Rally New York

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

New Home for Rally New York

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

More info:

http://www.rallynewyork.com/

http://www.nevele.com/

http://www.unitedstatesrallychampionship.com/

Burke Takes Round Five of the United States Rally Championship

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

By Neil McDaid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

Rally Tennessee

New York, NY, May 1 2007. Charlie [Celsus] Donnelly the current points leader in the United States Rally Championship heads south this week to Tennessee, where he hopes to keep his winning streak alive. Charlie [right] pictured here with his co-driver Noel Gallagher will compete in his open class Mitsubishi Evo 8 this coming Saturday at Rally Tennessee.
A welcome departure for the dusty gravel stages, Rally Tennessee will be an all tarmac event, and will count as round four of the USRC.
This will also be the second event on the east coast where we will see Motorcycles compete in the new RallyMoto series. Some 25 cars and 9 motorcycles are expected to start from the town of Linden, TN.

For more info on the event and results go to www.rallytennessee.com

Click here for more pictures from Rally New York

Donnelly's winning streak is alive and well
By Neil McDaid

Monticello NY, March 31st. It’s 5 am Saturday morning, in the darkness of a frosty spring morning we’re awakened from our sleep by the sound of a rumbling beast in the hotel car park, it’s Seamus Burke Mitsubishi Evo warming up to tackle the stages of Rally New York 2007. With the first of the days stages scheduled to start at 7:13 it was the beginning of one of the longest days we would witness for a single days rallying. For Burke it would also be the start of another disappointing day for the defending United States Rally Champion.

Most crews would get to the service park in Narrowsburg at around 6 am to make any last minutes adjustment before they would tackle the 20 special stages that would make up Rally New York 2007. The Boston based crew of Larry Duane and Eamon Sweeney would find themselves under pressure early as the gearbox fails on their Toyota Corolla, with the help of their service crew a replacement box was installed in record time and they just about make the official start time.

Burke with Eddie Fries on the notes would be first off the line on SS1 Marthias Weiden (1), running on cold tarmac tires the duo would soon find out that they had little or no grip, they were no distance into the stage when they slid wide and ended up in a large drain. After loosing some precious seconds the all wheel drive Mitsubishi would eventfully claw it’s way out and they were again underway, amazingly Burke would still manage to set fastest time on the stage.

Unfortunately for the crew of Burak Tuglu and Mustafa Samli they would not be so lucky, they would have a nasty roll over in the beautifully prepared Spec Ford Focus on SS1 that would end their rally.

Paddy Brennan and Charlie Donnelly would set matching times on SS1 for a tied second place and Danny O’Brien would lock down third.

On to SS2 Blind pond, the first of four runs on this stage, again Burke would through down the mark to beat, Danny O’Brien would push his newly build Subaru into second. Enda McCormack showed no fear over the large jump at the start of the stage, matching times with Charlie Donnelly for a tied third place. After years of trouble free rally’s for the Kerry man, Dan Broslan his open class Nissan Sentra would blow it’s engine on SS2 making Dan and his navigator spectators for the day.

The beast that awoke us in the early hours of the morning would be silenced on SS3 the second run over Marthias Weiden (2) not 100 yards from the end of the stage, the car would die. Something had worked it’s way in behind the timing cover and damaged a sensor, most likely a small stone, which could have been collected in the earlier off. This is now 3 DNF’s (did not finish) for Burke in his last 3 rally’s, speaking with Seamus at one of the spectator areas later in the day he said, “The car would going great, we were definitely on the pace, we would have giving the boys a run for it, we just did not have enough time to test before the rally, we will be back!”. Despite the lack of brakes Danny O’Brien and co-driver Dominik Jozwiak would set fastest time on SS3.

After the first four stages of the day the cars would return to Narrowsburg for service. Danny O’Brien was now in first overall, with Paddy Brennan and co-driver Shane McCann just seven seconds adrift in second . Enda McCormack and Bernard Farrell would hold down third. Struggling to stay in contention with Turbo waste gate problems, Charlie Donnelly and co-driver Noel Gallagher was back to forth. Rounding out the top five was Patsy Lilly with Thomas Taggart in their Subaru.

After service the teams would head out and tackle the same stages again, with his waste gate problems sorted while in service, Charlie Donnelly would start his charge to the front, setting fastest times over SS6-7. There was a few anxious moments for NYC based Doengalman, Michael Gillespie on SS6 Blind Pond (3) he would fall victim to some of his wheel studs working their way loose. After taking the big jump at a decent clip, Gillespie’s car would loose a wheel on landing, Michael made great work to try to keep control of the car, but in the end he was along for the ride as his open class MK11 Escort ploughed into the ditch. Thankfully both Michael and co-driver Brian Kirby both walked away unharmed.

