and Bellaghy, County Derry, in connection with the 'Real IRA' attack on Massereene Army base last Saturday.

Local republican youths clashed with PSNI personnel deployed to the area.

Mr Duffy is a prominent republican in the area and has endured a lifetime of RUC/PSNI arrests and harassment.

Mr Duffy was released from prison in 1996 when a conviction for murder was quashed by the Appeal Court following three years of false imprisonment,

The prosecution case collapsed when it was revealled that their key witness, screened from view during the trial, was a loyalist gunrunner.

He was the most prominent client of human rights lawyer, Rosemary
Nelson, who was assassinated in 1999 by a unionist death squad. The
RUC/PSNI is widely believed to have colluded in the killing, currently the subject of a public inquiry.

The arrest of Mr Duffy is being viewed as part of a potential 'securocrat' backlash against republican hardliners in the wake of last week's attacks, in which two British soldiers and a PSNI man was killed.

A massive operation is currently underway by British forces in the north Armagh area. A total of six men have so far been arrested in the raids. and further disturbances are expected.

Meanwhile, the political group connected to the 'Real IRA' has warned that "if the conflict in Ireland is to end once and for all, so too must the illegal British claim to sovereignty over the Six Counties.

source: Irish Republican News

Sinn Fein runs risks in handling Northern Ireland violence

2009-03-12T11:00:00.001-04:00

By Carmel Crimmins - Analysis
BELFAST (Reuters) -March 12th 2009, Republicans in Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration have reassured their Protestant partners by denouncing guerrilla killings this week, but they risk losing support from hard-line nationalist backers.
Sinn Fein, political ally of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), won plaudits from Protestants who want the province to stay part of the United Kingdom by branding pro-Irish splinter groups as "traitors" for their attacks on security forces.
Two British soldiers were shot dead last weekend and a policeman was killed on Monday in attacks by dissident minority republican guerrillas who seek to reunite Ireland by military means.
The comments by Martin McGuinness, once a senior IRA commander fighting British soldiers in the 1970s and now Deputy First Minister of the province, have angered some nationalist hardliners.
"Sinn Fein and the British forces would want to be careful that they don't inflame the situation by their response," said Jim McAllister, who was a Sinn Fein councilor during the 1980s and 1990s but is no longer a member of the party.
"I think Martin McGuinness has gone some way toward inflaming it."
The attacks by the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, the deadliest in Northern Ireland in over a decade, come after a number of botched attempts to kill members of the security forces.
McGuinness's comments were designed to reassure Sinn Fein's sometimes reluctant Protestant partners in a power-sharing assembly that they are serious about a 1998 peace deal, which ended the IRA's decades long campaign against British rule.
But in his use of language - the word "traitor" is one of the worst insults in the pro-Irish nationalist camp - McGuinness was also sending a signal to hardliners that he will freeze them out to protect the path Sinn Fein has taken.
Former foes have applauded him and his words have helped cool temperatures in Protestant areas, reducing the threat of tit-for-tat violence which once gripped Belfast.
"When we heard Martin McGuinness speak the other day he spoke from the heart," said Frankie Gallagher, of the Ulster Political Research Group, an organization close to the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), a pro-British paramilitary group.
"Once that leadership was shown, I think it dissipated a lot of anger within our communities."
TESTING TIMES
The Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have warned their operations will continue until Northern Ireland is no longer part of the United Kingdom.
More violence could yet trigger retaliation from Protestant groups, potentially putting Sinn Fein under pressure from Catholic communities who traditionally look to it for protection rather than the police.
For now, that is a remote possibility.
The Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have a tiny support base and most nationalists support Sinn Fein's stance.
But beyond the television cameras, the party will have to put its tough words into action by encouraging supporters to give information to the police -- a practice still considered taboo in some areas.
During three decades of bloodshed between minority Irish Republicans and pro-British Protestants, the police were viewed by many Catholics as a partisan extension of British rule.
Passing tips to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), as the police was then known, was a dangerous business and so-called "informers" or "traitors" risked execution by the IRA.
The RUC was disbanded and relaunched as the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001 in a bid to provide a more impartial force.
Sinn Fein's nationalist credentials mean that it is the only party that can encourage Catholics to talk and isolate the extremists.
"If in a year's time, the threat of dissidents has been contained then people will say that Sinn Fein faced a test and they came through," said Richard English, a professor of politics at Queens University in Belfast.
"The new Northern Ireland might turn out to be something which is more secure than people had feared."
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul)
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Cork and overseas drivers battle for success in West Cork Rally

2009-03-12T10:53:00.002-04:00

By Martin Walsh Saturday March 14th, 2009

CLONAKILTY becomes the centre of attention for motorsport this weekend with the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally that, essentially, is a battle between Cork and overseas drivers. Double winner, Donie O'Sullivan heads the entry for the sixteen-stage event.

The Cullen-born driver will pilot a Proton Satria S2000 car that gave a great performance on the opening stages of Rally Ireland where it was driven by former Production World champion, Niall McShea. O’Sullivan, who won the Clonakilty-based event last year onboard a McKinstry Subaru WRC, also won the 2006 rally in a Ford Focus WRC.

He will be co-driven by Killarney’s Paul Nagle, who partnered Kris Meeke to victory in the Rally Internacional de Curitiba in Brazil, the second round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Welshman, John Dalton in the nimble Darrian, is seeded at number two and should conditions remain dry over the two days, he will pose a real threat and victory for the Lampeter man would not be surprising.

Liam McCarthy spearheads the West Cork challenge in his Toyota Corolla WRC. The Dunmanway driver has led the Clonakilty based event on numerous occasions; however, so far, victory has eluded him. There is little doubt that 2005 was the closest he came to a maiden victory. He led another West Cork driver, Denis Cronin, but lost out on the closing stages. McCarthy won the Fastnet Rally last October and that should act as a confidence booster. British driver, Jim Harrison, who made a return to the sport on the recent Nenagh Rally, will drive a McKinstry prepared Subaru WRC.

Londoner, Harvey Bell will call the notes for the Macclesfield driver. Like McCarthy, Harrison is also a Fastnet winner and there’s no doubt he has the potential to win the Clonakilty event. Former West Cork winner, Denis Cronin, is another possible winner.

His recent third place in the Mitchelstown based Tipperary Forest Rally will stand him in good stead. Whilst it’s the same car that he drove to victory in 2005, the car has the benefit of newer specifications in the engine compartment. West Cork regular, Phil Collins in his Mk. 2 Ford Escort should provide the usual spectacle for the fans and is well capable of keeping his seeded position.

Much will be expected from Ballylickey’s Keith Cronin in his Mitsubishi Evo9. A winner of the opening round of the Irish Forest Championship in Mitchelstown, Cronin can be expected to match the more powerful cars on the 16-stage encounter. Last season, Group N cars performed admirably in some rounds of the Irish Tarmac series and Cronin’s talent should ensure something similar in Clonakilty. Indeed, it would not be that surprising if both Denis and Keith Cronin finished on the podium. Alan Ring (Subaru) has withdrawn his entry.

The original top ten also features Wexford’s James Stafford (Darrian) and Carrigaline’s Brian O’Mahony (Renault Clio S1600). Stafford should be very prominent, much like Dalton, while O’Mahony, who was the top two-wheel drive competitor in Mayo last week, should also figure well. LOCALS Meanwhile, Ashley Field (Darrian) is seeded at eleven ahead of a plethora of Ford Escorts driven by Kevin O’Donoghue, Adrian Hetherington, Manus Kelly, John O’Donnell, Fergus O’Meara, local Ballineen driver, Fintan Canty, Ed O’Callaghan and Leonard Downey.

Those drivers should provide plenty of entertainment. Other Cork drivers in the top thirty are Lissarda’s Philip Cross (Escort Cosworth), who is seeded at 24 and Niall Guinevan (Ovens) in a Subaru, who will occupy the number 27 berth. One of the most popular features of the event is the class battles involving local West Cork drivers. In Class 11, three locals, Damien McCarthy (Barryroe), David Guest (Clonakilty) and Jason McSweeney (Dunmanway) will also battle for honours in the Honda series where Youghal’s Jason Ryan is also competing.

The Toyota Corolla trio of Lyre’s Michael McKennedy, Rossmore’s Vinny Bennett and Dunderrow’s Shaun Quin are also amongst the Class 11 entries and competition is likely to be intense. Class 13 features Ardfield’s Eoghan Calnan and Diarmuid Keohane (The Pike) both in Ford Escorts while Drimoleague’s Martin Lordan (Ford Escort), the Vauxhall Nova trio of Leap’s James Collins, Bandon’s Peter Desmond and Ray O’Sullivan from Durrus will battle in Class 9.

Elsewhere, another class with a strong local content is Class 10 with Stephen Sheehan (Coachford), Victor Beamish (Bandon), David Jennings (Clonakilty) and Jerry O’Mahony (Rosscarbery) flying the local flag. Other local entries are Bandon’s Sean O'Donovan (Subaru); Rossmore’s John Buttimer (Subaru); Dunmanway’s Ger O'Connell (Escort), Clonakilty’s Steve Roberts (Escort), Skibbereen’s Bernard O’Brien (Escort) and Innishannon’s John O’Shea (Honda). The cars leave Parc Ferme (Model Village) on Saturday morning at 9.45am.

The first stage, Ballinascarthy, is scheduled to begin at 10.23am. Servicing at the Darrara Agricultural College complex follows throughout the day at 11.43am; 1.43pm; 3.28pm and 5.30pm. A stage at Clogagh completes the opening pair of stages that are repeated after service.

The afternoon stages are at Ring and Dunworley. On Sunday, the opening stage Sam’s Cross (S.S. 9) is at 10.54am. This is followed by a stage at Rossmore, both are repeated after service. Ardfield and Hayes’ Cross are the afternoon stage locations. Servicing after S.S. 10 takes place shortly after noon, the other service times are at 2.06pm and 3.45pm. The finish ramp celebrations in Clonakilty are scheduled for 5.45pm, prizegiving takes place at the Quality Hotel later in the evening.

source: The Southern Star

2009 MaxAttack!(tm) Rally Series to Feature New Format and New Events

2009-03-11T17:11:00.002-04:00

After two successful years of bringing the best of two-wheel-drive rally action to the United States, the MaxAttack! Rally Series is evolving it’s format for 2009 to better serve its competitors, increase competition, and increase the value of the series.

While the per-event cash payout for each event will remain the same, there will be a format change in the chase for the coveted Jake Himes Cup. Rather than have to contest all three events in the season, competitors will run either a western or eastern qualifying event, with all teams contesting a central “shootout.” The highest point total from the two events will be the winner. The per-event payout will again be available to all two-wheel-drive entrants, regardless of how many of the series events a team may contest.

The new format addresses the challenges of competing in a national championship in such a large country during a struggling economy. It will serve to make the competition better at all of the events and will actually enhance the value of the championship to competitors, events, and sponsors alike, as more of North America’s top two-wheel-drive rally competitors will find the series within reach.
“We are very grateful for the support we have received from the rallies that have been part of our series for the last two years. This change of venue is in no way related to the quality of the events,” explains Eric Burmeister of the Rallysports Group of America. “We just wanted to try some new events so we could use our positive influence to help even more rallies. The switch to a Shootout from a Triple Crown format allowed us to experiment a little, and it is destined to keep the fight for the Jake Himes Cup a nail biter to the end!”
The three events that will constitute the 2009 MaxAttack! Rally Series are:* Rally Idaho, July 9-11, Mountain Home, ID, http://www.idahorally.com/* New England Forest Rally, July 17-18, Bethel, ME, http://www.newenglandforestrally.com/* Ojibwe Forests Rally, August 28-29, Bemidji, MN, http://ojibweforestrally.com/
Rally Idaho and the New England Forest Rally will be the qualifying events for the Jake Himes Cup, and Ojibwe Forests will be the central Shootout event.
The MaxAttack! Rally Series, presented by the Rallysports Group of America, consists of three events across the country, and each event will feature a $5,000 prize fund to be distributed among the top two-wheel-drive teams, as well as a season championship.
For more information about the MaxAttack! Series and the Rallysports Group of America, please visit http://www.max-attack.com/.
About Rallysports Group of AmericaRallysports Group of America, Inc. (RSGA) was formed as an organization in 2006 to advance the sport of performance stage rally in the United States. By providing education on performance driving, car preparation and safety, and by fostering the growth of meaningful competition, RSGA seeks to provide a sustainable and competitive arena for the advancement of North American performance rally that promotes increased value for rally competitors, organizers, and sponsors alike. For more information, please visit http://www.max-attack.com/.

Northern Ireland in silent protest against IRA dissidents

2009-03-11T14:20:00.002-04:00

People from the four major church denominations, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist, turn out for a peace rally at Belfast's City Hall, Northern Ireland, Wednesday, March, 11, 2009. Labor union leaders called on workers across Northern Ireland to come together for a silent protest Wednesday against Irish Republican Army dissidents responsible for killing three people and wounding four others. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Several thousand Irish Catholics and British Protestants united in a silent protest Wednesday against IRA dissidents who gunned down two soldiers and a policeman since the weekend, attacks threatening to plunge Northern Ireland into sectarian bloodshed once again.
More than 2,000 people gathered at lunchtime in front of Belfast City Hall to oppose Northern Ireland's worst dissident Irish Republican Army violence since 1998, the year both sides' politicians struck the Good Friday peace deal that sought lasting compromise through a Catholic-Protestant government.
Thousands more gathered in the predominantly Catholic border cities of Londonderry and Newry, where dissidents remain active in the shadows despite overwhelming public opposition. "No going back," read placards at all the protests.
In Belfast, as a lone bagpiper played a lament, the crowd — among them firefighters and postal workers, former paramilitary convicts and child-cradling mothers — fell stone-silent for five minutes. Some openly wept.
As the crowds dispersed, many shook hands with police officers and offered their condolences over the latest fatality, a 23-year police veteran shot through the back of the head Monday. Others said they wished they could do more to ensure that Northern Ireland's next generation never experiences what they endured through four decades of conflict that left 3,700 dead.
"I'm a Catholic. I grew up in an area where the police were the enemy. Now things have changed so completely for the better," said Aidan Kane, a paramedic who came to the rally with his 6-year-old boy on his shoulders. "If my wee lad here wants to be a policeman when he grows up, I'd be proud. I shouldn't have to worry that some nut might shoot him for serving his community."
Patricia McKeown, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, chief organizer of Wednesday's protests, said she hoped the silence of the crowds would "be a silence that thunders around the world."
"End this madness," urged a front-page editorial in the Belfast Telegraph alongside photographs of the three slain men: 48-year-old police Constable Stephen Carroll and two soldiers in the British Army's Royal Engineers: Cengiz "Patrick" Azimkar, 21, and Mark Quinsey, 23.
The Continuity IRA fatally shot Carroll as he sat in a patrol car Monday night. Another splinter group, the Real IRA, killed the two army engineers, and wounded two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men, on Saturday night as Afghanistan-bound troops collected a final meal at their base's entrance.
Both breakaway groups remain committed to the traditional IRA goal of forcing Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and into the Irish Republic. Most IRA members renounced violence and disarmed in 2005, eight years after calling an open-ended truce.
In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the attacks and asked worshippers in St. Peter's Square to pray that nobody else in Northern Ireland "will again give in to the horrendous temptation of violence."
Meanwhile, the British Protestant and Irish Catholic leaders of Northern Ireland's 22-month-old power-sharing government departed Wednesday for the U.S. to seek increased American support for the peace process.
Because of the killings, they twice had canceled the start of their U.S. visit, which seeks to defend and promote U.S. business investment in their land of 1.7 million people.
The trip by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness now was likely to attract much greater U.S. attention, aides said, but for all the wrong reasons.
The killings have already had the surprising effect of bonding Robinson, long a bitter Protestant opponent of the IRA, and McGuinness, a longtime IRA commander, more closely together than ever before.
They rarely appeared in public together before Tuesday, when they stood shoulder to shoulder with Northern Ireland police chief Hugh Orde and appealed for citizens shielding the IRA dissidents in their communities to identify them to police.
"In Northern Ireland today we are seeing a degree of unity among the political parties that some people thought they would never see in their lifetimes," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told lawmakers in the House of Commons in London.
In Dublin, Ireland's parliament unanimously passed a motion condemning the return of dissident IRA killings and vowing to help Northern Ireland authorities hunt down the dissidents, who are largely based along the Irish border.
A 17-year-old boy and 37-year-old man arrested Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in Carroll's murder were still being questioned Wednesday. Both suspects come from a Catholic public housing project in Craigavon, southwest of Belfast, near where Carroll was killed.
Associated Press writers Frances D'Emilio in Rome and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.

Luck of the Irish for Danny O’Connor

2009-03-11T14:08:00.001-04:00

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (March 11, 2009) – No sooner had the announcement been made that the March 16th “Erin Go Brawl II” show in New York City was canceled, Seminole Warriors Boxing informed its prize light welterweight, Danny O’Connor, of his repositioning on a show this Saturday night in Boston.

The National Guard Armory in Dorchester (70 Liberty Ave.) isn’t a long drive for family, friends and fans from Framingham to watch O’Connor (4-0, 1 KO), 2008 U.S. Olympic first alternate, fight live against Charlie Wade (4-7, 1 KO).

O’Connor is coming off of his impressive national television debut January 30, winning a 4-round decision in the opening bout on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights against light welterweight Jamar Saunders (2-1-1, 1 KO) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

“I was disappointed when I first heard that the show at Madison Square Garden had been canceled,” O’Connor said. “I think every time I’m supposed to fight in New York something happens. This is the second time but I believe everything happens for a reason and this got me in a card in Boston. I’m so happy. It’s amazing. Now everybody from home can come watch me fight live. They wanted me on ESPN my last fight and now they can see me in person. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when I walk into the ring with everybody there cheering for me.

“My ESPN fight was huge because a lot of people got to watch me fight for the first time. It helped build my fan-base. It was also a step-up against a tough kid. I’m a pro. This is what I do – fight! I turned in a solid performance but I’m also a perfectionist who thinks I can always do better. It was only my fourth pro fight and was another part of my learning process. I leaned a lot last fight and we’ve bee working to improve some things that I’ll bring into this fight in Boston. I want to stay busy and learn something new every fight.”

The 23-year-old O’Connor won last year’s US Future Stars National Championship, in which, he was named Most Outstanding Boxer, as well as the 2008 National Golden Gloves Tournament. The highlight of Danny’s amateur career was defeating eventual 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Felix Diaz, of the Dominican Republic, last May in a USA-Dominican Republic dual meet.

“We were very happy with Danny’s last fight against a legitimate, young fighter,” O’Connor’s head trainer and co-manager David Keefe remarked. “He used his jab very well and showed excellent speed and good overall boxing skills. We’re very happy to have Danny boxing in Boston. We accepted the opportunity right after we learned about the New York showing being canceled. This was our next best choice and we hope Danny will be fighting at Madison Square Garden in the future. When (co-manager) Rob (Valle) and I were looking for a promoter, we had a game plan for Danny to stay busy. We didn’t want only five fights a year. We believe it’s very important for a young, up-and-comer like Danny to fight a lot. It’s been that way since the first day we met Leon (Margules, Executive Director, Seminole Warriors Boxing).”

For more information about Danny O’Connor go online to

www.dannyoconnorboxing.com.

