After their victory on the Keohane Readymix West Cork Rally, the Welsh/Irish combination of Bob Fowden and Jerry Hynes, driving an Escort Cosworth, are the early leaders of the 1999 Yokohama Tyres Southern 4 Rally Championship.
Bantry’s Denis Cronin, with his new navigator Helen O’Sullivan, have also made an excellent start to the 1999 championship. A spirited drive in West Cork has put their BMW M3 in second place in the series with Dubliners Derek Smith and Daragh Cafferky, Escort 2.4, occupying third place in the championship after the opening round.
Class leaders at the beginning of the second season of the Yokohama Tyres Southern 4 championship include Clonakilty’s Michael Walsh/Pat Joe O’Sullivan whose Escort G3 is tops in Class 11. Ballineen’s Fintan Canty and Denis O’Mahony, Escort, have the early lead in Class 10 while the Toyota Starlet of New Ross driver Martin McGrath and Dorothy Morrissey is at the top of Class 9.
Killarney provides the leaders
in a few of the classes. Class 7 leaders are David Randles and Con Duggan
driving a Nissan Sunny while the husband and wife team of Kieran
and Philomena Marshall are tops in Class 6 with their Honda Civic V-tec.
Class 14, the historics, are led by Todd Falvey and Dan Barry driving an
Escort Mk.1.
Some overseas competitors
are to the fore in Classes 4 and 5 with the Welsh pairing of John Ceri
Richards and David Hefin Evans best in 4 in an Escort Cosworth while Liverpool’s
Dale Knowles and Cork’s Mary Hogan, Mini Cooper lead Class 5.
The Peugeot 205 of David
Parle and Pat Gowen lead class 3, while last season’s class winners Eamonn
Tarrant and Pat Joe Looney again lead Class 1 in their Skoda Felicia.
Class 8 sees seven crews tied on just one point each after all failed to finish in West Cork. These include the initial rally leaders Frank O’Mahony and Liam McCarthy plus Pete Doughty who then led up to two stages from the finish.
Over 120 competitors have registered for the series which will be run over four two -day tarmac rallies in the south of Ireland. Competitors scores on all four rounds will count towards the series with bonus points for those starting all four events. Awards will be presented for first overall plus first, second and third in each class.
Along with West Cork, the other three rounds are the Rally of the Lakes on May 1 and 2; the Wexford Rally on September 18 and 19 and the Cork 20 on October 2 and 3.
Issued 3.4.1999
Championship Co-ordinator: Laurence Hartigan, Ardarostig, Waterfall, Near Cork, Ireland. Tel/Fax: +353 21 546654