Danny O’Brien would remind Donnelly he was still there on SS7, by matching time with the hard charging northern man. Donnelly was untouchable on SS8, Paddy Brennan would be some 4 seconds off the pace of Charlie. Enda McCormack would take third fastest on SS8, while Danny O’Brien would loose a lot of time due to a high speed spin while fighting continued braking problems.

Paddy Brennan’s pace thorough the day would see him tied for the overall lead with Charlie Donnelly after eight stages, but it would all come to a sudden end on SS9. Paddy would slide his Subaru wide on some loose winter gravel and connected with a large rock on the roadside, making Spaghetti of his rear suspension arms and rear wheel, a very disappointing end to a great drive.

A high speed roll on SS11 would also end the rally for Boston based driver Dave Fury, remarkable Dave and his co-driver walked away from his VW Golf which was a total wreak.

After 12 hard fought tarmac stages the teams would return once again Narrowsburg, which was also the host town for the Rally for a much needed break. While the drivers and co-drivers stopped for lunch, their service crews prepped the cars for the remaining 8 stages of the day which would be run on gravel.



Heading into the gravel section Charlie Donnelly was holding first overall with Danny O’Brien in second and Enda McCormack in third.


We would see the O’Leary brothers Michael and John retire with clutch problems on their Mitsubishi after the first of the afternoon gravel stages. The gravel stages were made up using two stage roads eight times in alternating directions. Talking with a few of the drivers after the first run over the gravel stages they all agreed that it was tight going over a two mile section that was very wet and sloppy on the Cochecton Turnpike stage, but they really enjoyed the rest of the gravel stages.

Rally New York enjoyed a large turnout of spectators the most we have seen in years, and although there was a limited entry down somewhat from years gone by, those spectators that lines the roads were not disappointed in the action.

Despite the numerous offs the rally was somehow kept fairly close to its original schedule.
In the end the Irish teams would lay claim to 5 of the top 10 places overall. Charlie Donnelly and Noel Gallagher both out of the New York City area would hold onto a nice lead into the darkness to take the overall victory at Rally New York.

Second and third would be separated by only 7 seconds after the long, long day of racing. Enda McCormack [NYC] would take the edge over Danny O’Brien who had to settle for third. An amazing drive by the brothers Joshua and Jeremy Wimpy in their VW Golf GTI would see them split the Irish drivers and claim 4th overall and 1st in two wheel drive. Despite turbo problems late in the day, Gerry Coffey and Dave Dooley would hold on to 5th keeping Big Patsy Lilly at bay in 6th.

The victory for Donnelly puts him well ahead in the points for the 2007 United States Rally Championship, but I truly expect to see Charlie tested very soon, next up is the all tarmac, Rally Tennessee on May 5th. For more in check out http://www.rallytennessee.com/

Donnelly takes victory for the Irish in Adirondack Park
By Neil McDaid

October 7th, Harrisville, NY. Perched behind the wheel of one of the top Mitsubishi Evolution Rally cars in the USA, Charlie [Celsus] Donnell, formally from Fintona Co Tyrone, would claim victory in the final round of the 2006 NASA/ESRC. On a day in which many of the top drivers in the event were caught out on the early stages, Donnelly was able to steer his very powerful open class Mitsubishi between the many rocks, jumps, off-camber bumps and some very large pine trees to take the victory at The Black River Stages Rally.

The Rally was run in the northeast corner of the vast Adirondack Forest Park in upstate New York, only some 30 miles from the Canadian border. The first frost of the fall would greet the rally crews early Saturday as they headed for the start of SS1 “Power Line 1”. At little over seven and a half miles this would be the longest stage of the rally. Danny O’Brien would set the early mark with a fastest time of 6:25 with Donnelly some 4 seconds of the pace.

Retirements would strike early for the Irish. Donal McGivney and Noel Gallagher, in their Subaru, dropped a front control arm over a crest. Donal managed to bring the Impreza to a safe stop, despite every effort by Donal and Noel Gallaher they were unable to get the Impreza up and running ending their rally.

SS2 “Fishing Hole 1”. Running first on the road, Charlie Donnelly was on a tear as he pushed the Mitsubishi at full tilt almost sideways through the entire stage. With no recce allowed on the stages driver and co-driver would have to rely on the stage notes provided by the organizers. Although these notes are generally very detailed they do not always highlight every hazard, like hidden rocks.