Bout Card here
-DO-

IRA dissident killings unites Northern Ireland

2009-03-10T17:19:00.002-04:00

(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK [AP]
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The Protestant and Catholic leaders of Northern Ireland mounted an exceptional display of unity against rising violence from Irish Republican Army dissidents — and vowed Tuesday to defeat hard-liners with the power of popular will.
Former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, who long hoped that slaying police officers would help him achieve his dream of a united Ireland, stood shoulder to shoulder with his Protestant partner atop the government, Peter Robinson, and Northern Ireland police commander Hugh Orde.
The scene itself was an unprecedented surprise. More stunning were the clear-cut words from McGuinness, whose Sinn Fein party has faced years of outside pressure to embrace British law and order. He pledged his personal support to the English police chief, and demanded that his own police-loathing supporters abandon their traditional code of silence and expose the IRA dissidents in their Irish Catholic communities.
"I have to keep my nerve, and to appeal to my community to assist the police services north and south to defeat these people," McGuinness said of the dissidents who killed two British soldiers and a policeman over the past three days — the first such killings in more than a decade.
"There is a duty on me, a responsibility on me to lead from the front, and I expect that people will follow," McGuinness said. He called the IRA splinter groups "traitors to the island of Ireland. They have betrayed the political desires, hopes and aspirations of all of the people who live on this island, and they don't deserve to be supported by anyone."
Analysts said the dissidents' dramatic escalation of bloodshed since Saturday was designed to divide and undermine McGuinness and Robinson as they embarked on their most significant foreign mission: a planned 10-day tour of the United States culminating at the White House on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, to meet U.S. President Barack Obama.
Twice, deadly shootings have obliged the power-sharing chiefs to postpone their departure. They will try again Wednesday, and still expect to meet Obama next week on Ireland's national holiday, the day when Northern Ireland leaders traditionally curry U.S. economic and political support.
But political analysts widely suggested Tuesday that the dissidents, though likely trying to exacerbate tensions between Robinson's Democratic Unionists and McGuinness' Sinn Fein, were having the opposite effect.
After their first-ever joint appearance with the police chief, McGuinness and Robinson — who have kept their distance during eight frosty months sharing power — traveled in the same car together to visit the widow of the most recent victim, 48-year-old Constable Stephen Carroll. The 23-year police veteran was shot in the back of his head Monday night when a gunman from the Continuity IRA dissident group fired on his parked police car.
Carroll had been part of a police backup unit for front-line officers investigating the home of a woman who reported that youths were smashing her windows in a Catholic part of Craigavon. Carroll's widow, Kate, said he had hugged her and told her before leaving home that morning: "Don't worry — they won't get me."
"A good husband has been taken away from me, and my life has been destroyed," she said.
Police raided several homes in a nearby state housing project Tuesday and arrested a 17-year-old-boy and 37-year-old man on suspicion of involvement in Carroll's slaying.
The Northern Ireland Assembly, the 108-member legislature that provides the bedrock for the Robinson-McGuinness administration, observed a minute's silence Tuesday in honor of Carroll's sacrifice. The day before, they did the same in memory of Cengiz Azimkar, 21, and Mark Quinsey, 23 — the unarmed, off-duty soldiers gunned down by another splinter gang, the Real IRA, outside their army base Saturday.
Both the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA are committed to unraveling the 2005 decision by the mainstream "Provisional" IRA to renounce violence and disarm, officially ending its 1970-97 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom after killing 1,775 people and maiming thousands more.
Politicians and police agree it has been only a matter of luck that, until Saturday, more than 20 dissident attacks against police and army bases since November 2007 have wounded just seven policemen and killed nobody.
Both groups remain small, with estimated membership ranging from 200 to 500, and their pool of recruits is restricted versus previous generations. Whereas the Provisional IRA enjoyed strong support in a largely poor and excluded Catholic minority, today's Catholics are largely middle class, comfortable and pleased to have a share of power.
Nonetheless, experts on the IRA and its dissident offshoots caution that the Real and Continuity factions are unlikely to stop in response to public pressure — because they are pursuing the same stubborn example long set by McGuinness' generation.
"The kinds of things they (dissidents) are doing now is what the Provisional IRA, which was led by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, was doing 15 years ago," said Kevin Toolis, author of a study of the IRA and commentator on the Sinn Fein-IRA movement.
The dissidents' determination to keep killing police and soldiers is "not alien and foreign to Irish republican thinking," he said.
A fringe political party linked to the Continuity IRA, Republican Sinn Fein, forecast Tuesday that troops and police would always remain subject to attack in Northern Ireland until the territory was merged with the Republic of Ireland.
"It's always been on the cards while England remains here, and while they have their occupying forces here," said Geraldine Taylor, a former IRA prisoner who represents the party in Catholic west Belfast. "It's inevitable that you'll have young people take up arms against the occupation of this country, whether it be the armed force of the police or the British Army."

Rally New York to Honor a great volenteer.

2009-03-10T15:12:00.002-04:00

Tuesday, March 10th 2009, Rally New York USA 2009 has named three Delaware County, New York special stages to Honor the Memory of Ham Radio Volunteer
Steve Bogart, N2UZV.

Steve passed away suddenly on February 1, 2009. He was an extremely dedicated long term Radio Operator volunteer at many Rally New York events. Steve was a big guy who often worked with Ed Jackson as a mobile operator in one of the course safety cars. When he was not doing that, you could find him helping Olga at a time control. One thing Steve was never without at the Rallies was his great big smile! He will be missed by all his fellow Radio Operators and Marshal volunteers as well as the competitors and crews.

Aside from Rally, Steve was a very active volunteer with Ham Radio groups providing Safety and Emergency Communications for many different disasters and Public Service events in the Hudson Valley. As an active member in his local Fire Company, Steve served both as a volunteer and a commissioner.

We should all be thankful that we had the opportunity to know and work together with Steve Bogart. With his passing we have all lost a good friend and volunteer.

So, on Saturday afternoon, April 4th , when you are out working or competing on the Steve Bogart Special Stages please remember Steve, N2UZV and how much he contributed to our sport!

More info on Steve:Here

www.rallynewyork.com

Bryne doesn’t get bite out of Big Apple, yet

2009-03-10T13:36:00.000-04:00

LOS ANGELES (March 10, 2009) – Unbeaten light welterweight Dean “Irish Lightning” Byrne’s dream to fight in New York is only delayed, not shattered, after the recent announcement that “Erin Go Brawl II,” scheduled for March 16 at WaMu Theater in Madison Square Garden, had been canceled.

Byrne (10-0, 4 KOs), fighting out of Los Angeles by way of Dublin, was supposed to fight in an 8-round bout on the card headlined by his friend, Andy Lee, and featuring his hero, Wayne McCullough. Dean, who has Freddie Roach as his trainer, works out at Roach’s famed Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, where he has sparred with Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and Juan Marquez.

“I was very disappointed,” Byrne said about not fighting Mar. 16 in New York City. “I was looking forward to fighting in front of so many Irish at Madison Square Garden in New York City. A lot of my family were coming over from Ireland and booked flights. It was a big opportunity for us because they’ve never seen me fight as a pro. Hey, that’s boxing and someday I’ll fight there. I want people in New York, all up and down the East Coast where there’s a lot of Irish – Boston and Philadelphia – to see what a good entertainer I am.

“Freddie gave me the weekend off and I was back in the gym on Monday. I’ll continue training hard and hopefully I’ll be in a fight soon, maybe the end of March or in April. Someday, though, I’ll be fighting in Madison Square Garden.”

Byrne had more than 200 amateur fights, winning an Irish National title, and he turned pro in Australia, where he captured the New South Wales State belt on only his fourth pro fight, and one fighter later added the Australian crown in a 10-rounder. On his way from Australia to relocate in Boston, Dean stopped in Los Angeles and trained at World Card, where Roach took a shine to him. “He’s a tough kid who is a really good fighter but doesn’t know it yet,” Roach spoke about Byrne. “He’s learning to sit-down on his punches and has had two knockouts since he’s been with me. Dean’s learned a lot sparring with Manny, Amir and the others. He’s a lot of fun to watch, very exciting and cleaver for a young man. Early in his career he fought 10 rounds for the Australian title, so he already has that experience. He’s one of my best prospects.”

Byrne last fought in December, when he registered a win by fourth-round technical knockout against Francisco Rios Gil (13-8) in Inglewood, California.
“One of Dean’s most important dreams is to fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City,” Bryne’s manager Steven Feder (Standing Eight Management) remarked. “Ever since we started working together, Dean has told me that coming from Ireland and traveling around the world, his dream was to fight in Madison Square Garden. He was excited about fighting in an Irish community. We feel bad for Irish Ropes. Dean was looking forward to fighting on their card with Andy and Wayne. It’s too bad things didn’t work out for that show. Dean Byrne has a clear shot at really making it big in boxing. He’s 10-0 and ready to go. He never had a 4-round fight, starting with a six and going right to eights and then tens. Fans love him and Irish fans on the East Coast will embrace him once they get to see him fight. We train in LA because that’s where Freddie is but New York is my hometown and we hope New York fight fans will make Dean their adopted son.”

Unrest in Northern Ireland

2009-03-10T09:54:00.002-04:00

Continuity IRA claims responsibility for Northern Ireland police ...Telegraph.co.uk - United KingdomThe Continuity IRA, the republican splinter group, has claimed responsibility for killing a policeman in an ambush in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. ...read more

Northern Ireland's police chief vows to catch officer's killersIndependent - London,England,UKBy Deborah McAleese and Claire Harrison Northern Ireland's police chief Sir Hugh Orde today made an emotional but defiant appeal for help in catching the ...read more

Second shooting 'feels like deja vu'BBC News - UKDuring the Troubles, late night statements from police chiefs about the latest murder in Northern Ireland were part of the daily routine. read more

New York Times: LONDON — A dissident splinter group of the Irish Republican Army took responsibility on Tuesday for the killing of a police officer that sent tremors of apprehension through Northern Ireland just 48 hours after two British soldiers were shot to death. read more

PSNI Officer killed in Northern Ireland.

2009-03-09T19:35:00.004-04:00

Belfast Ireland, March 9th 23:30:

It has been confirmed that a PSNI officer has been shot and killed in the Craigavon area tonight.
The incident is understood to have happened near Lismore High School at Brownlow.
Police came under attack while investigating suspicious activity near the school. No links have been made to the killings over the weekend at this time.

PSNI officer shot in Craigavon

2009-03-09T19:03:00.001-04:00

Belfast, Ireland, Monday March 9th, There are reports tonight that a PSNI officer has been shot in the Craigavon area.
The initial information suggests the shooting took place within the past hour and the victim is in a critical condition.
More news to follow.

Sinn Fein condemns attack on N. Irish army base

2009-03-08T20:56:00.000-04:00

BELFAST (Reuters) - Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein on Sunday condemned the attack on a British army base in Northern Ireland, saying Republicans had a duty to oppose what it called a "wrong and counterproductive" act.
"Those responsible have no support, no strategy to achieve a United Ireland," Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said in a statement.
"Their intention is to bring British soldiers back onto the streets. They want to destroy the progress of recent times and to plunge Ireland back into conflict," Adams said.

“Erin Go Brawl II” cancelled in NYC

2009-03-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK (March 6, 2009) – Irish Ropes Promotions announced today that its scheduled March 16th “Erin Go Brawl II” pro boxing show at WaMu Theater in Madison Square Garden had been cancelled due to the poor economy in the United States and Ireland that adversely effected advance ticket sales.

2004 Irish Olympian Andy Lee (16-1, 13 KOs) was slated to fight 3-time world title challenger Antwun “Kid Dynamite” Echols (31-9-4, 27 KOs) in the main event, while 1992 Olympic silver medalist Wayne “Pocket Rocket” McCullough (27-7, 18 KOs), former WBC bantamweight champion, had been matched against Alex “El Diablo” Becerra (19-7, 9 KOs) in the 10 round co-feature.

“This was a very difficult decision to make but ticket sales were way off compared to two years ago when the economy was much better here and back in Ireland,” Irish Ropes Promotions president Eddie McLoughlin explained. “We apologize for any inconveniences, especially to all of the boxers who worked so hard to prepare for their fights.”

Tickets will be reimbursed in full at points of purchase.

-IRP-

Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block Wins Rally in the 100 Acre Wood event for Fourth Consecutive Year

2009-03-03T00:28:00.004-05:00

For the fourth year in-a-row, Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block has won the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood event, hosting round two of the 2009 Rally America National Championship, in dominating fashion. Block was uncatchable behind the wheel of his 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI on the fast and flowing Missouri roads, cruising to victory by over forty seconds. Subaru teammate Travis Pastrana was Block’s only competition early on, but his challenge was cut short when he went off the road while pushing hard to match Block’s pace, leading to car damage forcing him to retire from the rally. Subaru Rally Team USA’s new third driver, BMX legend Dave Mirra, was the biggest surprise of the event with his debut in the new Super Production class, finishing second in class and leading the class for nearly the entire rally.

The Salem-based Rally in the 100 Acre Wood event in Missouri is a high-speed gravel rally featuring fast and flowing roads that are a favorite of many rally drivers. Ken Block especially favors this event and it clearly shows with four straight dominating wins. The rally, set in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, is known for highly variable weather conditions. Most of this year’s rally was dry and fast but a sudden flash snowstorm affected the final stages of the event.
As expected, Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino got off to a flying start winning three of the five stages on Day 1 to achieve a comfortable lead of over one minute. They maintained that lead throughout Day 2 with mistake-free driving, cruising to victory by over forty seconds. “I love the flow of the stages of this event, I love the high speeds,” exclaimed Block at the finish. “My Subaru was really setup perfectly and that gave me the confidence to go flat-out on the real high-speed sections.”
With four wins in a row at the 100 Acre Wood Rally Ken Block now shares a record with his mentor, American rally legend John Buffum, who won this event four times in a row from 1977 to 1980. “To share a record of any sort with [John] Buffum is incredible,” mentioned Block. “I don’t think I’ll come close to any of his other records though!”

Dave Mirra, with Dave Ringer on the attack>Photo SRTUSA

Block’s new Subaru teammate, BMX legend Dave Mirra raised eyebrows with his debut in the recently introduced Super Production (SP) class, a new category for 2009 that features minimally modified, production-based cars. Mirra showed impressive speed at the start of the rally in his Subaru WRX STI, finishing Day 1 in third Overall and leading the SP class comfortably. Mirra was the fastest in-class on eight of the event’s fourteen competition stages. Unfortunately, Mirra narrowly missed out on a class win when he slowed on Stage 14 to ensure he stayed on the road due to a flash snowstorm in that area. Fellow SP class challenger and veteran Subaru privateer Matt Johnson capitalized on the treacherous road condition and beat Mirra for the SP class win by just three seconds. “I felt really comfortable in the SP-spec Subaru, and it was really encouraging to see our stage times were right up there with the Open Class cars,” explained Mirra “I’ve got a lot of confidence now and I know I can fight for the SP class championship this year and maybe even mix it up at the top of the standings for some Overall points too.”
Three-time defending Rally America Champion Travis Pastrana vowed to challenge Block this weekend, and it looked as if the two drivers would be locked in a tight battle. After taking the early lead from Block on stage three, Pastrana made an error on Stage 4 that sent his Subaru off the road. Although Pastrana and his co-driver Christian Edstrom walked away unharmed, their Subaru was too damaged to continue.
The next rally scheduled for Ken Block is the all tarmac Rally New York USA, April 3-4 2009 where he will defend his 2008 victory. All three Subaru Rally Team USA drivers will be back in action at the Olympus Rally, round 3 of the 2009 Rally America National Championship, April 18-19 2009. Please visit www.subaru.com/rally for event details, photos and more team information.
Subaru Rally Team USA is proudly supported by Subaru of America, Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), DC Shoes, BFGoodrich Tires, RECARO, Alpinestars, Motul,

McCullough wants one more title shot

2009-03-02T23:53:00.001-05:00

St. Patrick’s Day Eve, Monday Night, Mar. 16, WaMu Theater in MSG
Sean Mannion to be honored for 25th anniversary of world title fight at MSG

NEW YORK (March 2, 2009) – Former WBC bantamweight champion and 1992 Olympic silver medalist, Wayne “Pocket Rocket” McCullough, wants one more world title shot at that’s why he’s fighting St. Patrick’s Day Eve (Monday, March 16) “Erin Go Brawl II” card, presented by Irish Ropes Promotions, at WaMu Theater in the famed Madison Square Garden.

Limerick’s 2004 Irish Olympian Andy Lee (16-1, 13 KOs), 14 years younger than his 38-year-old hero, McCullough, headlines in the 10-round main event against 3-time world title challenger Antwun “Kid Dynamite” Echols (31-9-4, 27 KOs).

McCullough (27-7, 18 KOs), fighting out of Las Vegas by way of Belfast, takes on Mexican super bantamweight Alex “El Diablo” Becerra (19-7, 9 KOs), in the 10 round co-feature.

“Andy Lee was the only one on the Ireland’s 2004 Olympic Boxing Team,” McCullough spoke about his warm relationship with Lee. “I’ve always supported him and feel that he’s good for Irish boxing. We’ve kept in touch and we’re behind each other 100-percent. I believe he will be world champion. I’m looking forward to fighting again on the East Coast and in Madison Square Garden. The Irish packed the house when I fought in New York (1993), Boston (1993 & 1997) or Atlantic City (1998). There are Irish on the West Coast but not as many as on the East Coast. If we brought then all back to Ireland the island would sink.

“My goal is to become world champion within two years. It’s all about promoting and I thank Irish Ropes and Cedric Kushner for this opportunity to fight on St. Patrick’s Day Eve in Madison Square Garden. I should be a 3-time world champion because a lot of people thought I won against (Daniel) Zaragoza and the first (Oscar) Larios fight. I’m 38 but I’ve taken good care of my body. I’m an Irish guy who doesn’t drink and I have a gym in my home. I’m like Bernard Hopkins.”

Making his New York City debut in an 8-round bout is unbeaten light welterweight Dean “Irish Lightning” Byrne, who was an Irish National champion when he lived in Crumlin, and he later captured the Australian light welterweight title in his fifth pro fight. Byrne (10-0, 4 KOs), now fights out of Los Angeles, where he’s trained by Freddie Roach and has sparred at the Wild Card Gym with superstars Manny Pacquiao, Amir Kahn, Juan Marquez and even Oscar De La Hoya for a few rounds.

“He’s a tough kid who is a really good fighter but doesn’t know it yet,” Roach spoke about Byrne. “He’s learning to sit-down on his punches and has had two knockouts since he’s been with me. Dean’s learned a lot sparring with Manny, Amir and the others. He’s a lot of fun to watch, very exciting and cleaver for a young man. Early in his career he fought 10 rounds for the Australian title, so he already has that experience. He’s one of my best prospects.”

Scheduled to fight in 6-rounders on “Erin Go Brawl II” are Irish super featherweight champion Eddie “Pride of Tallaght” Hyland (11-1, 3 KOs), of Dublin; Philadelphia by way of Galway middleweight “Slick Fightin’Irish” Simon O’Donnell (8-1, 5 KOs); Limerick light heavyweight Jamie Power (4-0, 2 KOs) against Reggie “Concrete” LaCrete (4-0-2, 3 KOs), from Brooklyn; Jersey City super featherweight Danny “Little Mac” McDermott (7-1-1, 2 KOs).

Also on the card in 4-round matches are Massachusetts light welterweight Danny O’Connor (4-0, 1 KO), 2008 U.S. Olympic Team alternate; Brooklyn featherweight Sadam Ali (1-0, 1 KO), 2008 U.S. Olympian; former St. Xavier College star football player Tommy Brown, fighting out of Chicago and trained by Kevin Rooney, making his pro debut in the light middleweight division.

County Galway’s Sean Mannion (42-14-1, 14 KOs) will be honored at “Erin Go Brawl II” in honor of the 25th anniversary of his WBA light middleweight title fight at Madison Square Garden against the eventual champion Mike “The Bodysnatcher” McCallum.

Tickets, priced at $50.00, $75.00, $100.00, $150.00, $200.00, and $300.00, are on sale at TicketMaster.com as well as Jack Demsey’s in Manhattan, Hilltop in Elmhurst, and the Heritage in Yonkers.

For more information call Irish Ropes Promotions (212.868.9544) or go on line to http://www.irishropespromotions.com/.

Ruiz declared WBA mandatory heavyweight title challenger

2009-02-28T13:31:00.001-05:00

LAS VEGAS (February 28, 2009) – The World Boxing Association Championship Committee has declared two-time WBA heavyweight champion John “The Quietman” Ruiz (43-8-1, 29 KOs), presently rated No. 3, as the mandatory challenger for the winner of this year’s Ruslan Chagaev-Nicolai Valuev WBA title fight.

Jason “Big Six” Estrada gets his chance...

2009-02-28T10:37:00.000-05:00

2004 U.S. Olympian Jason “Big Six” Estrada
finally gets shot at Alexander Povetkin
April 4 in Dusseldorf, Germany

PROVIDENCE (February 27, 2009) – The long awaited showdown between America’s leading young heavyweight prospect, 2004 U.S. Olympian Jason “Big Six” Estrada, and Alexander Povetkin, 2004 Olympic gold medalist and the IBF’s No. 1 contender, will finally happen April 4 in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Estrada (15-1, 3 KOs) and Povetkin (16-0, 12 KOs) should have fought in the amateurs at the 2003 World Championships or a scheduled USA-Russia dual meet later that year. Estrada, however, as the No. 1 USA super heavyweight, had to fight in the Pan-American Games, where he captured gold in his Olympic qualifier. Meanwhile, at the same time, Povetkin won a gold medal at The World Championships. Team Russia pulled out of the aforementioned dual meet and a foot injury hampered Estrada’s training for the 2004 Olympics. He was eliminated prior to the medal rounds as Povetkin rolled to gold.

Povetkin has a mandated title shot this fall against IBF heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko, if he gets past the lightning quick Estrada. “The fight’s on April 4 but Povetkin’s the April Fool,” Estrada said during a break from training at his Big Six Academy in Providence. “I really see this guy as just a big-name opponent. He has his gold medal but he’s been babied his entire career. They just put guys in front of him to fight. He’s making a big mistake taking this fight. I’m not dwelling on the past. The old stuff doesn’t matter to me; I’m focusing on the present. It doesn’t upset me that people are calling this a tune-up for him. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn’t take him lightly, but they’re making a huge mistake if they’re taking me lightly.

