IRELAND FOCUSES ON SOL RALLY BARBADOS
Seven crews with Irish connections, including two new to the event, are among the 21 International entries already received for Sol Rally Barbados 2012 (June 9/10) through the event’s official web site, www.rallybarbados.bb . . . and the organising Barbados Rally Club (BRC) has thanked the media for the part it plays in spreading the word.
The latest newcomers confirmed for the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international are Raymond Conlon and Darren McCague from County Monaghan in the Irish Border Region. Their 270 horsepower 2-litre Conlon Travel Toyota Corolla, prepared by KMS Motorsport and Powertune, is entered in the BRC’s SuperModified 10 category.
Conlon started competing – in a standard production 1600cc Corolla – almost as soon as he was old enough to hold a driving licence. He won the Junior Event at the Killarney Rally of the Lakes in 2005, with four out of five stage wins, and is now a regular overall top 10 finisher and class-winner in events north and south of the border.
His best finishes include third overall, with the class win, on the toddsleap.com Ulster National Rally in 2008, a result repeated on the UTV Drive Circuit of Ireland National Rally in 2010. After more than two hours of stage time, Conlon finished just 20 seconds adrift of Emma McKinstry’s Subaru Impreza WRC and 26 seconds behind winner John Waring’s Ford Escort MkII . . . a result that would have been very different but for a 30-second road penalty Conlon and McCague had incurred early in the day.
Although this will be the crew’s debut in Barbados, they are already familiar with the event, having seen the TV coverage aired in recent years in Ireland, where the monthly Pacenotes Rally Magazine is also a popular read. Last year, in conjunction with the private sector Tourism Development Corporation in Barbados and the BRC, Pacenotes ran a hugely successful competition with a prize trip for two readers to Sol RB11. Details of its 2012 promotion will be announced shortly.
Sol RB12 Chairman Barry Gale said: “There is little doubt that the major increase in media coverage we have enjoyed over the past couple of years has helped our cause enormously, especially in these difficult times . . . and Pacenotes has certainly played its part in keeping our event at the forefront of competitors’ minds.”
Among those confirmed for Sol RB12 are popular Celtic entertainers, Ballyclare’s Glenn Campbell in his Nissan Micra Kit Car and Allan Mackay from Brora in the north of Scotland, whose unique Ford Anglia WRC is prepared by Mark Greer Motorsport in Northern Ireland, where Mackay’s co-driver for the event, Mo Downey, is also based. The current Sol RB12 entry list can be found on the official Sol Rally Barbados web site, (under the Competitor drawdown), although some names are withheld for promotional purposes.
