Locals bidding for glory at Galway International rally

Strap in, make yourself comfortable and push the pedal to the metal because the Galway Internatioanl Rally is ready for the off this weekend. Several Meath drivers will be bidding for glory when the flag falls on Saturday morning. Ardsallagh"s James Foley produced one of the drives of his life to take the group N category in 2007 at the world famous rally and next weekend he will make a return behind the wheel to compete in the same event. That was the last main event at which Foley took the wheel in a competitive action and he doesn"t rate his chances of a repeat victory too highly, but he is really looking forward to returning to the scene of his greatest triumph. 'I"m really looking forward to the rally. It is a while since I last competed in a serious rally and I don"t think I"ll go as well as I did the last time in Galway,' the JFR (James Foley Rallysport) team owner told the Meath Chronicle this week. 'The car will be able for it, but I might be the one in trouble. I haven"t rallied much at all. I"ve been busy with the Evo challenge and getting my business up and running. 'The business has taken on a life of its own now which is great and I can now go back, have a bit of craic and get back into the rallying. It"ll be my first rally since 2007. 'The group N races are a lot quicker now than they used to be, but I"m afraid I might be left a bit behind. It should be a great event however and one that all our drivers are really looking forward to.' Foley"s team will send four cars to the start for the International rally, including the new Mitsubishi Evo 10 which will be the first of its kind to race in a rally in Ireland. Dundalk"s Brendan Comiskey, who won the Evo Challenge 2008 in Ireland, will be in one of the JFR-prepared cars and he will be joined in the rally by Timmy England from Cavan and Tom White from Wexford. 'We will have a busy weekend. We have also taken over the agency for Hankook tyres and Pirelli tyres,' added Foley. 'We will be supplying all the front runners with tyres, so we will be very busy with around 700 or 800 tyres on the go this weekend,' he concluded. Moynalty"s James Cassidy, along with Navan navigator John Norris, is another local who will be bidding to make an impact at the event which attracts thousands of motorsport enthusiasts to Galway. Having finished second in the Midlands East Championship and after winning all the class 13 events they entered, Cassidy and Norris will hold high hopes in their Ford Escort Mk II 2.0. Cassidy and Norris are sponsored by Niall Russell of Russell Engineering, Drogheda, Joe Norris Motors, Hankook Tyres and AC Auto Spares, Cavan. Summerhill"s Tim McNulty, seeded at number six this year, has been a prominent name on the Irish rallying circuit over the last few years and he will hope that luck will stay with him for this year"s Galway Rally. McNulty was leading the rally at one stage last year, but his Subaru S12B stalled and left the Meath man out of contention. Other Meath competitors include Sean Flanagan (Subaru Impreza), Mark Nangle (Subaru Impreza), Thomas carolan (Ford Escort), John Hendy (Toyota Corolla), Peter Wilson (Honda Civic), Christopher Snow (Honda Civic). There will also be a historic section which will include a Mini Cooper, Porsche 911, Lotus Cortins and Hillman Imp. That category should also attract a lot of interest as some of the cars would be up to 40 years old. 'It costs Galway Motor Club €250,000 to stage the event, the biggest element of which is spent providing accommodation and subsistence for approximately 300 volunteers that are required to stage the rally,' commented clerk of the course Gary Leonard. The administrative headquarters for the rally are in the Clayton Hotel, Ballybrit, Galway. The rally will get underway with a ceremonial start from Eyre Square on Friday night and it will provide a great opportunity to see the top 20 cars and teams before they hit the stages on Saturday. The first Galway International Motor Rally took place in 1971 and has grown in stature over the years, it currently attracts 200 competing teams. The event attracts in the region of 100,000 spectators on the Saturday and Sunday. A new feature for the 2009 rally will be a single location for centralised service at Deerpark Industrial Estate in Oranmore during both days of rallying. There are 17 challenging and demanding stages awaiting the competitors. The rally will visit north Galway on Saturday with nine stages in the Abbeyknockmoy area. The stages will each be run three times, with two visits to service in Oranmore during the day. Sunday will see the competitors tackle eight stages in the south Galway area, around Gort, before the winning car returns to the finish ramp at Eyre Square on Sunday evening.