“I think it will be easier fighting him today than in the amateurs because he had to box a little more back then. You don’t see him boxing now. He’s a sitting duck. This (pro boxing) is a whole different game, something I learned in my first fight and I’ve progressed from there. He’s got the same stuff. Our fight didn’t happen in the amateurs, so I’m focused on beating him as a pro. I can’t see how he took this fight. His people must be telling him I’m just fast, like (Eddie) Chambers or (Chris) Byrd, but I’m more aggressive and they weren’t. I’m not worried about going over there because, if I smash him and lose, everybody will see that. No way I’m going to lose; I’m either going to stop him, or I’ll deserve a win by decision. He can’t prepare for what I’m bringing.”

Estrada’s promoter, Jimmy Burchfield (Classic Entertainment and Sports, Inc.), worked tirelessly for several months to get Povetkin for Estrada. “I’ve never worked so hard to make a fight happen,” Burchfield explained. “I know how badly Jason wanted it. I have to compliment Povetkin’s people for taking it. The Estrada Unit doesn’t back-off from any opponent. They’ve talked about this fight for a long, long time. In 2008, Jason went from a youngster to a man, doing everything asked of him. For everything he’s done since he signed with CES, especially in 2008, this fight is a reward for all of his hard work. I believe Jason Estrada is a future world champion.”

Providence-native Estrada was one of the most highly decorated American amateur boxers ever, compiling an amazing 261-14 record in U.S. competition. He was the first boxer to win both the U.S. Nationals and U.S. Challenge three years (2001-2003) in a row.

Estrada’s father/head trainer, Dr. Roland Estrada, believes the risk of fighting No. 1 ranked Povetkin is worth the reward for Jason. “It’s an opportunity we couldn’t turn down,” he remarked. “If we did it would take us 1 ½-2 years to fight somebody as highly ranked as Povetkin. Back in the amateurs, Povetkin was No. 1 in the East, and Jason was No. 1 in the West. It’s a fight that almost happened three times but didn’t. We’ve had this fight in the back of our minds ever since. He’s still a straight forward, combination puncher without exceptional speed or technique. As a pro, he’s probably become better because he faced adversity, down a few rounds against Eddie Chambers with his eye swelled up, but overcoming it to win. Other than that, though, he’s pretty much the same guy he was as an amateur.”

-JE-

Schedule change for Rally New York 09

2009-01-31T16:03:00.001-05:00

Forestburgh, New York (January 30, 2009) Rally New York organization has announced a change of the date for its 2009 Rally New York USA.

The 2009 Rally New York USA will take place on April 3 – 4, 2009, which is two weeks earlier than previously announced.

We are forced to make this change because of the conflict with the tail end of the spring holiday season in New York, which would have severely limited the availability of hotels for the rally. We regret any inconvenience this change may have caused to those competitors who already made arrangements to attend the rally.

The all-tarmac 2009 Rally New York USA is the first round of the 2009 United States Rally Championship. The event includes two one-day rounds of the New York Rally Championship. Rally New York USA is a unique event in the United States. It is one of the only two all-tarmac rallies in the country.

The United States Rally Championship is taking bold steps to make national competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams. The Championship structure minimizes or, for many teams, eliminates the need for repeated cross-country travel during the Championship season by providing competition on each side of the country. The final round of the Championship at the end of the year counts both in the Atlantic Division and the Pacific Division and together with the results from all previous rounds decides the top spots in the Championship. Pacific Division teams will be again competing for $12,000 in travel subsidies to attend the final round in New York.

Rally New York, Ltd. also presents the International Rally New York on October 23 - 24, 2009. This gravel event is the final round of the 2009 United States Rally Championship. All Rally New York events are conducted according to the international rules with reconnaissance on Thursday and two days of racing on Friday and Saturday. Most events in the United States Rally Championship allow for reconnaissance of the rally course.
More information on the United States Rally Championship can be found at www.usrallychampionship.com. Information on Rally New York events and on New York Rally Championship is at www.RallyNewYork.com.

Global promoter for WRC appointed.

2009-01-29T11:25:00.002-05:00

January, 29th, Sligo, Ireland. As the cars and drivers make their way to the start line of the 2009 WRC season opener @ Rally Ireland, International Sportsworld Communicators has been announced as the global promoter of the World Rally Championship.
The 10-year deal - which officially starts in 2010 - with the sport's governing body, the FIA, was announced this morning upon completion of the final contract details. The tendering process closed last year and the parties have been in negotiation since then.
ISC was selected by a panel made up of WRC event organizers, the WRC commission and representatives from the FIA.
FIA president Max Mosley said: "We received significant interest in this tender but ISC, with its experience in rallying and its ambitious plans for the Championship, proved a worthy winner.
"We can now look forward with a great deal of optimism as ISC implements its comprehensive strategy for the Championship's future."
ISC has held the commercial rights to the WRC since 1996. Formerly owned by David Richards, North One Television took over ISC in October, 2007. Due to ISC's commercial position in the WRC, the new deal will start immediately and run until the end of 2020.
Neil Duncanson, ISC Chairman, said: "This represents the start of a new era for the sport - a genuine opportunity for everyone involved in the World Rally Championship to work together to build something special for the future.
"We are really excited about the challenge, especially reaching out to new rally fans as our media landscape morphs into the digital age."

TWO WORLD TITLE FIGHTS – ONE NIGHT!

2009-01-28T11:23:00.003-05:00

COTTO & PAVLIKTWO WORLD TITLE FIGHTS – ONE NIGHT!

Saturday, February 21, 2009Live on Pay-Per-View

“IRELAND’S” JOHN DUDDY and ANTHONY PETERSON HIGHLIGHT COTTO vs. JENNINGS GARDEN PARTY! UNDEFEATED CONTENDERS’

FIGHTS WILL BEFEATURED ON PAY-PER-VIEW BROADCAST
NEW YORK, NY (January 27, 2009) – Undefeated Top-Five contenders “Ireland’s” JOHN DUDDY and ANTHONY PETERSON will light it up in separate bouts at Madison Square Garden, headlining the undercard of the Miguel Cotto vs. Michael Jennings / Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik vs. Marco Antonio Rubio two-city / two-title pay-per-view extravaganza.

Duddy will go mano-a-mano with MATT “The Predator” VANDA and Peterson will rumble with EDNER “Cherry Bomb” CHERRY, in 10-round middleweight and lightweight bouts, respectively.

Together, these four warriors boast a combined record of 116-14-2 (70 KOs ) – a winning percentage of 88%.

Two title fights in two different towns on one pay-per-view broadcast! This event is so big, both Michael Buffer and Jimmy Lennon, Jr. will be introducing the main events from New York and Youngstown, respectively.

Spectators at The Garden will be able to see the live broadcast of the Pavlik-Rubio fight. Spectators at the Chevrolet Centre will be able to see the live broadcast of the Cotto-Jennings fight.

Promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank, the Cotto-Pavlik doubleheader will take place Saturday, February 21 and will be broadcast Live on Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.

Remaining tickets to the Madison Square Garden event , priced at $500, $300, $200, $100, and $50, can be purchased at the Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets or online at http://www.thegarden.com/.

Remaining tickets to the Chevrolet Centre event, priced at $500, $300, and $200 can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, Retail Locations, including Giant Eagle and Macy’s, or charge by phone at (800) 745-3000 or (866) 448-7849. Tickets are also available at the Chevrolet Centre Box Office. Additional fees may be applicable. There will be a ticket limit of eight (8) per customer.

Duddy (25-0, 17 KOs), from Derry, Ireland, is a huge fan favorite at The Garden drawing tens of thousands to the “Mecca of Boxing” throughout his five-year professional career. The former WBC Continental Americas middleweight champion boasts victories over former world champion Yory Boy Campas and two-time world title contender Howard Eastman.

Currently world-rated No. 2 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), No. 3 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), and No. 7 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), Duddy’’s aggressive, hard-hitting style has not only made for exciting fights but has also developed a very strong following on both sides of the Atlantic, drawing capacity crowds in New York, Boston, Dublin and Belfast. Vanda (39-8, 22 KOs ), from St. Paul , Minn. , is a 12-year battle-tested veteran who has never taken a step backward in the ring.

Known as “The Predator” for the way he hunts down his opponents in the ring before finishing them off, less than half the opponents Vanda has vanquished have gone the distance. He is a former International Boxing Association Americas junior middleweight champion, won via an exciting 12-round split decision over former world champion Yory Boy Campas. Famous for his trademark upper body tattoos, Vanda returns to the ring on the heels of an exciting two-fight series against undefeated contender Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

Peterson (28-0, 19 KOs ), from Washington , D.C. , is a rising star within the lightweight division. Currently world-rated No. 4 by the WBC and WBO and No. 6 by the IBF, Peterson, 23, returns to the ring on the heels of an impressive 10-round unanimous decision victory over former world lightweight champion Javier Jauregui in a fast-paced fight that not only showed how far Peterson has progressed since his professional debut in 2004, but also displayed his aggressive style, boxing skills and punching power.

A former North American Boxing Organization (NABO) lightweight champion, he became the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) lightweight champion last June, winning a dominating 12-round unanimous decision over gritty veteran Fernando Trejo.

Cherry ( 24-6-2 , 12 KOs ), from Nassau , Bahamas , has held NABF and North American Boxing Association (NABA) lightweight titles. Known for his aggressive style and as a pressure style fighter, Cherry, 26, has a collection of impressive victories on his resume including Monty Meza-Clay, Daniel Alcea, Wes Ferguson and Marco Perez.

Currently world-rated No. 10 by the WBC, Cherry returns to the ring fresh from his first world title challenge, where he moved up in weight and lost a 12-round decision to undefeated WBC super lightweight champion Timothy Bradley, Jr. last September. The Cotto vs. Jennings / Pavlik vs. Rubio pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, has a suggested retail price of $44.95. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. For Cotto vs. Jennings / Pavlik vs. Rubio fight week updates, log on to http://www.toprank.com/.

Don King Productions ‘St. Valentine’s Day Massacre’

2009-01-28T11:11:00.002-05:00

SUNRISE, Fla.—Unified lightweight world champion Nate “Galaxxy Warrior” Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KOs) gave a stern warning to International Boxing Federation No. 1-Ranked lightweight mandatory challenger Ali “Rush Hour” Funeka (30-1, 25 KOs) at a Don King-hosted press conference at BankAtlantic Center today promoting their Valentine’s Day meeting in South Florida.

“I’m a New Age guy that likes to be on the Internet,” Campbell began. “Then I went on the Web and read what Ali Funeka said he’s going to do to me on Valentine’s Day. He said he sees nothing special in me. He said he knows me like the back of his hand. That’s rhetoric but he’s going to pay for it. I’m going to beat him like he tried to steal something from me.”

Campbell said there was no previous ill will between him and his South African opponent.

“This was a basic training camp for me until I heard his mouth. Now it’s personal. He’s got to pay the retail American price for his words, not the South African price. I’m going to hit this 6-foot-1-inch Funeka everywhere it’s legal and maybe where it ain’t if the referee turns his back. If he truly wants to win, he better be ready to fight, kill or die.”

Campbell’s comments caught the attention of the assembled media and his promoter, Don King.

“He’s not fooling around,” King said of Campbell’s comments. “Don’t forget what this man did to Juan Diaz, and he did that partly on my behalf. I hope Funeka knows what he’s getting into.”

King announced tickets to the fight, priced at $200, $75, $40 and $25 (with all seats buy one, get one free excepting a limited number of golden circle seats) will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000, by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or at the BankAtlantic Center box office.

Dubbed “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” by King, the card will also feature colorful former three-time world champion Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga (28-7-1, 22 KOs) tangling with undefeated Alfredo “Perro” Angulo (14-0, 11 KOs) to determine the WBC’s No. 1 ranking and mandatory challenger at the 154-pound limit as well as another important match at 154 pounds with interim WBC super welterweight champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KOs) taking on former IBF welterweight champion Kermit “The Killer” Cintron (30-2, 27 KOs).

A full undercard, with opponents to be announced soon, will showcase heavyweights Ray “The Rainman” Austin (26-4, 17 KOs) and Bermane “B-Ware” Stiverne (16-1, 16 KOs); undefeated cruiserweight Francisco “The Wizard” Palacios (16-0, 9 KOs); welterweight Ivan Kirpa (22-1, 14 KOs); lightweights Anges Adjaho (23-1, 14 KOs) and Angelo “The Cobra” Santana (4-0, 3 KOs); junior lightweight John “Action” Jackson (13-1, 13 KOs); undefeated light heavyweight Anthony Dirrell (14-0, 12 KOs); and featherweight Gary Russell (1-0, 1 KO).

The event is promoted by Don King Productions. Campbell vs. Funeka is presented in association with One Punch Productions. Mayorga vs. Angulo is a co-promotion with Gary Shaw Productions. Campbell vs. Funeka, Mayorga vs. Angulo and Martinez vs. Cintron will also be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

O’Connor fighting Friday night in Montreal

2009-01-26T17:02:00.003-05:00

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (November 26, 2008) – 2008 U.S. Olympic first alternate Danny O’Connor heads north of the border to fight pro-debuting Greg Jimenez off-television on this week’s ESPN Friday Night Fights show, headlined by the IBF light welterweight title fight between Herman Ngoudjo and Juan Urango, at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

In his last fight, the 23-year-old O’Connor (2-0, 2 KOs) pitched a shutout last November against 16-fight veteran Anthony Woods, winning all four rounds on each of the three judge’s scorecards (40-35, 40-36, 40-36), at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

“I’m happy to be making a trip to Canada,” O’Connor said. “I can’t wait to fight. I’ve been working hard in the gym….training, training and training. I’ve come to realize that sometimes it’s difficult in the pros because opponents get switched around. It’s all part of the learning process. I train the same for all opponents, assuming that they’re going to bring their A game. I’m ready to fight. I’m in great shape and I can’t wait to show everyone there what I’ve been working on in the gym (401 Gym in Cranston, Rhode Island).”
O’Connor, fighting out of Framingham (MA), won last year’s US Future Stars National Championship, in which he was named Most Outstanding Boxer, as well as the 2008 National Golden Gloves Tournament. Danny, who signed a promotional contract with Seminole Warriors Boxing, defeated 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Felix Diaz, of the Dominican Republic, last May as an amateur in a USA-Dominican Republic dual meet.
“I love Montreal and the opportunity for Danny to fight there makes a lot of sense,” added O’Connor’s head trainer, Dave Keefe, who also co-manages Danny with Rob Valle. “I’m happy we’re fighting on the undercard of an IBF light welterweight title fight, which we hopefully will be fighting for in a couple of years.”

Bob Trieger, Full Court Press

John Duddy speaks out.

2009-01-19T02:44:00.004-05:00

In better times, Tony McLoughlin [L] John Duddy, Eddie McLoughlin.Picture/Neil McDaid

By Thomas Hauser
The Truth about John Duddy Sun 18-Janfighter sacrifices. He tortures his body; he hardens his mind. And all the while, he’s surrounded by people, some of whom give him their heart and soul while others view him as prey. Depending on those associations, the business of boxing can be profitable for a fighter or worse than any physical beating that he suffers.John Duddy is learning that hard lesson now.Duddy is the most prominent Irish boxer in the world today. He’s articulate, handsome, charismatic, and 25-and-0 with 17 knockouts. The WBC lists him as the No.3 ranked junior-middleweight in the world.

The WBO and IBF place him second and sixth respectively at 160 pounds.Most of Duddy’s fights have been in New York. He has been the headline attraction at Madison Square Garden three times and in the featured undercard bout in the big arena on two occasions. “That means a great deal to me,” he says. “There are a lot of fighters out there who are as good as me, but no one has better fans. For a guy from Derry to headline at Madison Square Garden is something special. New York has been very good to me.

It’s my home for boxing. But at the end of the day, Ireland will always be my home.”Throughout his professional career, Duddy has been guided by two brothers; Eddie and Tony McLoughlin. They used ten different promoters for his first fifteen fights. On the night before St. Patrick’s Day 2006, John knocked out Shelby Pudwill in the first round at Madison Square Garden. “Duddy-mania” was in full bloom, and “Clan Duddy” was thought of as one of boxing’s “feel good” stories.Then a bad seed was planted.

On April 24, 2006, John signed an exclusive promotional contract with Irish Ropes (a company founded and controlled by Eddie McLoughlin). One day later, he entered into a three-year managerial contract with Tony McLoughlin pursuant to which Tony was to receive twenty percent of John’s purses off the top.It was not in John’s best interests to sign those contracts. At that point in his career, many promoters would have given him a substantial signing bonus (which Irish Ropes didn’t). Moreover, on many of Duddy’s future fights, Irish Ropes wouldn’t even perform the nuts-and-bolts promotional work.

Rather, they provided John’s services to another promoter and took a share of what would otherwise have been a larger purse for John.And most significantly, Eddie and Tony McLoughlin are brothers with a close personal relationship. Promoters and managers are in an adversarial position when it comes to negotiating a fighter’s purse.

The manager’s job is to get as much money as he can for his fighter. The promoter tries to give the fighter as little money as possible because, that way, he keeps more for himself.Dan Birmingham (who knows quite a bit about the business of boxing) has observed, “You have to keep promoters on the end of your jab and watch them on everything.”Tony McLoughlin was less likely to scrutinize, threaten, cajole, and battle with his brother on John’s behalf than a fully independent manager would have been.

After the promotional and managerial contracts were signed, Duddy continued his winning ways and his “star power” kept growing. The one concern his team had (and it was a big one) was that he wasn’t improving as a fighter as much as they would have liked. Thus, in June 2007, Harry Keitt (who’d trained John from his fourth through his twentieth pro fights) was replaced by Don Turner. Four fights after that, Turner was replaced by Pat Burns. On June 28, 2008 fighting under Burns’s tutelage for the first time, Duddy won all ten rounds on all three judges’ scorecards, against Charles Howe. Afterward, Burns declared, “I put a lot more emphasis on the jab because, the last few fights I saw on tape, John was brawling. He threw a hell of a lot more jabs in this fight than I’ve ever seen before. I also talked to John about not listening to the crowd.

You can’t allow the crowd to fight for you. John did a lot of growing-up tonight. He’s got a long way to go, but I’m happy with his performance.”Then Burns made a suggestion that opened a whole new range of possibilities. Duddy had fought as a middleweight for most of his pro career. But very little “drying out” had been necessary to make weight, and the top middleweights are naturally bigger than John.

Why not go down to 154 pounds? That way, Duddy would be facing lighter punchers and his own blows would have greater effect.John concurred. Soon after, opportunity knocked. On March 27, 2008, Verno Phillips had beaten the odds and won a split-decision over Cory Spinks to capture the IBF 154-pound crown. That left Artie Pelullo (Phillips’s promoter) with a champion and a problem. The problem was that Verno, despite his belt, wasn’t marketable.

And most of the opponents who could sell tickets would be overwhelmingly favored to beat him.As far as Pelullo was concerned, Duddy was the perfect opponent for his fighter. Phillips-Duddy was a fight for good money that Verno could win.From John’s point of view, the match-up was just as good. Verno was a legitimate world champion who’d won his title honestly in the ring, not by alphabet-soup fiat.

But he was a vulnerable champion approaching his thirty-ninth birthday, who’d been beaten on ten occasions and scored only one knockout in the preceding four years. The icing on the cake was that Phillips was willing to defend his title against Duddy in Ireland.“It’s hard to put into words how badly I wanted that fight,” John recalls. “I told Eddie, ‘Whatever it takes, make the deal.’ Eddie said to me, ‘Well, it’s not enough money and Pelullo wants options.’ I said, ‘I don’t care; make the deal.’” The deal never got done. Eddie McLoughlin and Irish Ropes matchmaker Jim Borzell say that’s because Pelullo refused to give them a dollar number and wanted options on John’s future fights.

Pelullo says that he offered Irish Ropes a guarantee of US$150,000 against fifty percent of the net receipts to make Phillips-Duddy and asked for nothing more than a shared option with Irish Ropes on John’s next two fights should Duddy beat Phillips.Whatever the reason, Eddie McLoughlin didn’t seem anxious to make Phillips-Duddy. Pelullo offered to come to New York on two hours notice, anytime day or night, to close the deal. McLoughlin declined to have that meeting. Then Borzell started making calls to members of the media, putting a damper on the notion that the fight might happen.Phillips-Duddy died. Thereafter, the McLoughlins told John that they’d arranged for him to fight Sam Hill at Roseland Ballroom on November 21st for a purse of $20,000 and Ronald Hearns at Madison Square Garden on January 17, 2009, for a purse of $75,000.“That made no sense to me,” John remembers. “I was getting less for both of those fights together than I would have gotten for Phillips. Also, I later learned that, when Eddie and Tony made the Hearns fight, they’d agreed to everything that they said was wrong with the Phillips fight, including options. And neither fight was for a world title. It showed me how little control I had over my own destiny with Eddie and Tony, and I began to question other things.”

