Published: Wednesday, 14th January, 2009 12:00pm

Cavan men tackle the Galway stages

The Galway International Rally may suffer a bit thanks to economic belt-tightening this year, but as things stood yesterday (Tuesday) it had a decent entry.

Representing Cavan Motor Club will be James Cassidy with his cousin and sponsor John Norris (of Joe Norris Motors) as co-driver.

'There are points for modified cars in the Tarmac Championship, so we"re thinking of doing a few rounds to see how it goes,' said James.

'I didn"t do that much rallying last year, so it leaves the budget free and we have sponsor Niall Russell Engineering back on board.'

James did the Galway Summer Rally some years ago and always wanted to do the international as well. He"s been a spectator there for the last nine years, so finally committed and put in an entry.

'The weather will play a big part in it and the two days will leave it a bit tough, but we"ll give it a go. We did one day"s recce at the weekend and we"ll do the second on Friday because the weather could change again. I"m really looking forward to it.'

James"s brother Teddy and Trevor Lancashire, who maintains the car for him, are on the service crew and AC Auto Spares of Arva have joined the team as a sponsor.

'We"re going to sign on for the championship in Galway and if we get through it without any damage we"ll do the Circuit of Ireland too - we"ll see how the budget stretches out,' said James.

Also on the entry list were Virginia resident Timmy England in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII (number 47) and Noel and Vanessa Lappin at number 86; Peter Wilson had put in a late entry and was hoping to be out for a run in his Honda Civic too.

The rally begins with a ceremonial start in Eyre Square on Friday night (January 16) and there are 17 stages to complete before the finish on Sunday afternoon.

The Deerpark Industrial Estate in Oranmore is the location for centralised service (mechanical scrutiny and parc ferme are also there) and rally HQ is the Clayton Hotel in Ballybrit.

The rally visits north Galway on Saturday for nine stages in the Abbeyknockmoy area and there are eight stages in south Galway around Gort on Sunday.