Former Kilkenny hurler Doherty on local terrain in Raven's Rock Rally
The biennial national rally championship calendar, introduced in 2022, brings some interesting situations, such as the progress of Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty, the current leader of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship that reaches its midpoint with Sunday's Waterford-based Raven's Rock Rally.
Two years ago, campaigning a Mk. 2 Ford Escort, Doherty finished the penultimate stage of "The Rock" leading the Modified category and an impressive seventh overall. However, a final-stage puncture cost him the category win as he finished ninth overall.
From one of the top exponents in the rear-wheel drive section, the former Kilkenny minor hurler is now equally adept in four-wheel drive category where he steers the Skoda Fabia R5 he debuted at the end of that same season.
With his home county involved in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Tipperary, Doherty will be forgiven for the desire to check updates in between the rally stages where he will showcase his talent with equal aplomb.
"Yes, it's (switch to Skoda) gone well but you are always looking for that bit extra to push on and hopefully we (with co-driver John Murphy) will get a better overall finish than two years ago."
The terrain (with stages in County Kilkenny), while not overly familiar to Doherty, "is local in general terms." Many drivers can get caught out on their local stages, something that Doherty understands. "Where you know roads, especially on the fast stuff, it's easy to interpret them for other sections. Our pacenotes will be very important on Sunday. On the one-day events, it's all go from the start, you can't afford to wait and see what happens."
Doherty will have all his familiar rivals like Monaghan's Josh Moffett, who, like a few others, will benefit from the three days seat time Donegal.
Doherty hasn't competed since the last Triton round in Cavan where things didn't go according to plan when he finished fifth. He still leads the series - three points ahead of Sam Moffett, with Josh (Moffett) seven points further behind the third. Others is search of valuable points are Derry's Desi Henry, who will pilot a Ford Fiesta Rally2 as his Citroen C3 Rally2 is being re-fettled, Declan and Michael Boyle in their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 cars, Tyrone's Jason Dickson (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin (Citroen C3 Rally2).
The top ten also features Clonakilty's David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Paul Barrett (Citroen C3 Rally2) while akin to Guest, Enniskerry's Daniel Barry (VW Polo GTi R5), Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Dunmanway's Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5) will be without the shackles of the national championship.
The top contenders in the rear wheel drive category are Wexford's James Stafford and the Escorts of Monaghan's Johno Doogan and Cavan's Chris Armstrong. The first stage starts at 10.15am.
Meanwhile, as the European Rally Championship returns to sealed surfaces with the Rally di Roma in the Eternal City, Kesh driver Jon Armstrong reckons he can push for more podiums following his third place in the recent Rally Poland, his first podium of the current ERC season.
The M-Sport Ford WRT driver said, 'It definitely makes it more achievable to have a good result now. We've had good pace all year but no result. We could have been in a good position in the championship now because we've been faster than the guys on top on most rallies. It's a shame but this is how it goes sometimes."
Championship leader Miko Marczyk (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) holds a 16-point lead over Mads Ostberg (Citroen C3 Rally2). Following this (Friday) evening's Colosseum 1.3km super special stage there are six stages tomorrow and six more on Sunday. The strong Irish contingent includes Philip Allen (Skoda Fabia Rally2), Eamonn Boland (Fiesta Rally2) and Billy Coleman award winner Craig Rahill (Peugeot 208 Rally4).
Elsewhere, the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Rally Championship continues tomorrow with the Loughgall Stages Rally with double event winner Carndonagh's Aaron McLaughlin (VW Polo GTi R5) heading the entry from Armagh pair Damien Toner (Ford Escort) and Jason Black (Toyota Starlet).
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