In October 2008, Duddy telephoned Craig Hamilton and asked for advice. Hamilton had carved out a reputation in boxing circles as a key player in guiding Michael Grant to a US$3,500,000 payday against Lennox Lewis and seven-figure purses for fights against Lou Savarese and Andrew Golota.On November 5th, Duddy met with Hamilton and Gary Friedman (who John retained as his attorney). Thereafter, Hamilton and Friedman made some inquiries into the finances surrounding Duddy’s fights. Some of the numbers they found were troubling.Duddy’s contract with Irish Ropes specified certain minimum purses that John was to receive during the term of the contract (a $20,000 minimum for fights in the first year; $50,000 for fights in the second year; and $75,000 for fights in the third). Those contractual requirements had sometimes been ignored. For example, for the Charles Howe fight in year three of the contract, Duddy should have received at least $75,000 but was paid only $20,000.Details regarding Duddy’s three fights in Ireland (against Alessio Furlan, Prince Arron, and Howard Eastman) in 2007 were sketchy. John told Hamilton that he’d been paid $60,000 (less Tony McLoughlin’s twenty-percent managerial fee and certain training expenses) for the Eastman fight.

That struck Craig as lower than it should have been, given the risks that Eastman posed and the revenue that Duddy had generated in the past against lesser opponents.Further with regard to the Eastman fight, New York promoter Bob Duffy (who’d worked with the McLoughlins before) recounted, “Brian Peters promoted John’s first two fights in Ireland with Irish Ropes looking on.

Then Irish Ropes got licensed to promote over there, and I put together a business plan that showed they could make a $250,000 to $300,000 profit if they promoted Duddy-Eastman themselves in Belfast. I asked Eddie for $12,000 to help run the show. Then Eddie told me that he didn’t need me and sold promotional rights for the fight to Brian Peters. I have no idea what Irish Ropes got for providing John’s services. But if you think you can make $250,000 to $300,000 for promoting a fight, you’ll sell those services for a lot more than $60,000.”Hamilton and Friedman also looked at the finances surrounding Duddy’s three most recent fights at Madison Square Garden.On September 29, 2006, John fought Yory Boy Campas in The Theatre at The Garden. New York State Athletic Commission records show a total attendance of 3,352.

Irish Ropes reported that only 2,593 of that was “paid,” which means that there were 759 comps. The number of comps seems high. The “gross receipts of ticket sales” reported by Irish Ropes was $264,800. In addition, it reported $25,000 from the sale of television rights. Duddy’s purse was $20,000.Six months later, on St. Patrick’s Day Eve 2007, John fought at The Theatre again; this time against Anthony Bonsante. NYSAC records show a total attendance of 4,955. Irish Ropes reported that 4,471 of that was “paid.” The “gross receipts of ticket sales” reported by Irish Ropes to the commission was $558,505. In other words, the gross receipts from the sale of tickets for Duddy-Bonsante exceeded the total for Duddy-Campas by $293,705.

Yet Duddy received only $20,000 more (a $40,000 purse from which training expenses and Tony McLoughlin’s twenty percent managerial fee were deducted). Hamilton calculated that, most likely, Irish Ropes turned a profit of at least $200,000 on Duddy-Bonsante.Then, on February 23, 2008, John fought Walid Smichet on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov in the main arena at Madison Square Garden. Leon Margules of Warriors Boxing (who contracted with Irish Ropes for Duddy’s services) says that Irish Ropes received $60,000 plus $200,000 worth of tickets that were reported to the New York State Athletic Commission as having been sold for $190,000 (the other $10,000 in tickets was returned to the promotion). In addition, Irish Ropes was given ten $60 comp tickets and seventy-five $100 comp tickets.

Irish Ropes paid $20,000 for Smichet’s services out its revenue stream.Under Duddy’s promotional contract with Irish Ropes, if a fight went to purse bid, John was to receive eighty percent of the purse with Irish Ropes getting the other twenty percent. That would have been a fair guideline for the division of revenue from Duddy-Smichet (where K2 Promotions and Warriors Boxing did most of the promotional work). An 80-20 split would have given Duddy approximately $200,000. Instead, he was paid $60,000 minus the usual deductions. Duddy told Hamilton and Friedman that he’d never been shown a record of the income received by Irish Ropes with regard to any of the cards that he’d fought on.

Apparently, other information had also been withheld from him. Promoter Lou DiBella told Hamilton that, before Jermain Taylor fought Kelly Pavlik, DiBella Entertainment had offered Irish Ropes US$1,700,000 to provide Duddy’s services for a fight against Taylor. That offer, according to DiBella, was turned down. Duddy said that neither Eddie or Tony McLoughlin had mentioned it to him.“I guess if you’re selling $190,000 worth of tickets on the side,” Hamilton observed, “you might not be anxious for your fighter to fight for a world championship under circumstances where the fighter knows how much money is on the table and insists on getting more than you want to give him. So instead, you make deals like the Smichet fight, where John trains, John fights, John gets his eyelids ripped open, Irish Ropes takes in $250,000, and John gets $60,000; but of course, John has to pay $12,000 of that $60,000 to Tony.”

The thing that put matters in perspective best for Hamilton was something that Duddy said as they were going over the numbers together. “If I’d gotten my fair share of that money,” John noted, “Grainne [his fiancée] and I would be married now.” On November 6th, at Gary Friedman’s request, Hamilton and Friedman met with Eddie and Tony McLoughlin and Jim Borzell at the offices of Irish Ropes.

The McLoughlins said that, far from exploiting John, they had both incurred losses as a consequence of various extras that they’d given him during the course of their association. Friedman responded that he considered the promotional and managerial contracts void because of various breaches but that, as part of a settlement, John would reimburse the McLoughlins out of future purses for any out-of-pocket losses that they’d suffered. Eddie and Tony said that they’d think about the situation and get back to Friedman with a number.

Two matters (the Sam Hill and Ronald Hearns fights) required immediate attention.As previously noted, the McLoughlins had arranged for Duddy to fight Sam Hill at Roseland Ballroom on November 21st for a purse of $20,000. The promoter of that fight was Cedric Kushner’s Gotham Boxing. It was a small-money bout that made little sense, given the fact that a loss (or even a cut) could jeopardize much bigger pay-days in the near future. With Eddie McLoughlin’s permission, Hamilton spoke with Kushner on November 9th and learned that Gotham Boxing had agreed to give Irish Ropes $35,000 worth of tickets for Duddy-Hill plus a twenty percent commission on all ticket sales over $50,000.

Kushner offered to modify the deal so that Duddy would receive $30,000 plus $25,000 in tickets. The promoter would also pay airfare, hotel, and a per diem food allowance for John and Pat Burns.Duddy wanted to go through with the fight. “I’ve always lived up to my contracts,” he said. “And I need the goal of having a fight in front of me. Right now, I’m in limbo. I don’t know if I’m coming or going. The only thing that keeps me straight is that I know I have a fight.”Hamilton advised Kushner accordingly.The second fight on the table was the proposed January 17th match-up against Ronald Hearns in The Theatre at Madison Square Garden.

That fight was to be promoted by Lou DiBella and televised by HBO on Boxing After Dark.The McLoughlins had told Duddy that he’d be paid $75,000 for the Hearns fight. Hamilton learned that Irish Ropes had a deal with DiBella that would give them one hundred percent of the Irish television money plus a percentage of all other fight revenue after the deduction of expenses. DiBella estimated that Irish Ropes would receive $300,000 for delivering John’s services.Duddy had never signed a contract for the Hearns fight. Hamilton felt that the McLoughlins had undervalued their fighter in negotiations with DiBella. He also thought that, using Lou’s numbers, $75,000 was an absurdly low purse.“If Irish Ropes takes in $300,000,” Hamilton asked rhetorically, “why does John get $75,000 minus Tony McLoughlin’s twenty percent? And I see that, if Ronald Hearns beats Duddy, Irish Ropes gets a piece of Hearns. I understand why that might be in Eddie McLoughlin’s interest, but how is that in John’s interest?”

Then things got ugly. The McLoughlins didn’t respond to Gary Friedman’s settlement offer. Instead, on November 10th, Tony McLoughlin announced to the media that John wouldn’t be fighting Sam Hill for "unforeseen" reasons and advised fans who’d bought tickets to go to the point of purchase for a full refund. That same day, Kushner called Hamilton and told him that, given Tony’s statement, the entire fight card was off.“It’s frustrating for me,” Duddy said on hearing the news. “I’ve been out of the ring for so long. I’d had a good six-week training camp. I was ready to go. And then, without any warning at all, without ever telling me, Tony cancelled the fight.”Hamilton went further, saying, “Tony McLaughlin did here what has been a pattern of behavior throughout his relationship with John. He treated John like a child instead of the intelligent person that he is and went ahead and did something without consulting the fighter. This occurred with Jermain Taylor; it occurred with Verno Phillips; and now it’s happening with Sam Hill.

There was no discussion; just cancel the fight. Tony McLoughlin just cost John fifty thousand dollars.”Duddy-Hearns fell apart soon after. Meanwhile, Eddie McLoughlin decided to go public with the dispute and told the media, “I think John was reading his own press clippings. I know that he has people speaking in his ear, telling him that he should be bigger and fighting for more money and that kind of thing. What kills me is all the big things that we had in store for him next year. If he had looked good against Hearns on HBO, it would have probably led to a title shot. But it’s not about the money. I’m disappointed that John hasn’t even called me to talk about what’s bothering him. Because I can tell you that, if he had called, we would have met and worked this out.

I’m disappointed that he didn’t face me like a man and tell me he was unhappy.” Jim Borzell took things to another level. First, he denigrated Duddy’s talent as a fighter (“Considering that John never fought anyone in the top twenty and how high he was rated, I think I did a pretty good job of matchmaking”). Then he questioned Duddy’s judgment (“We’re all scratching our heads, wondering why he’s doing this. This is the worst possible time to pull this nonsense. It’s counter-productive to his career. Now he’s going to be caught up in litigation, and HBO and Showtime aren’t going to want to touch him”).

Finally, he attacked John’s character (“As far as we were concerned, we were constructing a press personality as much as a fighter. John has an arrogance and nastiness about him that the press and the public never saw.”)In response to those comments, Craig Hamilton declared, “John has more integrity in his little finger than the McLoughlins and Jim Borzell have in their entire bodies put together.”Pat Burns observed, “I’ve known John for about a year. He’s a fine a young man and a person of integrity. Eddie McLoughlin has a lot of charm.

He’s a guy who, when you start talking to him, the first impression is good. But first impressions can be deceiving. Whether or not Eddie and Tony and Jim Borzell did right by John is in the numbers. And right now, the numbers I’m hearing don’t sound good.”Hamilton and Burns have a vested interest in standing by Duddy. They’re his current boxing adviser and trainer. Thus, the thoughts of John’s previous two trainers (each of whom was unceremoniously dismissed) are significant.“John is a good person,” says Don Turner. “Outside the ring, there was nothing he ever did other than what I asked of him. As a person, he’s one of the better guys that I’ve trained, and I’ve trained some great guys.”Harry Keitt has a similar view. “I like John,” Keitt says. “I wish everyone in boxing had John’s character.” Then Keitt adds, “I believe the same thing John does about the money.

I’d ask, ‘Eddie, where is all the money going?’ He’d say expenses this and expenses that. But he would never sit down with me and show me the documented numbers. As John’s trainer, the only pay I got was as a percentage of John’s purses. So if John got less than he should have gotten, then I got less too. The fans were there to see John; not the McLoughlins. What Eddie and Tony had going with John was the same sort of thing that Don King and Carl King had with fighters. And we all know how that worked out.”

The past two months have seen a thicket of legal proceedings involving Duddy and the McLoughlins.Cedric Kushner and Duddy both filed complaints with the New York State Athletic Commission against Irish Ropes and Tony McLoughlin. After a preliminary fact-finding hearing, the commission issued complaints of its own charging that Irish Ropes and Tony McLoughlin violated state law and engaged in acts “detrimental to boxing.” The commission further alleged that Tony McLoughlin “breached the fiduciary duties” he owed to Duddy. A hearing on the commission complaints is scheduled for February 26th. In each instance, the NYSAC is asking the hearing officer to revoke or suspend the respondent’s license and impose “the maximum monetary penalties permitted by law.”

In the case of Tony McLoughlin, the NYSAC is also asking that the boxer-manager contract be voided. NYSAC chairwoman Melvina Lathan says, “Irish Ropes cannot promote a fight in New York until this is resolved, and Tony McLoughlin cannot act as a manager in New York until this is resolved.”In addition, Duddy has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Irish Ropes, Eddie McLoughlin, and Tony McLoughlin.

The lawsuit alleges that:(1) Irish Ropes breached its promotional obligations by failing to pay Duddy his contractual minimums for fights such as his June 28, 2008, bout against Charles Howe.

(2) Irish Ropes violated the financial disclosure provisions of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which states, “A promoter shall not be entitled to receive any compensation directly or indirectly in connection with a boxing match until it provides to the boxer it promotes the amounts of any compensation or consideration that the promoter has contracted to receive from such match.” (This is significant because the failure of Irish Ropes to give the required financial information to Duddy left John unable to properly evaluate his worth with regard to each fight going forward.)

(3) Tony McLoughlin breached the fiduciary duty that he owed to Duddy. Here, the complaint states, “Among the obligations that Tony McLoughlin assumed when he became Duddy’s manager was the obligation to negotiate against his brother Eddie on Duddy’s behalf and, if necessary, to fire his brother in the event Eddie proved unable to live up to the letter of his contractual obligations. Defendant Tony McLoughlin breached his fiduciary obligations to Duddy in numerous respects, including (a) allowing and helping his brother Eddie to distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars of bout tickets without accounting to Duddy; (b) cooperating with his brother Eddie to arrange to pay Duddy bout purses significantly below the minimums stipulated in the promotional agreement; and (c) unilaterally canceling the Sam Hill bout without consulting Duddy.”

(4) Tony McLoughlin’s relationship with Eddie was such that it violated the “firewall” provision of the Ali Act, which states, “It shall be unlawful for a manager to have a direct or indirect financial interest in the promotion of a boxer or to be employed by or receive compensation or other benefits from a promoter.” Among the items that the complaint references in this regard are “cash sales of bout tickets in bars and other establishments outside of the normal box-office channel to Duddy’s fans in the Irish-American community.” The complaint alleges, “These cash ticket sales were a principal source of revenue for the McLoughlins and Irish Ropes.” Duddy’s complaint in the federal lawsuit seeks monetary damages from all three defendants and a judgment that the promotional agreement has been materially breached by Irish Ropes and is thus void and unenforceable.

For the time being, the voidance of the boxer-manager contract between Duddy and Tony McLoughlin has been left to the New York State Athletic Commission (as per the requirements of a clause in that contract).Here it should be noted that federal law also states, “Any person who knowingly violates [the disclosure provisions of the Ali Act] shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined not more than US$100,000.” However, regardless of the findings in the civil case, criminal prosecution is highly unlikely.

Irish Ropes and Eddie McLoughlin are currently represented by Walter Kane, although Kane has yet to file a notice of appearance as their attorney in the federal proceeding. Tony McLoughlin is represented by Edward Hayes.In discussing the case, Kane sounds very much like a man who would rather be representing the other side. Walter is a union guy who has stood up for boxers in the past and was one of the co-founders of JAB (the Joint Association of Boxers). “How do you feel,” Kane is asked, “about one brother managing a fighter while the other brother promotes him?”“I believe it can be troublesome in some situations,” Walter answers.“Is this one of those situations?”“I can’t speculate.”Much of the McLoughlins’ defense against Duddy’s complaint centers on “extras” that they say they gave John beyond the terms of his contract.

More specifically, they point to the fact that they provided him with the use of an apartment and car and gave him cash from time to time.The apartment was on the ground floor of a two-story row house in Queens (one of New York’s five boroughs). Tony was the owner and used the basement as his office. Another tenant lived on the second floor. The car was a 1998 Dodge that Tony bought second-hand from a garage.

Duddy paid for the insurance and upkeep. It was given to John well before the promotional and managerial contracts were signed.Duddy says that there were times when Tony gave him $250 a week, but adds that the payments were hit and miss (“Originally, he told me they’d be every week, but they weren’t”).Hamilton puts the “extras” in perspective when he says, “Even if the not-so-weekly payments and the value of the car and apartment rental are recoverable, which they probably aren’t, their total value is less than what Eddie and Tony made on the Smichet fight alone. John owes them zero.

And I have a feeling that what we’ve learned so far about the McLoughlins and their financial dealings with John is only the tip of the iceberg.”As word of Duddy’s rift with the McLoughlins spread, Hamilton was contacted by Top Rank, Golden Boy, DiBella Entertainment, Main Events, Star Boxing, Gary Shaw Promotions, and (as Craig puts it) “just about every other promoter with a pulse.”Meanwhile, the McLoughlins seemed to be pursuing a strategy of putting John on ice and keeping him from entering the ring.

In that regard, they were inadvertently aided by the New York State Athletic Commission, which has moved slowly and failed so far to exercise the full range of remedies at its commandAlso, as a legal matter, the NYSAC’s complaint against Irish Ropes appears to be technically flawed. At a minimum, the commission would be wise to expand it to specifically include the promoter’s apparent violations of the Ali Act and failure to pay Duddy the minimum purses required by contract.One of the NYSAC commissioners (Edwin Torres) is a former New York State Supreme Court judge.

One would think that he has the skills to offer guidance in this matter.For a while, the slow commission pace played havoc with several potential fight cards in New York. Promoters Lou DiBella, Cedric Kushner, and Bob Duffy had put holds on venues in Manhattan for shows to be held in proximity to St. Patrick’s Day. Each of them was waiting to see if Duddy would be available to fight on their card.Irish Ropes put a hold on The Theatre at Madison Square Garden for March 14th, but was denied the right to hold a fight on that date by the NYSAC. Thereafter, David Mossberg (an attorney for the commission) revealed that Irish Ropes’s promotional license had expired and its request for a renewal had been denied because of “a deficiency in the application.”

On January 13th, Gary Friedman filed a motion on Duddy’s behalf in federal court. The motion asked Judge Barbara Jones to grant an injunction prohibiting Irish Ropes from taking any action to interfere with Duddy’s participation in any professional boxing match during the pendency of the litigation. To protect Irish Ropes’s rights, Friedman offered to put a percentage of John’s compensation in escrow pending final resolution of the court action.Faced with a firm court date, Eddie McLoughlin agreed on January 16th that Duddy could fight anywhere anytime as long as a portion of the profits from his future fights was put in escrow.“

That’s fine with us,” Hamilton says. “There’s no way that John will lose the court case. As far as I’m concerned, the escrow account is a savings account for John. The important thing is that now he can fight. As for Tony, once the New York State Athletic Commission gets through with him, we’ll finish off what’s left in federal court.”Then, on a pensive note, Hamilton adds. “You know; when I heard that Tony was managing John and Eddie was promoting him, I figured John was getting screwed. That’s usually the way those things work.

This is a classic case of a promoter and manager working together for their own benefit to the detriment of the fighter. The McLoughlins can promote and manage for the next twenty years. John has only a few years left. Verno Phillips lost his title, so that opportunity is gone for John. Who knows what will come next. The biggest problem with the business of boxing is that bad behavior is rewarded. I’d like to think that, this time, things will be different and everything will work out well for John.”Duddy hopes for a similar resolution.

He has learned a hard lesson; to wit, nothing prepares a fighter for the business of boxing except the business of boxing. And he has maintained his dignity through it all. “Other people have told me about some of the attacks that have been made on me,” John says. “It’s unnecessary and very petty. There should be a common purpose between a boxer and his manager, and it seems as though that wasn’t the case between Tony and myself. The common purpose appears to have been more between Eddie and Tony. This has taught me that, as a fighter, even if you have people you think you can trust, you have to get involved in the financial end of things.

Even if you rely on someone else to make certain decisions, you have to see the whole picture and know what they’re doing. I’m disappointed with what happened, but I’m lucky to have found out now rather than later. What’s done is done. I just want to move on.”“I’ve tried to put the time I’ve been out of the ring to good use,” Duddy continues. “Not being able to fight has been difficult for me. I’m going to be thirty this year.

These are my prime years as a boxer, and I know I can’t fight forever. But I’ve stayed in shape and I’ve enjoyed being home. Grainne and I don’t have a house anymore. We have a home. We just had our first Christmas in our own home. It’s ten doors down from her mother and father, so Sunday dinner is easy to handle. Lately, Grainne has had me painting and wallpapering, which means I’ve been busy in and out of the gym. But it’s not the same as fighting. Whoever I fight next, I feel sorry for him. I’m ready to explode.”

