Banna Beach Winter Rally gets date and running order

KERRY Motor Club has announced details of its November 13 Banna Beach Hotel Kerry Winter Rally.

The popular, end-of- season clubman’s rally will follow a tried and tested format with classic stages in the North Kerry area with the service park set to located on the seafront of the picturesque village of Ballyheigue.

The rally is the final round of the Top Part West Coast Rally championship and several of the awards are set to be decided on the event.

Kerry Motor Club and the Banna Beach Hotel have enjoyed a relationship that spans four decades, the seaside resort is one of the longest serving rally headquarters in the country and offers competitors and fans favourable accommodation rates over the rally weekend.

Clerk of the course Jakes Kelly will lay on two different stages, each run three times, in a route that promises to be challenging for the drivers but with very limited road mileage between each test.

Last year’s rally was won by the Cavan /Kerry pairing of Stephen McCann. They have since sold their event-winning Subaru Impreza and have recently acquired a R5-specification Ford Fiesta.

The Kerry Winter Rally will mark the car’s first outing after a planned entry in the Garda Motor Club’s Baltinglass Rally in October was deferred due to electrical problems.

Local co-driver Fleming said: “It will be an honour to run first on the road in one my local rallies. It will be our first time in a left-hand-drive car so that could be interesting. The plan is to test the car in Banna with a view to entering the Irish Tarmac Championship next season.”

Regulations and entry forms can be downloaded from www. kerrymotorclub.com.