Hardly a mile into this short three and a half mile stage a series of left-right-left bends would claim a few victims. Danny O’Brien, running second on the road, would attack SS2 with the same commitment as the opening test. The notes called a “left four short” into a “right five short” into a “left six”.

Danny would enter the ‘left four’ a little too hot forcing him to slide into the right five. The rear of the car would clip a large rock hidden between the bends launching the car into a series of spins. I was perched about a hundred yards down the road and watched the Subaru head into the bushes. Within few seconds O’Brien had the car fired up and somehow got her back up onto the road. Unfortunately, the damage was done. The impact had broken a rear wheel and Danny had to pull over and change it, losing some 5 minutes.

Early trouble for O'Brien on SS2 as he makes junk of a rear wheel



Fellow Irish driver Enda McCormack, in a Mitsubishi, would also struggle through the same tricky section that caught out O’Brien. He would also spin but was lucky to get going again with no damage. Running ninth on the road Massachusetts driver Emilio Arce and co-driver Sarah Gardescu would have the biggest moment on the stage when they also came into the tight section with way to much speed. They would, unfortunately, roll the Impreza twice before coming to a rest against a stump of a large pine tree. Both Emilio and Sarah walked away uninjured. The same could not be said for their Impreza.

Brennan finds his mark after Turbo problems on the morning stsges

Stages three and four would be a repeat of SS1 & SS2. Cavan man Paddy Brennan, a sure contender for the overall victory going into the rally, would do his best to stay on the pace while suffering mechanical problems early in the day because of a turbo pipe that would not stay connected on his open class Subaru.

Heading into the first service of the day back in the small town of Harrisville Charlie Donnelly, with his cousin Barry McCann as navigator, had built a commanding lead of 1 minute and 48 seconds over the second place crew of Brennan and Brady. Enda McCormack and Kieran McElhinney, also out of New York, would round out the top three for the Irish. With O’Brien’s off on SS2 he was now sitting in 14th some 4:24 back from Donnelly.

Meep! Meep! a photgraphers nightmare, O'leary & O'leary

Much like Donnelly and Brennan, O’Brien, who had just clinched his third consecutive Eastern States Rally Championship title for 2006, had been one of the favorites for the overall victory coming into this year’s return of the Black River stages.

Further down the running order in the hotly contested M2 class a bit of a battle was taking place between the Boston Irish crews of Larry Duane and Eamon Sweeny in the Toyota Twin Cam Corolla and “Big Dan” Broslan and Martin Skelton in the Nissan Sentra. Sitting in second behind Dan Cook in the Datsun, Duane had pulled out a forty second lead over Broslan in third at the first service stop.

The afternoon stages would be made up of four stages all run twice. Danny O’Brien would go on the attack early to try and work down the time lost with the damaged wheel on SS1. The first time over SS5, “Jayville In,” O’Brien would set the second fastest time, just seven second off the blistering pace set by Donnelly. Again, on SS6 “Jayville out,” O’Brien would push Donnelly coming within four seconds of Charlie’s stage time.
Danny O’Brien would eventually set the fastest time over SS7 “Goose Pond in,” some six seconds faster than leader Donnelly, and also the stage win on SS12.

In the end, when the time cards were verified after a long day of 12 special stages over some very deceiving forest roads with hidden hazards, Charlie Donnelly would bring home the victory. After struggling for many years, pushing hard and trying to be competitive in lesser equipment Charlie finally proves his worth in the same Mitsubishi Evo that brought Tom Lawless to the overall victory in the United States Rally Championship in 2005. Charlie finished with a comfortable 2:21 cushion over Paddy Brennan who, despite numerous issues, was able to hang on to second.

Enda McCormack encored a 20 second penalty for a late arrival to time control 7, pushing him down to forth behind Randy Zimmer and Travis Sleight. Despite all the hard work from O’Brien, in the end it was a bridge too far to make up the difference lost on SS2, and he had to settle for 5th overall.


Showing some great driving form, Liam Mulvey, with Stephen Duffy on the notes, kept the tail out wherever possible on their Mazda RX3 as they took the class victory in M1 and 6th overall.

In M2 Class, Duane and Sweeney in the Corolla, in only their second full season in rallying, claimed the M2 class victory and 7th overall. Dan Broslan, who chased Duane all day, had no answer for the every increasing pace of his fellow Boston crew.

Looking forward to BRS 2007!