Thomas Hauser most recent book (“The Boxing Scene”) was published earlier this year by Temple University Press.

Volkswagen considers WRC entry

2009-01-15T14:05:00.003-05:00

Autosport.com's David Evans reports:

Thursday, January 15th 2009, 15:38 GMT
Volkswagen is considering a move into the World Rally Championship and is expected to make a decision in the near future.
The German manufacturer will finalise plans for its future motorsport activity once it has completed this year's Dakar Rally.
VW motorsport director Kris Nissen revealed that the WRC is an option and said that a global motorsport programme is "important" to VW.
"We want to make a decision after Dakar," he told this week's Autosport magazine. "We have looked at the World Rally Championship and we have been keen to investigate whether this would be possible, as well as the Dakar or instead of the Dakar.
"Volkswagen is one of the world's biggest car manufacturers. International competition is really important - Dakar is international competition but so is the WRC. Nothing is decided yet."

Source: Autosport.com

Ultimate Fighting Championship, heads for the Dublin Ireland

2009-01-15T12:53:00.005-05:00

UFC® ANNOUNCES FIRST EVENT IN DUBLIN, IRELAND
2009 KICKS OFF WITH LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT SHOWDOWNS
HENDERSON vs. FRANKLIN COLEMAN vs. SHOGUN II Live From the O2-Dublin – Saturday, January 17, 2009 Las Vegas, NV (USA) –

The world’s most exciting sport returns to the Emerald Isle as the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization opens up 2009 with the star-powered UFC 93 card at the O2-Dublin in Dublin, Ireland on January 17, 2009. In the light heavyweight main event, former two-division world champion Dan Henderson will collide with former UFC middleweight king Rich Franklin in three-round war which will set the tone for the 205lbs division in 2009. Then, 2005 PRIDE® Grand Prix Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua returns to the Octagon™ to throw down with UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman in a rematch MMA fans thought they would never see. The pair last met in Japan in 2006, with the legendary Coleman pulling off a stunning upset by breaking Rua’s arm in the first round.

“Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson is a battle between two great former champions who are both looking to get another chance to wear a world title around their waist,” said Dana White, UFC President. “Franklin is the former UFC Middleweight champion, and he’s a dangerous striker with solid submission skills – he also showed great takedown defense in his September destruction of powerful wrestler Matt Hamill. Dan Henderson is the former PRIDE Welterweight and Middleweight champion. He’s a world class wrestler, known for his great chin and his one punch knockout power. He defeated formidable Brazilian submission specialist Rousimar Palhares in September.

These are two fan favorites with a lot of pride on the line as they want to show that they are still among the very best fighters in the world.”
"We are delighted to be returning to the Emerald Isle again, especially with such blockbuster main and co-main events,” said Marshall Zelaznik, UFC UK Division President.

“The O2-Dublin is a fantastic venue that will create a memorable UFC experience. After smashing box office records in Belfast in June 2007, we promised our Irish fans we would be coming to Dublin, and now on January 17 the world’s most exciting live sports experience travels across the Irish Sea - we know this will be a great night for our fans.

”Ticket on-sale date and purchase information for UFC 93 will be announced shortly. UFC 93 will be available on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.95 for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available);

UFC fans also have the option to watch the UFC 93 pay-per-view live from Dublin, Ireland at 3pm EST/12Noon PST. The only fighter to ever hold the PRIDE 205-pound and 183-pound titles simultaneously, Temecula, California’s Dan Henderson (23-7) has a body of work which stands favorably against any resume in the fighting world today, with his victories over the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, Murilo Bustamante and Vitor Belfort just scratching the surface of what he’s accomplished in his 11 year career. A two-time United States Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling who is fresh off a dominant win over Rousimar Palhares at UFC 88, the 38-year old Henderson’s grappling ability and concussive right hand power has set him in good stead as he looks to take out Rich Franklin on January 17th and continue on his march to his first UFC title.

“This is the fight my fans have wanted for a long time now, and they want to see me fight Rich Franklin,” said Henderson. “I think this will be a great fight for Ireland, it definitely will be exciting because we both like to stand and bang, and we both have knockout power. I’m excited to go to Ireland and to take on Rich; I think he’s a tough opponent and a huge challenge, but I don’t see myself losing to him.”One of the UFC’s most popular fighters, 34-year old Rich “Ace” Franklin (26-3, 1 NC) began his MMA career as a light heavyweight, going 15-1 with 1 no contest in the process.

It was a detour to the 185-pound division that made him a star though, as he won the UFC middleweight title in June of 2005 and successfully defended his crown twice with big wins over Nate Quarry and David Loiseau before losing to current champion Anderson Silva. In 2008, the well-rounded Cincinnati, Ohio native decided to challenge himself at light heavyweight once again, and his third round TKO of highly-regarded Matt Hamill in September sent a clear message out to his fellow 205 pounders that not only was he back, but that he is looking to take care of some unfinished business in his old weight class.

source, UFC, Image/Getty Images

Carlos Sainz retires from the Dakar, De Villiers is back in the lead!...

2009-01-15T12:06:00.005-05:00

How quickly things change on the Dakar, with victory in their grasp,Volkswagen driver Carlos Sainz of Spain, left, and KTM rider Marc Coma of Spain speak during meal time at the Argentina, with Saniz now out, Coma will push on in his bid to win the bike catagory. (AP Photo)

Thursday January 15th, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Dakar Rally leader Carlos Sainz abandoned the race Thursday after his Volkswagen careened into a ravine. He was uninjured.
Sainz, a two-time world rally champion, and French co-pilot Michel Perin were taken by helicopter to Fiambala, where the 12th stage had begun, Dakar Rally spokesman Emilie Poucan told the Associated Press.
Sainz missed a sharp turn and tumbled 13 feet into a ravine, flipping his car at the 49-mile mark of the 157-mile stage from Fiambala to La Rioja.
Poucan said Sainz wasn't hurt and could have continued the race but Perin slightly injured his shoulder, forcing the pair to quit.
Thursday's stage has been the most difficult since the rally began on Jan. 3 in Buenos Aires, said Poucan, with drivers struggling through sand dunes and rain in western Argentina.

After a day of almost forced rest due to fog on Stage 11, the contenders still in the race were given a short but demanding day: 213 km including the last sand dunes to be crossed in this 31st edition. That was certainly enough to provide for an unexpected turn of events. On the bikes Marc Coma did damage control on his adversaries. Cyril Despres wins his 20th special stage victory in a Dakar and reaches 2nd place in the general standings.
At the start in Fiambala, Marc Coma, comfortable leader in the general standings with more than 90’ lead, had enough margin for maneuver. The Catalan therefore raced wisely. Not taking any inconsiderate risk either to come back on one of his adversaries, Cyril Despres who had started 2’ before kept a sufficiently high pace not to be overtaken by his lieutenant David Frétigné who was right behind him. In a nutshell, this race was the right race for a probable future Dakar winner. And in the sand of the Catamarca Province, the most inspired was - again - Cyril Despres. His tyre problems from the early stage, which might turn out to have been fatal for him when it comes to final victory, seem very far away now that he is back in Argentina. The KTM rider had no concern for the others; he took the lead of the stage right after the first CP (km 62) and kept it till the finishing line. A lone race that allows the Frenchman to get his 4th stage victory in this rally, i.e. a third of all stages of the raid. In total, his Dakar stage victory counter is not at 20 special stages won in all his participations. Despres finally wins over Marc Coma by 1’23" and Farres Guell by 9’47". Moreover, the title holder benefited from oil problems for David Frétigné who lost more than 10 minutes on today’s stage and David now ranks second in the general standings. Marc Coma now has a 1h29’ lead over Despres and a 1h33’ lead over Frétigné.

source, AP, Dakar.com

L'Estage moves to Mitsubishi for 2009

2009-01-15T11:55:00.003-05:00

Montreal (Quebec), January 14 2009.- Quebec driver Antoine L’Estage, co-driven by Nathalie Richard, both from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu (QC), will return to the Canadian Rally Championship and the North American Rally Cup at the wheel of a brand new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.
This new partnership will see the current North American champions start the 2009 season at the Rallye Perce-Neige (Maniwaki, QC) on February 7th with the Mitsubishi, currently being built by rally legend John Buffum at his Libra Racing shop in Vermont.
“This is big news for our entire team, the biggest and most exciting project I have ever taken part in since the start of my rally career ” explains Antoine L’Estage, “the new addition of Rockstar Energy Drink, who becomes co-title sponsors alongside Mitsubishi and Royal Group, increased support from Yokohama Canada and the addition of Mobil 1 Lubricants are crucial to our programme for the 2009 season ” he adds.
Four-time North American champion co-driver Nathalie Richard will return to Antoine’s side, as will John Buffum and the Coyote Rallye team of mechanics to prepare and maintain the rally car. “Since the car is entirely brand new, I will have very little time to get to know it as much as I would like to prior to the first stage at the Rallye Perce-Neige in only a few weeks but I am confident that I will bring a Mitsubishi to the top step of the podium before too long ” adds the Quebec driver.
The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is the latest version of the Lancer Evo line, cars that are particularly efficient for rally competition around the world.For Antoine, two-time Canadian and North American champion, the goals with the new car are set very high.
Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard participate in the 2009 Canadian Rally Championship with the support of Rockstar Energy Drink, Royal Group, Mitsubishi Canada, Yokohama Tires, Mobil, Energie Cardio, Libra Racing, OMP Racewear and MBF Racing. For more information on the team or on rallying in general, visit Coyote Rallye

Spaniards Rule the Dakar.

2009-01-09T18:24:00.003-05:00

Spain's Marc Coma rides his KTM during the seventh stage of the South American edition of the Dakar 2009 from Mendoza to Valparaiso. Reuter Photo:

Friday January 09, 09: With Carlos Sainz in the overall lead of the Rally in the BMW [CAR], fellow Spaniard Marc Coma continues to hold the lead in the Bike category, Coma finished second today on stage 7, 3:57 off the pace of stage winner Chilean Francisco Lopez (KTM). This is the first stage victory for Lopez. Frances Cyril Despres [KTM] rounded out the top three. The amazing ride of American privateer Jonah Street continues, although Jonah only managed 6th overall today he is still in second overall. At this point Jonah really needs to focus on holding his position as Coma is 51:22 ahead, while Franchmen David Fretigne is looking to spoil the party for KTM, pushing his Yamaha WRF450 to within one minute of Street.
Tomorrow is going to be a much needed rest day for the driver and riders, before tackling the final eight stages.

"El Matador" Sainz has retaken the lead in Dakar 2009

2009-01-09T13:33:00.005-05:00

Friday January 09,09: With the disqualification of Nasser Al-Attiyah, and a stage victory today on stage 7, Spain’s Carlos Saniz retakes the lead in the 2009 Dakar rally.
BMW’s Al-Attiyah who had been leading was disqualified last night for missing three control points yesterday, after navigating his overheating BMW around the sand dunes in a bid to get back to service.
Down as far as third place on Wednesday Saniz charged ahead today on Stage 7 in his Diesel powered VW Touareg, to retake the lead as he crossed the border from Argentina into Chile.
"The stage went well," said Sainz. "It was a pretty tough stage, even with some mud patches and puddles that were very slippery, pretty tough, at the moment everything is going fine for the team." In the overall standings Giniel De Villiers has slotted in behind Saniz for second, despite his 6th place finish on todays stage 7..
Leading the charge for the USA is Marc Miller also in a VW, who finished 2nd behind team mate Saniz today and moves to third overall, making it a 1,2,3 for the VW Red Bull team. Despite a roll yesterday in his Hummer, Robby Gordon managed to take 3rd today and is sitting forth overall, Robby is over an hour off the pace of Saniz, nonetheless Gordon is clearly in the lead in the open class.
Stéphane Peterhansel again suffered problems today. After a fire in the engine of his Mitsubishi Racing Lancer, the Frenchman has now lost all chance of grabbing a 10th victory on his 20th Dakar.
Stage 7 results:
Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 2h35:27
2. Miller Volkswagen + 03:41
3. Gordon Hummer + 04:13
4. Roma Mitsubishi + 05:37
5. Chicherit BMW + 06:08
6. De Villiers Volkswagen + 07:48
7. Vigouroux Hummer + 11:30
8. Holowczyc Nissan + 13:56
9. Novitskiy BMW + 19:40
10. Van Deijne Mitsubishi + 20:29

By Neil McDaid / sources Dakar.com /REUTERS Photo

Despres steps up and take stage 6 victory on Dakar 2009

2009-01-08T19:46:00.005-05:00

France's Cyril Despres riding his KTM arrives in Argentina's city of Mendoza, January 8, 2009, after the sixth stage of the South American edition of the Dakar 2009 from San Rafael to Mendoza. RUETERS PHOTO

On a shortened 6th stage, Cyril Despres grabbed his first special stage victory on the Dakar in 2009. For once free of tire trouble, the Frenchman beat off his rival Marc Coma. The Spanish rider increased his advantage in the general standings and now boasts a lead of 40 minutes over Jonah Street, his nearest rival. Al Attiyah was again out at the front of the field in the car race, but may have only scored a Pyrrhic victory.

Due to the difficult nature of the previous day’s stage and a flooded river ford, the bikers set off this morning from San Rafael on a shortened special stage, which finished after 178 km, in the pretty village of La Junta at the foot of the Andes. After his success yesterday, American Jonah Street kicked off proceedings before being caught up by a pack of bikers hungry for victory.

Having started in eighth place, Cyril Despres proved to be the quickest on the section of dunes at the start of the day. The Frenchman posted the best time at CP1 (after 86 km) then headed for the finish alongside Street and Lopez until the finishing line, where he picked up his first special stage victory on this 31st edition of the race, and his 17th on the Dakar. Still as imperial as ever, general standings leader Marc Coma finished 2nd today, only giving up 2.09 to Despres, considered as his main rival at the start of the rally in Buenos Aires.

The KTM-Repsol team this evening boasts two representatives in the first three places, with Jordi Viladoms third-placed finish, 5.15 behind the day’s winner. In the general standings, Coma increased his lead.

The Catalan is now 40.29 ahead of Jonah Street, who lost more than a quarter of an hour today. David Frétigné is still third, 47 minutes behind. Cyril Despres climbed to 7th position, but is still more than an hour and a half behind Coma. The sixth stage was conducted at neck-breaking speed by the car drivers. Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah was first to CP 1. He seemed to be flying through the race and crushing all opposition with a lead of more than twenty minutes over all his rivals.

However, due to an overheating engine, the BMW X-Raid team driver admitted to having missed a way point after 38 km, and therefore the chain of dunes at the beginning of the special stage, to avoid significant mechanical problems. His first place for today’s stage and in the general standings now hangs on the race stewards’ decision. Behind him, there is an almighty struggle, conducted at the same crazy pace, with Giniel de Villiers at his best, day after day proving himself to be a credible leader for the Volkswagen team. The South African finished 5.07 behind Al Attiyah, the unofficial winner, whilst Mark Miller was only 5.27 behind. Completing the pursuing pack on the tail of the Qatari, Carlos Sainz took 4th place on this special, 8.37 behind.

As a result, the three VW are lying in wait in the general standings in which De Villiers is second 7.31 behind, Sainz 3rd 15.16 behind and Miller 4th 25.22 behind. The second batch of pursuers has been cut down to two following the withdrawal of Luc Alphand, after his co-pilot Gilles Picard encountered health problems after the 12-km mark, and was evacuated to Mendoza. However, fortunately the doctors reported nothing serious.

The Mitsubishis of Roma and Peterhansel are respectively 5th and 6th, 38.44 and 41.58 behind the leader in the general standings. In the T2 category, the battle also raged for this short but demanding stage. The first four vehicles in the Production standings were separated by 7 minutes. In the end, it was Jun Mitsuhashi for Toyota who best represented the category. In the general standings, Frenchman Nicolas Gibon leads the way with a lead of more than half an hour over Spaniard Xavier Foj. As for the truck race, Gerard de Rooy in his Ginaf, who started out from San Rafael with a 13-second lead in the general standings on his closest pursuer in a Kamaz, was unable to repeat yesterday’s resistance against the Russian fleet. He finished 25.53 behind Chagin, who won the special stage, and as such, the son of Jan de Rooy lost the lead in the general standings to Firdaus Kabirov, second today, and is now in third place. Chagin is the new second-placed driver.

Mitsubishi driver Stephane Peterhansel of France competes during the 6th stage of the Argentina Dakar Rally 2009 between San Rafael and Mendoza, Argentina, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. AP PHOTO

17:05 - Car
Summary of stage 6
Pending validation of results by the race stewards, Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (BMW) looks to have won the 6th special, 5.07 in front of the Volkswagen of Giniel de Villiers. The South African came home ahead of his two VW team-mates, American Mark Miller, 3rd 5.27 behind the provisional winner, and Spaniard Carlos Sainz, 4th 8.37 behind the Qatari. In 5th, with a gap of 13.14 from Al-Attiyah, lies Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel, the leading Mitsubishi driver. As a result, in the general standings, the Qatari leads, 7.31 ahead of South African De Villiers and 15.10 in front of “El Matador” Sainz. In the Open category, Robby Gordon (Hummer) is in the lead, whereas in the Production category, Frenchman Nicolas Gibon (Toyota) leads the category.
Source: Dakar.com

Carlos Sainz rolls on stage 5 of Dakar 09.

2009-01-07T18:59:00.003-05:00

Driver Carlos Sainz of Spain steers his damaged Volkswagen which he rolled during the 5th stage of the Argentina Dakar Rally 2009 between Neuquen and San Rafael, Argentina, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. Saniz drops to third 06:33 off the pace of Al ATTIYAH in the BMW.

AP:PHOTO

USA/KTM rider Jonah Street takes Stage 5 at the Dakar Rally.

2009-01-07T17:49:00.006-05:00

Jonah Street of the U.S. rides his KTM during the 763 kilometres (474 miles) fifth stage of the South American edition of the Dakar 2009 from Neuquen to San Rafael, January 7, 2009. Picture AP

Jonah Street (USA - KTM) - 026
"Obviously, I worked a lot to get this; I had been dreaming of a stage victory for so long. It’s really special. I did some pretty good navigating. I was not the fastest because my bike is so much slower than the ones of the manufacturers’ riders. But I found the right path and this is what the Dakar is all about. I am not thinking about the general standings. I just want to go on driving at my own pace and taking care of my bike as good as I can to get to the finish of the raid." Street's victory puts him second overall behind fellow KTM rider Marc Coma

Tragedy on the Dakar Rally, but the race goes on.

2009-01-07T15:49:00.006-05:00

French motorcyclist Pascal Terry (R) takes photos of fellow riders as he participates in the racers' presentation a day before the start of the Dakar Rally 2009, in Buenos Aires: Reuters Photo

Dakar announces the death of one of the French Bike riders, "It is with great sadness that the organization has been informed that rider Pascal Terry (192), 49 years old, has been found dead in the night of January 6th to 7th at 2:10 AM.
The biker was in a very hard-to-reach area in the middle of very dense bush-like vegetation 15m from his bike. He had taken his helmet off and had sought shade; he had food and water by him. The Las Pampas Province police and authorities will now carry out the necessary legal investigation in order to determine the causes of the biker’s death".

The Race goes on.

23:00 - Car
Stage 5: summary
Pending validation, South-Africa’s Giniel de Villiers (VW) has won his first stage in the rally raid, his 9th on the total of his participations in the Dakar, 2’18" ahead of his team mate from Volkswagen, Germany’s Dieter Depping, and 4’12" in front of the Hummer of American driver Robby Gordon. Fourth at 5’23", Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (BMW), is today’s top strategist. Indeed, benefitting from a somersault of Spaniard driver Carlos Sainz (VW) in the last part of the special stage, the Qatari has taken the lead in the general standings, 2’24" ahead of South-Africa’s De Villiers, who is also the new second place and 6’33" ahead of "El Matador" Sainz. In the new Open category, it is a new victory for Robby Gordon (Hummer), who gets a nice third place.

22:54 - Bike
Stage 5: summary
Pending validation, US rider Jonah Street (KTM) has won stage 5; it is the American’s first stage victory on the Dakar. He wins with a 7’34" lead over Chile’s Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez (KTM) and an 11’12" lead over the 450cc Yamaha of French rider David Frétigné. Therefore, in the general standings, Spanish rider Marc Coma (KTM), who has lost 17’ today due to a flat tyre, is now 27’12" ahead of Street, which stengthens his position at the top of the marathon category and 39’09" ahead of Frenchman David Frétigné (Yamaha), who is the leader in the 450cc category.

22:49 - Truck
Stage 5: summary
Pending validation, Russian driver Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) has won stage 5; it is his first stage victory in this 31st edition of the Dakar but his 26th stage victories on his total participation in the rally raid. He won with a 12’19" lead over his countryman and team mate Vladimir Chagin and a 12’28" lead over Dutchman Gerard de Rooy (Ginaf). By a way of consequence, in the general standings, Gérard De Rooy (Ginaf) remains the leader in the rally but for only 13 seconds in front of the Russian Kamaz of Firdaus Kabirov, who is brand new in second place. The Czar, Chagin, is ranking 3rd, 10’05" behind the Dutchman.

22:45 - Quad
Stage 5: summary
Pending validation, Spain’s Joan Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha) won stage 5, hence achieving here his 2nd consecutive success on the Dakar with a 24’06" lead over Czech Republic’s Josef Machacek (Yamaha) and 1h11’38" ahead of Italian driver Marcos Patronelli (Can-Am). In the general standings, Gonzalez is now in the lead.

Motorsport: King Carlos still holding his own @ Dakar 2009

2009-01-05T16:56:00.004-05:00

Times given in G.M.T. -3

21:15 - Car
Stage 3 summary
Pending validation, Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (BMW) won his 2nd stage of the rally raid and his 3rd one in all his Dakar participations, 35" ahead of Spain’s Carlos Sainz (VW) and 1’40" ahead of Germany’s Dieter Depping (VW). By a way of consequence in the overall rankings, the Qatari is climbing up two positions to now rank second, 3’40" behind the Spanish Volkswagen driver who still is a solid leader in the race. The manufacturer from Wolfsburg still keeps two Touareg on the podium, as Giniel De Villiers (VW) ranks 3rd, 5’45" behind Sainz. In the Open category, the stage victory goes to Robby Gordon (Hummer). And in the Production category, it is France’s Nicolas Gibon (Toyota) who wins the stage.

21:10 - Truck
Stage 3 summary
Pending validation, five-time Dakar winner, Russian driver Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz), won his first stage victory in this 31st edition, 3’24" ahead of Dutchman Gerard de Rooy (Ginaf) and 7’12" ahead of Russia’s Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz). By a way of consequence, in the overall rankings, if Gérard De Rooy (Ginaf) remains in the lead, the Dutchman now has a 7’46" lead over Russia’s Kabirov (Kamaz) and a 9’28" lead over today’s winner, Chagin, who is now ranking 3rd in the overall.

Bike

Stage 3 summary
Pending validation, Spanish rider Marc Coma (KTM) easily won this 3rd staget, 17’49" ahead of his team mate and countryman Jordi Viladoms (KTM) and Norway’s Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (KTM), both tieing in 2nd place. The third fastest time of the stage goes to France’s David Casteu (KTM) checking 18’16" behind the winner. By a way of consequence, in the overall rankings, Coma now has a 39’11" lead over Frenchman David Frétigné (Yamaha), also leader in the 450cc category and a 41’14" lead over Dutchman Frans Verhoeven (KTM), who is the leader in the marathn category.

21:02 - Quad
Stage 3 summary
Pending validation, Czech driver Josef Machacek (Yamaha) won this third stage 1’47" ahead of France’s Christophe Declerck (Yamaha), winner of the 2 first special stages and 10’55" ahead of Spain’s Joan Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha). In the overall rankings, Christophe Declerck nevertheless remains the firm leader of the rally raid with a 30’37" lead over the day’s winner and 45’45" over Spain’s Gonzalez.

GAA: Daly upbeat about new rules departure.

2009-01-04T23:00:00.001-05:00

The GAA's Head of Games, Pat Daly, is convinced the new disciplinary rules can help make Gaelic Games more exciting and entertaining.
Daly attended a number of ties in the pre-season competitions at the weekend, and was encouraged by what he witnessed.
After watching Queen's defeat Cavan by 3-13 to 0-12 at Breffni Park, Daly was upbeat about the experimental departure.
He was particularly enthused by the high scorelines which appear to have resulted from a reluctance on the part of the players to commit themselves to cynical, reckless or disruptive fouling.
'We were happy, basically there was more playing time, less frees, less cynicism and bigger scoring,' he said.
'I don't think anybody would have anticipated that kind of a scoreline from a McKenna Cup game.
'It will take the referees a bit of time to adjust, and it will take the players a bit of time to adjust to it.
'But the message will get through. The message here is on playing the ball, not on playing the man.'
Four players were sent off on yellow cards at the Cavan town venue.
The home side's Eddie Reilly lasted just 13 minutes, and he was followed to the dug-out by team-mates David Gibney and John McCutcheon, with QUB's Paul Courtney also making an early departure following a booking. All four players were replaced by substitutes.
'You don't want to see anybody sent off. The guys that went, the referee (Fermanagh's Martin Higgins) said he was pretty sure that they were neck-high tackles, they were deliberate fouls and the guys deserved to go, based on the rules of the day,' said Daly.
'It will take the perennial fouler a bit of time for it to sink in that "if I play my usual game here I won't be around playing it".'
But the Croke Park chief insisted that players, managers and referees will be given some leeway in the weeks ahead as they grow accustomed to the new rules, which will also apply to the National Leagues.
'I think everybody needs a bit of time, everybody needs a bit adjustment, but it was a good open game. It maybe died a bit after Queen's got their third goal, but I don't think they would have got the third goal under the old rules.
'Basically what we would be saying to referees, if the player is making a reasonable attempt to play the ball and conceded a free, just ignore that.
He added: 'It's not a black mark down against the player, and once referees get to understand that, that the guy is making a reasonable effort to play the ball and concedes a free, it doesn't come against him.
'It's only when he isn't making any effort to play the ball that he is penalised, and I think if all the referees are working on that wavelength when we get to the start of the National League, then that would be very good.'
And he cautioned fans that enjoy the less savoury aspects of the game that they are going to be disappointed in the weeks and months ahead.
'I think supporters come and expect to see a bit of digging, if I can put it that way. But if you come and expect to see a bit of digging, you'll be disappointed.
'You can't be ambivalent about the thing. You either play football, or you don't play football.'

Source RTE

New Experimental GAA Rules Explained

2009-01-04T22:55:00.002-05:00

The GAA recently introduced strict new regulations which they hope will confront the growing cynicism and persistent fouling that has become a huge source of frustration and criticism amongst Gaelic Games purists.
And to help you understand the new experimental rules and keep you out of the referees' glare from January, we have attached the football and hurling directives which have been sent out to all officials.
The main difference between the new regulations and the old system is that players shown a yellow card will now leave the field of play and be replaced by a substitute. This initiative should hand the responsibility of discipline directly back to the players as a yellow card offence will see them sit out the rest of the game.

Task force chairman Liam O'Neill said: 'We constantly hear about teams who play to the rules or play to the edge in whatever way. Well, we want to make that edge a lot sharper now and anyone who plays to it will get cut.
'We want to make a bargain to our younger players that you grow up in a game where persistent fouling won't bother you one bit, where you solo by a person without having your head taken off, where you can take the field without fear of being pulled down, where you can part with a ball without being pasted.
'The bargain we are making with young players is, play your game skilfully and we will protect you.'
The experimental rules are to be used in the upcoming subsidiary provincial competitions and Allianz GAA Hurling and Football National Leagues.

Video on New Rules here

Chris Atkinson jumps to newly formed Citroen Junior Team, for Rally Ireland 2009

2008-12-24T17:51:00.002-05:00

Image: ©willyweyens-rallyworld

Citroen Introduces The Citroen Junior Team
Citroën Sport is delighted to announce the launch of the Citroën Junior Team which will run as a 'Manufacturers 2' team in the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship. The programme will be handled by Citroën Sport Technologies and will feature several talented young drivers over the year. The full list of names, and the individual events they will each contest, have yet to be finalised, however.
"We are absolutely thrilled to be able to confirm the Citroën Junior Team as an M2 entry in the 2009 World Rally Championship," says Citroën Sport Director Olivier Quesnel. "As required by the regulations, the Citroën Junior Team will contest at least eight events in order to qualify for Manufacturers' points. Conrad Rautenbach, Evgeny Novikov and Sébastien Ogier will form the mainstay of the line-up, while Chris Atkinson is due to take part in the first round of the new year, the Rally Ireland, in a Citroën C4 WRC."
"It is no coincidence that we have chosen to employ the word 'Junior' in the team's official name," points out Citroën Sport Technologies Manager Benoît Nogier. "It is an M2 team which will predominantly run drivers who are currently learning the sport, and their average age will be 22. Our aims are to develop the commercial side which we began in 2008 and also enable our crews to benefit from our expertise. The programme will allow them to gain valuable extra experience which will put them in good stead for the next step of their career."
The set-up of the operation will be the same as that which ran Urmo Aava and Conrad Rautenbach in 2008 and will continue to feature the Citroën C4 WRC. On events, Citroën Sport Technologies will be based close to Citroën Sport's facilities and will once again be able to benefit from the latter's know-how. The Citroën Junior Team brings a further boost to the brand's commitment to the WRC and will be able to count on the expertise of the World Championship-winning squad throughout the year.
"Following the encouraging results he obtained in 2008, Conrad Rautenbach will again contest every round of the 2009 championship," specifies Benoît Nogier. "He will be joined on at least eight of those 12 rounds by the very young Russian driver Evgeny Novikov who will be competing in a WRC car for the first time and who has also shown that he has plenty of potential. The programme of the Junior World Champion Sébastien Ogier, who made a name for himself on the recent Wales Rally GB, currently includes six events. Last but not least, we will be joined in Ireland by Australia's Chris Atkinson who is already a familiar face in the sport. It is our belief that our association with Chris will not stop there."
The crews who have been confirmed to drive for the Citroën Junior Team are all very aware of the opportunity they have been given. They go into 2009 with great enthusiasm and extremely determined, yet perfectly conscious of the challenge that awaits them.

The Citroën Junior Team drivers
Conrad Rautenbach: born November 12, 1984, in Zimbabwe.Rally debut: 2001 (Group N Toyota Corolla)WRC debut: 2004, Monte Carlo (Ford Puma, retired)WRC starts: 43.Starts in a WRC car: 16.Best result: 4th (Argentina, 2008, driving a Citroën C4 WRC).
Sébastien Ogier: born December 17, 1983, in Gap (France).Rally debut: 2006 (Peugeot's Volant 206 single-make series). Member of the Rallye Jeunes FFSAteam.WRC debut: 2008, Mexico (Citroën C2 Super 1600, 8th overall, 1st J-WRC).WRC starts: 8.Starts in a WRC car: 1 (Wales, 2008, driving a C4 WRC, 26th overall).2008 Junior World Champion driving a Citroën C2 Super 1600.Best result: 8th (Mexico, 2008, driving a Citroën C2 Super 1600).
Evgeny Novikov: born September 19, 1990, in Moscow (Russia).Rally debut: 2005 (as a co-driver sitting alongside his father).Debut as a driver: 2006.WRC debut: 2007, Wales Rally GB (Mitsubishi Lancer, retired).WRC starts: 7.Starts in a WRC car: 0.2006 Russian Champion. At the age of 16, he led the opening leg of the 2007 Rally Russia beforeretiring with engine failure.13th, 2008 Production World Rally Championship.Best result: 11th (Japan, 2008, driving a Mitsubishi).
Chris Atkinson: born November 18, 1979, in Bega (Australia).Rally debut: 2000 (Toyota Corolla).WRC debut: 2004, New Zealand (Subaru Impreza, retired).WRC starts: 66 (all in a Subaru Impreza).Starts in a WRC car: 62.Best result: 2nd (Mexico and Argentina, 2008, driving a Subaru Impreza).

Communication CITROËN SPORT

Kavanagh set to captain Donegal

2008-12-19T15:16:00.001-05:00

New Donegal manager John Joe Doherty has confirmed that Rory Kavanagh will captain the team when they get their Dr McKenna Cup campaign underway in January.
The 26-year-old from St Eunan's of Letterkenny will take the mantle from Kevin Cassidy, who is unavailable for the McKenna Cup campaign where Donegal will play University of Ulster Jordanstown, Fermanagh and Derry.
One man who might have challenged Kavanagh for the skipper's role was 2006 All-Star Karl Lacey.
However, the Four Masters clubman is currently taking a sabbatical in Australia and New Zealand, but has given his word to Doherty that he will return before the Ulster championship meeting with Antrim in June.
'I spoke to Karl on two occasions before he left. He was hoping to be back by May. We hope he keeps that schedule and we would be very happy if he came back sooner,' Doherty said.
Doherty has also named his panel for the McKenna Cup with Ciaran Bonner, Stephen McDermott and Brendan Boyle recalled to the fray, while Ross Wherity of St Eunan's is the new face on the 30-man panel.
Injury prevents Colm McFadden, Barry Dunnion, Michael Murphy and Michael Hegarty from joining the panel, although Doherty is hopeful the quartet will be available for Donegal's first NFL fixture of 2009 away to Kerry.

Source: RTE sports

Dingle, Ireland, called "most beautiful place on Earth" by National Geographic

2008-12-19T13:44:00.001-05:00

DINGLE, Ireland (CNN) -- Fewer tourists and relatively warm temperatures may be reason enough to put Ireland on your list of winter travel destinations, especially Dingle Peninsula, once ranked by National Geographic Traveler as "the most beautiful place on Earth." ..read more

Monticello Motor Club "Let the Snow fly"

2008-12-19T01:38:00.006-05:00

Winter Driving Series – Monticello Motor Club Let the snow fly – The MMC Winter Driving Series is designed to deliver driving excitement, rally car style, on our track that happens to be covered with ice and snow!

On December 20th, 2008, weather permitting, MMC will be opening for the first time in the winter. An exciting fun filled day of getting sideways and mastering four-wheel drifts awaits you.

Come check out Dave Mirra, BMX legend and 2008 Rally America Rookie of the Year. He will be driving his Open Class 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car. Vermont Sports Car, who runs Subaru Rally Team USA will be bringing Travis Pastrana's championship winning 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car for participants to check out. Utilizing the South Circuit, groomed to perfection, the Winter Driving Series will be open to all licensed driving enthusiasts. Bring your friends and family to watch as you test the limits of your car through time-trials, open lapping sessions, and other exciting formats. Just because winter is here doesn’t mean the motoring fun must come to a halt.

So let it snow at the Monticello Motor Club. Winter Driving Series Highlights:

• MMC South Circuit - 1.8 Miles with 11-turns consisting of large sweepers, increasing and decreasing radius corners, and thrilling elevation changes.

• Exciting Formats – Go against the clock in head to head time trials or test, tune, and practice your skills in our open lapping sessions.

• Rally Events – Break out the rally car, mix it up with fellow drivers of Rally New York and the USRC to put on a show for spectators.

2008-2009 Schedule Weather Permitting:

Please call or check http://www.drivemmc.com/ for the latest track conditions. Schedule will be updated by noon the day preceding each event.

Event Location: 67 Cantrell Road, Monticello, NY 12701

Registration and Vehicle Inspection: 8:00am - 9:00amEvent Hours: 9:00am - 4:30pm•

 Dec. 20, 2008 – Opening Day - Testing/Open Sessions/Time Trials – Open to First 50 Cars – Limited space available, call to register today!•

Hospitality/Driver Services Food and beverages will be available to spectators and drivers for purchase. Facilities are limited so please dress appropriately. Rules and Regulations Events from January - March will be limited to the first 100 cars and pre-registration is required. Entrants will have the option of participating in time trials, open lapping sessions, and other formats (subject to MMC participation agreement)! Seatbelts and helmets must be worn at all times. Studded tires are not permitted. Admission is $250 per driver and $15 per person for spectators. MMC requires a credit card authorization form on file to cover additional fees for towing and any damage to the facility. All drivers must read and acknowledge additional rules and regulations in the participation agreement prior to entry.Vehicle Inspection Participant’s vehicles are required to pass an inspection. This is to ensure no studded tires are equipped, working seat belts are installed, all safety lights are operating properly and each driver has an approved SNELL 95 or newer helmet. Vehicles will also be inspected to ensure there are no loose objects within, and that the vehicle is track ready.

Check out http://www.drivemmc.com/ for all details, scheduling and updates.

We will be back in 2009

2008-12-19T01:14:00.002-05:00

Look for regular updates in 2009, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and peaceful holiday season.

Team McShea Will Fly The Flag For Multiple Sclerosis Awareness At X-GAMES 14

2008-07-31T17:22:00.004-04:00

Niall Mc Shea [r] and co-driver Marshall Clark will represent, Team MS RACING at X-GAMES 14 this weekend in LA. Picture Subaru Rally Team USA.

By Neil McDaid
By taking the overall victory at the Maine Forest Rally on July 12, Ireland's Niall McShea and navigator Marshall Clark grabbed the last qualifying spot at the X-GAMES 14 Rally, which will take place in Los Angeles July 30-August 3.
The dust had barely settled on the Maine stages before negotiations were underway to secure a car and funds to make sure that McShea would be able to take his place at the Games. Subaru USA was the first to step up with a car and some sponsorship for McShea.

Even at 107mph, on his beloved 1967 Triumph TR6, this Irish American with ties to Co. Kerry has trouble staying ahead of Multiple Sclerosis. Nonetheless, Jim Haraughty vows to continue his race for awareness and a cure (Thomas Graf)

The same group of Irish businessmen from Pearl River, New York who brought McShea to Maine, would come through again with additional sponsorship to make up the balance. McShea will pilot the latest open class 2008 Subaru STI, prepared by Vermont Sports Car at the Games.
With the X-GAMES being televised to millions around the world and just as many again when it hits the very popular website YouTube, Team McShea felt it would be a great opportunity to donate space on the car to a worthy cause. Team McShea will display the Team MS Racing decals on the car, giving much needed exposure to the fight against Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Team MS Racing and Team MS Foundation were founded by Jim Haraughty of Monana, Wisconsin. Jim and his wife Kathleen [nee, Gallagher] have ties to both Kerry and Donegal. In 2003, at the age of 45, Jim was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, November 12, to be exact, "It's a date that is etched in my mind," says Jim.
Jim had been very active all his life, started out as a tennis instructor who turned semi-pro and then was an avid motorcycle racer and cyclist. After being so active, he struggled with the early stages of the disease. "There were days when I just wanted to stop and not get out of bed. It's on these bad days when you need to dig deep and stay active, and not become a lump. If you don't, MS wins."
MS can affect your emotions as well as important cognitive functions like memory and concentration.
People with MS often experience devastating losses-for example of the ability to work, to walk, or even to engage in simple leisure activities.
With a lack of knowledge about the disease Jim's passion for life and family pushed him to explore every possible piece of information on MS. He quickly found out that that information on drugs and treatment was not so readily available.
As Jim began his many different treatments he came up with the idea for Team MS Racing. It was the start of his race against MS, a race to gain awareness, and more so a race to research and a cure.
Jim also started Team MS Foundation which works to assist people living with Multiple Sclerosis in their quest to remain active. It's important for people with Multiple Sclerosis to participate in life by remaining active; it's an essential element in living with the disease. But, Multiple Sclerosis can be a financial hardship that limits this necessary activity.
Team MS Foundation grants are awarded to individuals and members of families who live with, and deal with, Multiple Sclerosis in their lives to help keep them active.
Among his many goals for the team, Jim wanted to set an example that an active lifestyle is not something that needs to be given up while with living with MS. Over the past few years Team MS Racing's efforts on the American Historic Motorcycling circuit have attracted the attention of many in the motorsports community to the struggles of those with MS.
Despite dealing with the everyday challenges of MS, in 2007 Jim tackled a world record attempt at the infamous Bonneville Salt Flats on a production class 1967 Triumph TR6 motorcycle. With the bike stuck in third gear, Jim broke the record for the class reaching 107mph. Unfortunately, with the gearbox toast he could not make a second pass so the record did not hold.
Despite his disappointment at not getting the record, Jim's effort caught the attention of one of the USA'Sslargest motorcycle magazines, Motorcyclist. The magazine ran a story on the racer with MS, bringing MS awareness to their large reader base. For Jim it was "mission accomplished."
All going well Jim hopes to be able to have another crack at a record this year.
I spoke with Jim this week and asked him about getting some exposure for Multiple Sclerosis at the X-GAMES. "It's beyond excitement! I can't thank Niall and his supporters enough for giving Team MS Racing some space on the car. It's a dream come true."
Jim continues to battle new issues with MS with every passing day, but he also continues to add to his list of to-do's - "to keep the race alive, grabbing this life by the horns. And, I need to get a ride in one of these rally cars - I think I could navigate. " I am sure that could be arranged!

Somewhere among the glitz and commercial hype of the X-GAMES, Niall McShea will do his thing as a driver. He'll battle it out with defending X-GAMES Rally champion
Tanner Foust, the crazy car jumping Ken Block and Mr. X-GAMES himself, Travis Pastrana.
Regardless of the final result, Team McShea is already winners to those battling and living with Multiple Sclerosis around the world.
All going well he will also have brought just a little more awareness to the race against this disease.
The X-GAMES Rally will be shown live on ABC television between 3-6pm Eastern. Check your local listings for times in your area.

For More info: www.teamms.org, www.rally-america.com , http://rally.subaru.com/index.html

Subaru Rally Team USA - X Games 14

2008-07-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

Subaru Rally Team USA - X Games 14

Niall McShea is locked in for XGAMES 14

2008-07-15T17:59:00.010-04:00

“Mission accomplished” we heading to the XGAMES, Niall McShea [r] along with co-driver Marshall Clarke celebrate their first American rally victory and their place at the games. Picture Neil McDaid.

McShea Takes Victory at New England Forest Rally USA

By Neil McDaid

Newry, Maine, July 13, 2008. In what can only be described as a fantastic display of skill behind the wheel of a rally car, Ireland’s Niall McShea drove a very calculated rally and claimed the overall victory at the 2008 New England Forest Rally. By winning the event McShea also lands one of the much sought after spots at the 2008 X-Games 14 in Los Angeles, California.
Niall, who hails from Co. Fermanagh but now makes his home in Donegal, was the 2004 PWRC Champion [Production World Rally Championship]. He has competed all over the globe but until this point had not tackled the vast gravel stages in the USA.

“The men behind McShea” Far left, Sponsors Gerry Coffey and Enda McCormack, co-driver Marshall Clarke, the man himself, Niall McShea with car owner and sponsor Martin Donnelly. Picture Neil McDaid

The deal to have McShea come to the America came together rather quickly over the past few months when several Irish New York businessmen got together and hatched a plan to supply the car and sponsorship. Tyrone man Martin Donnelly supplied Niall with his fully rebuilt open class Mitsubishi EVO 8, while Enda McCormack and Gerry Coffey would offer additional financial sponsorship.
A slight change to the rules meant that Niall was not able to take advantage of any pace notes that were available from prior years but would basically have to write his own notes on a one pass recce.. As McShea’s regular co-driver Gordon Noble was not available, Marshall Clarke was called upon to call the notes for McShea on this event. It was not the first time that this duo had charged to victory; Clarke and McShea took top honors in GPN at WRC Rally Ireland last year.
Although the entries were greatly down from the prior years in Maine, the top 10 cars were all of top caliber. All had raced many times in Maine before, no doubt giving them an edge over McShea.

Subaru USA driver Ken Block had McShea in his sights throughout out the rally, but unfortunately Block would make a costly mistake on SS8 that ended his run. Picture Neil McDaid

Team Subaru USA was there in full force with their new 2008 Subaru STI’s. Travis Pastrana, the defending Rally America and New England Forest Rally Champion, was teamed up with Subaru’s second driver Ken Block who has been on fire throughout the 08 season for Team Subaru. You could be sure that they both had McShea locked in their crosshairs.
Rock Star Energy Drink’s Andrew Pinker would definitely be looking to claim the final spot at the X-Games 14 by finishing well in Maine. US based Irish driver Seamus Burke would be looking to be in the hunt if he could manage to shake the monkey off his back. Burke has had unbelievably bad engine management problems in 2008.
As Maine can be a tough rally for spectators to gain access to the stages, rally organizer John Buffum put on two spectator stages to open the rally. The first was at the Sunday River resort [the rally headquarters] and the second in the town of Mexico.
Andrew Pinker would claim the first short stage at Sunday River and Ken Block would take the run around the part in Mexico to claim victory on SS2. Seamus Burke will have to continue to feed the monkey as once again he would retire after one stage with engine failure.

Aussie, Andrew Pinker turned on the heat Saturday, but it was not enough to catch McShea. Picture Neil McDaid.

SS3 “South Arm S” would be the first true test on the event. Pinker would set the pace by 2 seconds over McShea with Ken Block rounding out the top three.
SS4 “South Arm N” would be a reverse of SS3. McShea must have liked what he saw on the way in as he set a tire warping pace on the way out taking the stage win by 15 seconds over Ken Block, and 34 second over Andrew Pinker. From there the cars would head back to Mexico for service before tackling the stage that has been dubbed “the co-drivers nightmare,” SS5 “Blind Pond”. Although Blind Pond is a short stage at only 5.6 miles it is very fast with a several hair-raising jumps - not for the faint of heart.
Ken Block laid claim to this stage in 2007 by setting the fastest time ever recorded for this test, this after having a disastrous off in 2006. Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino would again set the mark on Blind Pond, but only by 1.6 seconds over McShea. At the close of business on Friday McShea had taken full advantage of his fourth place seeding on the road in day-one, pushing hard where needed to make time. He managed to eke out a 9 second advantage over Ken Block to put himself in first place heading into Saturday.

“O mother” Eamonn Sweeney who was calling the notes for Joseph Burke, was praying for a soft landing on one of the infamous jumps on Concord pond. Picture Neil McDaid

Day-Two

Now running first on the road, McShea would have to deal with sweeping off the loose surface gravel on the stages, but he would not have to contend with the linger dust.
SS6 “Dillon Success” was the first of five stages on the slate for day two. After having to run first on the road on Friday, the Canadian duo of Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard, now running third on the road, found their pace and stopped the clocks 6 second ahead of Block and McShea who almost had the same time for the stage. The advantage went to Block who claimed second.
SS7 “Success Dillon” was a turnaround of SS6, and as he did on day one McShea would take full advantage of the line and take the stage win by 5 seconds over L’Estage. The rally caravan would then head northwest for the final three stages of the rally, and the final showdown.
With hundreds of rally fans, many with the tri-color flying lining the stage, McShea would tackle SS8 “South Mountain.” But, all was not well under the hood of the Mitsubishi. McShea’s car started to overhead and he was experiencing brake fade. For the first time in the event Travis Pastrana finally showed up and tied stage times with Andrew Pinker for the stage victory. In all honesty it was a massive feat for Pastrana to be even in the car, as he had just had knee surgery a few weeks back. L’Estage would take third and McShea would be a massive 13 seconds off the pace of Pastrana and Pinker.

Unfortunately, SS8 would claim Block and Gelsomino who had been running neck and neck with McShea. Block slide off the road and damaged a control arm, ending his rally.
Back at the final service of the day the concern in the McShea camp was obvious. It appeared that the water spray unit for the intercooler had failed, the exhaust had been damaged and the brake pads were steel on steel. It was all hands on deck as McShea rushed out to make the time control, more drama ensued! The exhaust had not been clipped in place correctly! In an instant Niall was under the car, made the repair and just about made the time control.
With only two stages remaining in the rally, even the Moose were holding their breath. With the uncertainty surrounding the condition of McShea’s car it was still all up for grabs. Anton L’Estage was a mere 15 seconds off McShea for the victory. Would we see the tri-color or the maple leaf fly on the final podium?

By the end of SS9 McShea had managed to hold the Canadian off by just one second, and Andrew Pinker in third by 6.9. Feeling more confident with the car McShea would throw caution to the wind and charge hard on the final stage, SS10 “Middle Dam Out.”
Niall would again roast the field, taking the stage win by almost 26 seconds over Andre Pinker, and whopping 50 seconds over Pastrana. Unfortunately, the only thing that Anton L’Estage would roast was his engine; he would not make it out of the final stage on his own power. McShea had claimed victory in his first US rally, and also claimed a place in the X-Games 14. Andrew Pinker would slot into second and the wounded Pastrana would claim the final spot on the podium.

Congrats all round, Joseph Burke congratulated Travis Pastrana on his podium finish, and likewise Travis gives Joseph the thumbs up on taking second in his class. Picture Neil McDaid

Early word is that McShea is going to pilot a partially backed Vermont Sports Car Subaru at the X-Games 14. Let’s hope he will find the additional sponsorship to make up the difference as he would surely be in mix for a medal.

Picture from Maine can be found here

http://AbhusAnseo.smugmug.com/gallery/5441329_wBWZR/1/332681364_CxXpW

"Duddy is King of the Castle"

2008-06-30T15:37:00.011-04:00

Ohioins wobble but they don’t fall down, despite several brutal attacks along the ropes by John Duddy, somehow Charles Howe managed to stay on his feet to take the fight the full distance. Picture Neil McDaid

“The King of the Castle”
By Neil McDaid

Boston, Ma. June 28, 2008. John Duddy was back in the greater Boston area this past weekend for the Irish Ropes Promotions’ “Hassle in the Castle”. It was only the third time that the very popular Derry boxer has fought in the greater Boston area, and once again he did not disappoint.
Duddy headlined a five bout card, taking on the 25th opponent of his pro career. On this night John would face off with Charlie Howe at center ring, Howe fighting out of Grelton, Ohio was coming into this matchup with a record of 17 wins, 4 losses and 2 draws.
The venue was the Park Castle in downtown Boston. John Duddy had taking victory #15 in this very building back in 2006 over a tough Julio Jean. Despite reporting on most of John’s fights to date, I am still in awe at the reception that he receives as he makes his way to the ring. Granted this was not Madison Square Garden, but the atmosphere in the Castle that was filled to capacity was just electric.

Duddy has been vocal in his disappointment with how some in the media reported his last fight as if he had lost, even though he still has a perfect record. With his new trainer in tow, Duddy would make his way to the ring with clear intentions of getting back on track, and therefore erasing any question about his ability or commitment.
Duddy has spent the past few month in Florida with his new trainer Pat Burns. Burns has been working with John to try and break him of his tendency to get into unnecessary brawls which have been a trademark in his last few fights.
As the rounds got underway Duddy looked more composed, more settled in the ring. He did not have the same urgency to get his opponent on the canvas in the first minute. He was more calculated, yet nonetheless devastating in his delivery. In the weeks leading up to this fight, with limited information or video on Charlie Howe many people, myself included, thought he was lined up as an easy mark for Duddy. How wrong we all were. Charlie Howe came to Boston to fight. Although Duddy had the edge on Howe early Charlie would not back away, nor had he any intention of lying down.
For the first time in many fights Duddy was working his jab. He still had the tendency to hold his head forward but Howe could not really take advantage as Duddy bobbed and weaved showing great improvement in his defensive posture. Howe would find himself on the ropes often throughout the fight; Duddy pounding Charlie with everything in the Derry man’s arsenal. Round after round there was a trend forming of Howe being saved by the bell. I must have counted 5 times throughout the fight were Howe had no legs, but miraculously he managed to hang in for the bell each time.
Howe had his moments along the way landing a few hard shots to the head of Duddy. On several occasions he had Duddy covered up in a defensive posture. Howe often tried to find his way in with big overhead rights often hitting Duddy on the back of the head. Duddy did a better job in this fight to avoid eating flush shots to the head, and never seemed to be in trouble with any of the big shots Howe connected with.
Duddy almost got through this fight without a cut until an accidental clash of heads in the ninth opened a nice gash on John’s right eye. He managed to get through the round so his corner could take care of the damage. Notably missing from John’s corner this outing was big George Mitchell, who has been John’s cut man for the past few years. Mitchell can certainly take much credit for keeping John in many previous fights with his magically corner repairs.

Showing the marks from the destroyer’s gloves, Charlie Howe was gracious in defeat; he had managed to stay standing despite some massive attacks from Duddy. Picture Neil McDaid

In the end it was Duddy all the way. The judges at ringside scored the bout 100-90; 100-90; 100-90. With that, John claimed his 25th pro victory. Howe was a gentleman in defeat. Despite the loss he proved to all in attendance that he had no fear and that he possessed a chin as tough as Rockall.

After taking victory number 25, the question now is, where to next Mr. Duddy, seen here flanked by the team that will guide his next move, [L to R] long time corner-man Orlando Carrasquillo, John Duddy, his new trainer Pat Burns, Nutritionist Joseph Burns, and match-maker Jim Burzell. Picture Neil McDaid

The question now on everyone’s mind is, “where

to next Mr. Duddy?” Since missing his golden chance at the coveted middleweight title against Kelly Pavlik, the middleweight landscape has changed greatly.
At this point in time it seems unlikely that Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum will pass on some of the potential big fight opportunities that have been tossed around in the past few weeks for his man. Names like that of Sergio Mora, super middleweight Joe Calzaghe, the impressive German Arthur Abraham and not to mention Bernard Hopkins and “Winky” Wright are all waiting for a big payday. They would all seem to offer a bigger payday over a fight with John Duddy. But hold a second, that’s about as long as it takes for things to change in boxing. John Duddy has mass appeal; his is the classic gentleman boxer, adored by many.

“Mobbed” After taking victory #25 John Duddy is mobbed by his adoring fans as he makes his way back to the dressing rooms. Picture Neil McDaid

The general consensus in boxing is that John Duddy would be no match for Kelly Pavlik at this point in time, but one has to ask, if not now when? Can John really get much better? Granted it would be a great payday for John, although no one wants to see him get seriously injured. Everyone agrees that John will give it his all and maybe, just maybe, that might be enough on the night.

The sweet taste of victory, John Duddy gets ready to do a victory lap around the ring to thank the many fans that turned out to see the man from Derry city fight. This was only the third time that Duddy showed his stuff in the greater Boston area. Picture: Neil McDaid

A more promising, yet less lucrative direction was offered by Pat Burns after the fight. He is suggesting that John should move down in weight and opt to go after the likes of a junior middleweight belt. Nothing has been set in stone at this point; we expect to hear more from Irish Ropes on Duddy’s next move in the coming weeks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Undercard Action
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other notables for the Irish were Donny “Boy” Orr an Irish–Canadian who took a unanimous decision over Roberto “EL Viejo” Valenzuela in eight rounds.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark Clancy by way of County Clare Ireland, lands a wicked left to the head of the wily Salah Zabian from Lee Ma. Clancy had this fight in the bag from the opening bell, landing some hard shots that sent his opponent onto the ropes many times. Picture Neil McDaid

Cruiserweight Mark Clancy of Doolin, Co Clare, now fighting out of Boston, improved his record to 8-0-1 by out boxing a wily Salah Zabian. Zabian was billed as a “cagey veteran.” He is definitely a unique character which I am sure has frustrated all 16 opponents he has meet throughout his pro career. Despite Zabian’s in ring antics, Clancy managed to track him down and unleashed some brutal attacks. Several times Zabian seemed ready to kiss the canvas, but he would get a burst of energy and lunge forward at Clancy. The bout would go the full distance of 6 rounds, with Clancy easily taking each round.

Still unbeaten Mark Clancy celebrates his victory with his friend John Dunlevy, John who is also a champion in the martial arts has lead Mark into the ring on many occasions carrying the Irish flag. Picture: Neil McDaid

Boston GAA: Results from Sunday June 22nd 08

2008-06-25T12:11:00.010-04:00

E-a-s-y Nora! The senior ladies would open Sundays action in Canton with a strong showing from the Brighton based Tir Na Nog crew by taking a commanding lead early over the Roscommon ladies and never looking back.

Picture/ Neil McDaid

Tir na nOg 2-15 Roscommon 0-10

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tug of war, Things got a bit heated in the first half of the senior hurling match. After the dust and tempers settled both teams got down to playing a very exciting fast paced game, which would offer up some fantastic scores. Although it seemed that Wexford had the early advantage, Galway would managed to match scores with the Men of the south resulting in a draw. Picture / Neil McDaid

Galway 1-11 Wexford 2-8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Double trouble, with his team down a man after a red card infraction, Donegal’s Sean McEwain finds himself under pressure as he charges through mid field. Picture / Neil McDaid

Donegal 3-9 Armagh-Notre Dame 2-11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the final game of the day, Cork would struggle in the first half to stay with the pace of the Tones. Picture/ Neil McDaid

Cork 2-5 Wolftones 0-20

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hassle In The Castle"

2008-06-25T11:11:00.003-04:00

Duddy vs. Howe headlines Saturday night’s
“Hassle In The Castle” pro boxing show in Boston

Boston Ma. (June 25, 2008) – The return of unbeaten world middleweight title contender “Ireland’s” John Duddy to Boston highlights Saturday night’s (June 28) “Hassle In The Castle,” presented by Irish Ropes Promotions, at The Castle.

Duddy (24-0, 17 KOs), rated No. 2 by the WBC and WBO, faces Charles Howe (17-4-2, 9 KOs), in the 10-round main event. The tough hearted fighter from Galliagh in Derry will look to wipe clean the memory of his last fight. John has a growing fan base in Boston, where he has fought twice in the past and served as a television color analyst in the past.

For Duddy this could prove to be an important fight in that if he at all struggles with Charles Howe John’s chances of getting a title shot anytime soon will vanish. Howe is an unknown entity who has only fought a few times outside of his native Ohio. Nonetheless, boxing has often taught us, never underestimate the underdog. Charles Howe will be looking to make a name for himself much like Walid Smichet did back in February, when he shocked all including Duddy at Madison Square Garden as he knocked a bit of the shine off the Derryman.

Howe is coming off a loss in his last fight against Joey Gilbert for the WBC USNBC Middleweight title last August in Las Vegas. Duddy fight fans will be expecting big things from John in his return to Boston, a kickback to the explosive knockout style in which Duddy took out Lenord Pierre would go over very well.

The 8-round co-feature pits a pair of middleweights, 2000 Canadian Olympian Donald Orr (12-0, 5 KOs), now fighting out of South Boston, against former Mexican Pacific Coast champion Roberto “El Viejo” Valenzuela (44-37-2, 37 KOs)

Two-time U.S. National amateur champion Edwin Rodriguez (6-0, 5 KOs), of Worcester (MA), takes on dangerous Hector Hernandez (10-2-2, 4 KOs) in a 6-round bout.

Also on the undercard in a pair of 6-rounders, Boston by way of Ireland cruiserweight Mark Clancy (7-0-1, 1 KO), 4-time Irish National amateur finalist, meets Salah Zabian (6-10, 4 KOs), of Lee (MA), while Lynn (MA) junior welterweight Simeon Dunwell (7-0, 2 KOs) squares off against Aaron Drake (13-6, 9 KOs). Anthony Accardo (1-0, 1 KO) fights Broderick Antoine (2-5-1, 1 KO) in a 4-round match. All bouts and fighters are subject to change.

UPDATES COMING THIS WEEK

2008-06-23T08:51:00.000-04:00

Great result for Gallagher at WRC Jordan

2008-04-27T16:49:00.013-04:00

Image: World Rally Team Ireland

By Neil McDaid
Jordan, April 27, 2008 -- Ireland’s Shaun Gallagher gets his first ever WRC rally podium finish in the second round of the 2008 J-WRC Championship.
This is a fantastic result for this Letterkenny, Co Donegal native who has been working hard to make a name for himself after winning Rookie of the Year honors in 2007. His 2008 campaign got off to a rough start when he fell victim to a viral infection at the first round of the championship, Rally Mexico. It severely hampered his ability but, nonetheless, he managed to muster up a sixth place finish.
A new and spectacular addition to the WRC calendar for 2008, Rally Jordan would not only test driver’s ability to get through the fast and technical stages, but also their personal endurance to keep going through the incredible desert heat. The rally would set up headquarters some 30 miles south of Jordan’s capital Amman, in the spectacular natural and spiritual landscapes of the Dead Sea, the lowest land point on earth.
Rallying under the sponsorship of Tommy Mullen’s “World Rally Team Ireland” Gallagher would get a change of navigator for Rally Jordan. He would now be teamed up with the vastly experienced Paul Kiely from Sligo. Paul helped guide Eugene Donnelly to many a rally victory, along with several Irish Rally Championships to boot; his experience would surly help Gallagher achieve his goals.
After the first day of competition the Irish duo were holding their own despite the grueling heat and some niggling technical problems. "It's very physically demanding, the heat saps every bit of energy from your body. I am just totally focused on keeping the car on the road. It is tough going, but I am really getting a feel for the car,” said Gallagher.
Into day-two their Citroën C2 S1600 now began to develop gearbox problems further adding to the challenge for the Irish team. Nonetheless, the team would push on in an effort to capture as many coveted championship points as possible.
Heading into day three Gallagher and Kiely were holding down fourth overall despite still suffering gearbox problems. The team had all but given up the ghost of catching J-WRC rally leader Patrick Sandell and focused their attention on third. As fate would have it, rally leader Sandell would go off the road on SS17 retiring him from the event. The Citroen of Frenchman Sebastien Ogier would move to first. Jaan Molder would move to second while Gallagher would find himself in a podium position in third. On the penultimate stage, SS20, with pressure from Gallaher for second, Molder made a costly mistake and drove his Suzuki Swift S1600 off the road and retired.
In the end Sebastien Ogier would claim the victory with an elated Shaun Gallagher in second, “The last stage was amazing - the windows wouldn’t go up at the start of the stage so we just had to go. Now we’re covered in dust and it was really hard to see the road for 40 kilometres! It was such a tough event and testing in so many ways, I can’t believe it after the gearbox problems we’ve had all weekend. It’s unreal! This morning I said to [co-driver] Paul to forget about the gearbox and just drive, and it worked! I hope to have a smooth run in Sardinia and get some more good points.”
This victory now puts the Irish World Rally Team second overall in the championship, a great position heading in to round three of this six round championship. Gallagher would go on to say, “I am delighted to have finished in second place. It was a tough, hard rally and I will be looking forward to getting back to the temperatures of Letterkenny in Donegal!” After the rally, CEO of World Rally Team Ireland, Tommy Mullen, said the result was a testament to the incredible talents of a young and ambitious rally team. “Shaun Gallagher & Paul Kiely did Ireland proud out here in Jordan. We were very worried with the mechanical problems in the gearbox and I did not think we were going to make it to the finish of the rally. “

Ken Block dominates at Rally New York

2008-04-27T16:49:00.011-04:00

By Neil McDaid

Ellenville, New York, April 4, 2008. Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block, with co-driver Alex Gelsomino, claim top honors at Rally New York, effectively stripping the Irish of their grip on the rally from its onset. The victory now puts Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino ahead in both the United States Rally Championship and the Rally America National Championship, a position that has never been achieved before.
With the entry of Ken Block in this very popular east coast event there was clearly a heightened sense of excitement Thursday evening as legions of Subaru-driving rally fans began to descend into the quiet little Catskills town of Ellenville. The rally would be run over two days; each day would count as a separate rally. The total overall positions for both days combined would be scored as points towards the United States Rally Championship for 2008.

Drivers and co-drivers were given the opportunity Thursday to take a two pass recce over the special stages which were to be contested throughout Ulster and Sullivan Counties. Although the weather conditions for the recce were bright and sunny the forecast for day-one of the rally was bleak, to say the least. By 8pm on Thursday evening the local forecast was calling for overnight snow and rain. You could see a mild panic sweep through the service area as crews scrambled to make extra cuts in their tires in a bid to compensate for the unknown conditions that their drivers would face the next day.

As the first glimmers of morning light crested the Catskills it would reveal some very unpredictable conditions for the crews. Although it had only snowed lightly at rally headquarters, with the vast elevation changes in the Ellenville area it was anyone’s guess what surprises the stages would hold for the first cars out.
Just a few minutes before 9am on Friday morning, the first of some 35 cars were at the starting line. SS1 would be named in honor of Sgt. Eddie Ryan a local veteran injured in Iraq. As victor of the prior running at Rally New York in 2007, it would be the defending United States Rally Champion, Seamus Burke that had the daunting task of running first on the road. Unfortunately the wet, slick stage conditions would be the least of Burke’s troubles. This was the first time out in his open class Mitsubishi after it had been repaired following his big off in Laughlin last Fall. Based on Burke’s pace on the first test it was clear that all was not well with the car.

As if sensing Burke’s troubles, and despite the slick conditions, fellow Irish driver Charlie Donnelly attacked hard on the first stage, bettering Burke’s time by two seconds. But it would be Team Subaru driver Ken Block, seeded third in the start order, who would make his presence known early. Block would stop the clock 4 seconds faster than his nearest rival. He then went on to set fastest times on all but one of the first six stages of the opening day. Despite putting in a great run to match times with Block on SS3, Charlie Donnelly was down by 25 seconds at the end of section one. Polish driver Otis Dimiters would round out the top three. Ivor Wigham would be the first retirement of the rally after going off the road and hitting a stone wall on SS4.

As the crews set out for section 2 of the rally, things would really start to unravel for the Irish drivers. SS7 was the last we would see of both Seamus Burke and Charlie Donnelly. Their Mitsubishis would be sidelined with mechanical problems. A failed front differential would send Donnelly’s car to the trailer and a failed gearbox would end Burke’s hopes of retaining his Rally New York title. The abrasive tarmac stages would also take their toll on Enda McCormack’s Mitsubishi; Enda also retired with differential problems on SS7. Despite the loss of some of his top rivals, Block would not lift. Taking full advantage of his first full tarmac outing, he would continue to push and test his pace on the black stuff. A hard launch off the start line on SS9 would break a front axle on Paddy Brennan’s Subaru knocking him out of the running on day one.

At the end of section two and the completion of 10 stages, like an old tarmac pro Block was holding a one minute advantage over Otis Dimiters in second. Representing the Irish hopes, Martin Donnelly and Stephen Duffy were holding onto the final podium spot in third.
The rally would complete two additional stages in Ellenville before moving west to Monticello for the final 4 stages of day-one. Block would, again, dominate by setting the fastest times on all stages on section three.

It was quickly becoming apparent that unless Ken Block made a mistake or encountered a mechanical problem on stage, he was going to be all but impossible to reel in. At the conclusion of the first day’s competition, the top three were Block, Dimiters and C. Donnelly.
Day two would see the competition move to the township of Neversink for the first of six special stages. Some of the competitors that had dropped out on day one took advantage of the rally format and would re-enter. Irish drivers Enda McCormack, Seamus Burke and Paddy Brennan were all back. But for Burke it was all too short lived as he would retire after only one stage with continued gearbox problems.

Otis Dimiters set the pace on the opening test of day two, eking out a two second advantage over Block. As the morning stages progressed it was a repeat of day one - a total domination by Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino. Despite a spin and a flat the Subaru team would go on to take the overall victory by over four minutes ahead of Otis Dimiters. Martin Donnelly and Stephen Duffy would manage to salvage the final podium place for the Irish bringing their Mitsubishi home third.

Block was clearly pleased with his first outing on a full tarmac event. “I really enjoy the tarmac form of rally because it is so different and more technical than gravel. You have to be so precise, but that challenge is what made it such an amazing experience,” said Block. “We were here primarily to get some more reconnaissance experience but I have wanted to run a full tarmac event for a long while now. I adapted better than I expected to the tarmac and I am looking forward to racing some more tarmac events again sometime in the future.”

He has also shown interest in competing on some of Ireland’s world famous tarmac events. Both Donegal and Killarney had been mentioned, but at this time no confirmed plans are in place.
Other notable finishes for the Irish, from the New York area, were Gerald Coffey and Dave Dooly who managed to capture sixth overall despite multiple problems on day one. Brothers Michael and John O’Leary captured seventh overall and were definitely a big hit with the spectators with their “never a dull moment” driving style. Michael Cosgrove and Seanie “Legend” O’Reilly would claim first overall in pre-mod AWD on day one. Keeping the lights on for the Boston Irish was “Broslan” (Dan Broslan), who would take 3rd overall on day two in the 2WD open class. Next up for the Irish will be Rally Tennessee in May.

Andy Lee Stopped in the 7th

2008-03-25T14:10:00.008-04:00

Fight promoter Lisa Elovich of Pugnacious Promotions, awaits the arrival of Andy Lee to the ring with Irish fight fans, Darrell Doyle and Seamus Faircliff. Photo/ Neil McDaid.

Report and photos by Neil Mc Daid
Uncasville, CT, March 21, 2008 - Andy Lee, the highly touted middleweight from Limerick, Ireland was handed the first defeat of his professional career by the gloves of a hard brawling Texan, Brian Vera, thus dropping Lee to 15-1-0.
Born in London, this son of Irish emigrants from Limerick moved to Ireland at the age of fourteen with his family. Following the lead of his elder brothers, Lee found himself in the gym at an early age. As an amateur, Lee competed as a middleweight. He would claim a silver medal at the 2002 Junior World Championships in Santiago de Cuba.
Lee qualified to represent Ireland at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. With an impressive showing at the Olympics, Lee caught the attention of renowned trainer/manager Emanuel Steward. Lee moved to the USA and now resides in Detroit fighting out of Steward’s Kronk GYM.
Lee came into Friday’s fight, coming off an impressive victory, in February, over Alejandro Gustavo Falliga, a fight that was held at the University Arena in Limerick. Lee was a standout favorite over Brian Vera for this nationally televised match carried live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights. Vera’s greatest recognition to date was his appearance on the TV reality show “The Contender” where Vera recorded his only loss in 15 fights to Jaidon Codrington.
Stepping through the ropes, Lee seemed surprisingly relaxed, smiling and gesturing to the cheering Irish fans in the crowd and chatting with Steward. It seemed that Lee had little concern for Vera.

Andy Lee rocks Vera in the first round and eventually sends the Texan to the canvas. Photo/Neil McDaid

Lee would start the first round utilizing his advantages over the smaller Vera, keeping the brawler at bay, looking for his opening. Lee launched a hard right-left combination to the head of Vera that wobbled the Texan. Lee would continue the hunt and would again find an opening, this time sending Vera back onto the canvas. Vera would get to his feet quickly, but still took the referee’s count in his corner.
Into the second Lee would continue to work his long jab, often followed by some hard counter shots to the head of the Texan, Lee neglected to work the body, a mistake he would pay for later in the rounds. Nonetheless, Vera would not back down, often coming forward working his way in past the long reach of Lee. Vera would eventually find his target landing several flush shots of his own to head of the Irishman.
Into the third and fourth rounds, with both fighters not backing down, Lee still held a very slight advantage over Vera on the judges’ cards.
Towards the end of the fourth it would be Vera that would draw first blood, opening a cut on the right eye of Lee with a beautiful right hook. Seeing blood, Vera stepped up the pace and continued to pursue Lee around the ring.
Into the fifth, Vera now sensed that he had knocked the Irishman off his game plan. It was clear that he was looking to end the fight as quickly as possible. Vera’s persistent badgering of Lee seemed to be paying off as the fight entered the sixth round; Lee looked very tired. Throughout the round Vera would back Lee into a corner and let loose, but Lee would often find a way out.
As the bell rang for the seventh round, the Limerick man that stepped forward to center ring was clearly winged. He was now holding his right arm lower than previous rounds, had cuts on both eyes and was bleeding from the mouth. The end seemed near. This was quickly proving to be Lee’s toughest fight to date.

Showing the toll of this hard battle himself, a slowing Vera would try with all his might to keep the pressure on Lee. He would again force Andy into the corner, his back against the ropes. Vera would give it his all, throwing everything he had at the wounded Lee. Somehow Lee stayed on his feet. Digging deep Lee managed to return fire, but it was too little too late. Referee Tony Chiarantano stepped in and stopped the fight.

Chiarantano’s decision to stop the fight drew boos and jeers from the crowd and from some at ring side but, in my opinion, it was justified and could have been stopped several seconds sooner. Although Andy did throw the last shot in the fight, from my vantage point at ringside it was clear that Andy was not defending himself while trapped in the corner. He took some big unanswered shots to the head from Vera.
Before being taken for stitches and a Cat scan after the fight, Lee commented on the fight, "Vera's a tough guy. He was strong. I thought I could continue but it's the referee's decision. He hit me too much." Andy also seemed very disappointed in his own lack of discipline and continued, “Credit to him [Vera], he drew me into a fight. It was my own fault. I didn't listen to (my trainer) Emanuel (Steward).”
Standing by his fighter’s side, Steward was already looking ahead, "Andy wanted to fight him too much. He stayed on the inside too much, trying to fight him and he got tagged. It happens. "We're already trying to set up a rematch in July. Andy just made a mistake. He let Vera turn it into a brawl."
Andy Lee had been scheduled to appear on the undercard of the Kelly Pavlik Vs Gary Lockett in Atlantic City on June 7th. By all accounts a rematch between Lee and Vera is already well underway, it’s not out of the question that they would meet on this date. There is little question that Lee has the right stuff, but much like his fellow Irishman John Duddy he will just have to be better prepared to adjust when faced with a brawler.

Close call for Duddy

2008-02-26T23:37:00.005-05:00

Duddy caught off guard by Smichet

By Neil McDaid
February 23, 2008 - Madison Square Garden, New York - In the weeks leading up to John Duddy’s scheduled bout on the undercard of the Klitschko vs Ibragimov unification title fight, there was very little, if any, press on John’s opponent Tunisia native Walid Smichet. The pre-fight hype was more focused towards the potential opportunity for Duddy to get a shot at the middleweight world title in June against the reigning champion, Kelly Pavlik. Although John insisted in pre-fight interviews that he was not thinking about the opportunity to fight Pavlik until he got past Smichet, it would seem that the Duddy camp underestimated the threat that the Canadian based Smichet might pose when they made this match.
Stepping into the ring Duddy definitely looked the better conditioned fighter. But, an explosion of powerful combinations by Smichet in the first round rocked Duddy’s world. At one point John stood in the middle of the ring, gloves by his side, unable to answer the barrage of shots to his head. Smichet (17-4-3, 13 Kos) landed 52 of 108 punches in the first according to CompuBox. It was a miracle that Duddy survived the first round without hitting the canvas.
Duddy came out on the attack in the second, backing up Smichet. However, he soon became the hunted as Walid would again unleash a few powerful shots. Duddy’s cut man, big George Mitchell, was kept busy between rounds trying to stop the flow of blood from a horrendous cut on his fighters left eye. As John sat in his corner, blood spewing from his eye, you almost expected him to call out, “Adrian, Adrian” as this was like a scene from a Rocky movie. But there was no fiction here. John had to continue his fighter’s heart and the toughness of his chin would be tested on this night.
Duddy would again be rocked hard in the forth, but he somehow managed to hang in. The battle continued through the fifth, toe to toe around the ring, never more than a few feet apart. It was obvious that Smichet had studied his opponent well and worked on John’s weakness often. One would have to think that Smichet was in command after five. With his passionate legion of supporters chanting, “John-ny, John-ny”, Duddy’s superior fitness would start to show over his opponent.
Although still dangerous, Smichet seemed to slow as the rounds wore on. Working his jab a little more late in the rounds, Duddy would manage to land a couple of flush shots to the head of Smichet. As the seconds ticked away in the tenth Duddy seemed to stay clear of his opponent. This provoked Smichet to gesture with open arms, as if to say, “come on, let’s fight.” This was definitely not what the Duddy camp had in mind heading into Madison Square Garden. It was merely supposed to be a warm-up fight to a title shot, appositive showing in front of HBO.
Despite one of the poorest performances from Duddy to date he would somehow manage to eke out a victory on the judges’ cards, One judge scored the bout a 95-95 draw, while the other two saw it 98-92 in favor of the Derry man. After the fight John commented, “It wasn't my greatest performance, my timing was off. I was trying too hard to impress tonight. I was far from perfect. I wasn't letting my hands work for me. I trained a lot better than my performance but it's another learning curve fight for me."
Clearly unhappy with the judges’ decision Smichet said, "Look at my face, look at his, and you tell me who won.” He continued, "I thought it was close, but I thought I had the edge. I hit him with better punches."
The horrendous cut on Duddy’s eye has put the June title fight with Pavlik on the back burner according to Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum after the fight.
"It's silly to force the fight," said Arum, who still wants Pavlik to fight in June. "You don't know if (Duddy) is going to fight or not fight. ... But Kelly's going to fight three times this year so we'll do it down the road."
After Duddy’s performance on this night one has to ponder is John really ready to challenge for the title anytime soon. This upset for Duddy might very well open the door for fellow Irish boxer Andy Lee to step into the title scene.

Rally New York

2008-02-14T23:53:00.003-05:00

RALLY NEW YORK SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH NEVERSINK
AND OPENS ENTRY FOR RALLY NEW YORK USA

Neversink, New York (February 15, 2008) Rally New York organization signed an agreement with the Town of Neversink in Sullivan County New York, which makes available new special stages within the Town of Neversink, and opened the entry for Rally New York USA to be held on April 4 – 5, 2008. The entries for Rally New York USA have already started coming in (http://www.rallynewyork.com/).

This development comes on the heels of the three-year contract Rally New York organization signed with the Town of Wawarsing for the roads in the Wawarsing/Ellenville area of Ulster County, New York with a new special stage in the area of the historic Mt. Cathalia hillclimb and with the Town of Thompson in Sullivan County, New York that covers the spectacular special stage at the Concord Resort in Monticello.

In a related development, Ellenville Regional Hospital received a donation from Rally New York in appreciation of the community support for Rally New York events.

Rally New York USA on April 4 – 5 is the first round of the United States Rally Championship (http://www.usrallychampionship.com/). It is an all-tarmac event. Tarmac rallies, which are popular elsewhere, are rather rare in the US. The United States Rally Championship Competitors have the opportunity to participate in two tarmac events in two successive months – Rally New York USA in April and Rally Tennessee in May – with the same tarmac equipment. These two rallies are the only all-tarmac events in the Nation. Competitors from the western part of the Unites States may be able to make one trip to the East to participate in both events. Rally New York would store their vehicles for the second event.

Rally New York organization also presents the International Rally New York on October 31 – November 1, 2008. It is a gravel event that is the final round of the United States Rally Championship. All Rally New York events are conducted according to the international rules with three-pass reconnaissance on Thursday and two days of racing on Friday and Saturday.

RNY Media

Duddy returns to MSG

2008-02-13T00:15:00.005-05:00

John Duddy taking another bite out of Big Apple Duddy-Smichet on Feb. 23 Klitschko-Ibragimov card at MSG

NEW YORK (Feb, 12th 2008) – World middleweight title contender “Ireland’s” John Duddy is looking forward to fighting again in his adopted New York City home for the first time since last May, when he battles tough Tunisian brawler Walid “Tempete de Sable” Smichet (17-3-1, 13 KOs) in the 10-round, off-TV co-feature on the February 23rd heavyweight championship unification show headlined by IBF king Wladimir Klitschko and WBO title-holder Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden.

Presently rated No. 3 by the WBO and WBC, as well as No. 6 and No. 11 by the WBA and IBF, respectively, Duddy (23-0, 17 KOs) also is ranked No. 10 in The Ring magazine.

Duddy, who has fought 11 times in the Big Apple, including five in Madison Square Garden, is training in North Carolina with his head trainer, Don Turner. The unbeaten, charismatic Irishman is coming off of three consecutive fights in Ireland, including his most notable victory to date in December, winning a 10-round decision against former 2-time world title challenger Howard Eastman.

“It’s my homecoming,” an excited Duddy said from training camp about his NYC fight versus Smichet. “It was great fighting in Ireland the past year, but I’m really looking forward to being back where I started my pro career with all those great fans. There’s a lot of interest in my career back home now and a lot of people are flying in to watch this fight. Most importantly, though, I think I’ve shown improvement in my last three fights, although a lot was just simple things we worked on. Don has me boxing like I did before (as an amateur).

“After the Howard Eastman fight, I’m confident about getting in the ring with any middleweight in the world. It wasn’t perfect, but I showed I had a good chin – I always knew that – used my head more and never took a step backwards. I’m much more comfortable. It was a step closer to me getting to the top and I’m happy with my progress.”

Smichet, fighting out of Montreal, has a portfolio that features a win by 10th round knockout of previously unbeaten (17-0) Matt O’Brien for the Canadian Middleweight Interim Title, as well as an eight-round draw against Donny McCrary of The Contender III fame
.
Undefeated New York City middleweights “Mean” Joe Greene (17-0) and Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (15-0) are on the Klitschko-Ibragimov card. The main event is the only bout to air on HBO.

Tickets, priced at $1,000.00, $600.00, $300.00, $200.00 and $100.00, are on sale at the following locations: Manhattan: Demsey’s, 36th W. 33rd (212.629.9899); Queens: Elaine’s Deli, 65 Pl. Maspeth, Fiddlers Irish Pub, 65 Pl. Maspeth, Connelly’s Corner, Grand Ave. Maspeth, Hill Tap Bar, Grand Ave. Maspeth, Doyle’s Corner, Broadway Astoria; Woodside: Starting Gate, Sean Og’s, Saints & Sinners, Gaslight; Sunnyside: McGuinnesses, Maggie Mays; Yonkers: Bronx Heritage, McLean Ave. (914.766.7532); Brooklyn: Gleason’s Gym, 75 Front St. (718.797.2872); Pearl River: Gildea’s Bar & Restaurant (845.735.2564), South Bound Café (845.735.2903); Long Island: Poor House, Hemstead Turnpike (516.859.8780).

For more information go to http://www.irishropes.com/ or call Mark Cahoun (917.939.5199), Pat Nee (917.279.7796), Paul McLoughlin (347.219.1530), Jimmy Kaneary (718.594.0861), Paddy Phealon (516.859.8780) and Jerry Quinn (in Boston – 617.733.4535).

A toast to an Irishman

2008-02-03T11:33:00.000-05:00

Eddie Treacy lived in the shadows and died in his bed, the covers pulled up, his lungs full of fluid.... to read of this Boston Globe story by Kevin Cullen click here

McBride Stopped in the Sixth by a Better Conditioned Golota

2007-10-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-03T23:05:00.000-04:00

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

2007-09-22T23:06:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-16T14:41:00.000-04:00

www.colinmcrae.com

LAUGHLIN INTERNATIONAL RALLY & RALLYMOTO™ ENTRY NOW OPEN

2007-09-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-10T00:08:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-19T11:42:00.001-04:00

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

2007-08-19T11:42:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-06T23:43:00.000-04:00

Round six Rally America Championship

2007-07-22T10:49:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-16T21:37:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-29T23:20:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-06-29T23:02:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-14T11:47:00.000-04:00

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