Fiestas face Fermanagh Forest challenge
The Fiesta SportingTrophy IE moves north of the border next weekend for the final gravel event and penultimate round in this year’s series, the Fisher Engineering Stages Rally. Eight registered competitors will line up at the start ramp in Balinamallard next Saturday morning for what promises to be a battle royale for overall honours.
Alastair Fisher and Barry McNulty currently lead the series after five rounds and go into next week’s event with a two+point lead over Carryduff man Jonathan Greer. Both drivers are also competing in the UK FST championship which is a predominantly gravel based series so both should feel right at home on the loose surface of the Fermanagh forests. Greer will once again be co+driven by Jonny Hart.
Conor Harvey, 22 from Letterkenny led the series after round two but dropped to third overall following his retirement from round five, the Jim Walsh Cork Forestry Rally at the beginning of the month. Conor was lying in third place on the event, behind Greer and Fisher, before gearbox problems called a halt to his rally.
He will be keen to finish the Lakeland based event and keep his championship hopes alive for the return to his preferred surface, the asphalt based Cork ‘20’ Rally at the end of September. With dropped scores taken into account, Conor is still very much in contention for the 2007 Fiesta SportingTrophy title.
Tadhg Buckley, 25 from Ballyhaunis is currently in fourth place after five rounds and will also be keen to finish the event and close the gap to Harvey who currently holds a 23+point advantage over the Mayo man. Tadhg who led the series after a victory on round one will once again be co-driven by his brother Shane.
Kyle Orr from Dromore in County Down will be aiming to improve his third place finish on round five. A consistent pace over the gravel stages of north Cork saw him move up the championship leader board from seventh place to fifth and he currently holds a six-point advantage over Enniskillen man William Mavitty. Peter O’Toole will make a return to the co-driver seat next week to guide Kyle through the Lakeland forests.
Local driver William Mavitty will be hoping for a strong finish on his local event. William has not competed on the event before but he is no stranger to gravel rallies, having taken part in the UK FST series last year.
Barry Greer and John Lemon will be hoping for a finish next weekend to make up for their retirement from the Cork Forestry Rally. Making a return to the series are Paul Quinn and Jason Gillespie who sat out of the last two rounds. Paul, 20 from Dungannon will be hoping for a trouble free run following two retirements so far this season.
The rally will begin from the Fisher Engineering complex in Ballinamallard on Saturday morning and will finish in the village of Kesh on the banks of Lough Erne on Saturday evening. The rally will cover 43 competitive miles over nine stages in the Fermanagh region.
The FST drivers who are competing for a prize fund of over €2,700 EUR on the event will be giving 100% commitment and should be able to produce the same excellent stage times that have seen them shine on previous events.
Championship leader Alastair Fisher, 19 from Enniskillen said:
“I am looking forward to the rally and hope to build on my championship lead. Things are very close between me and Jonathan and it will be a good battle. Conor (Harvey) could also be one to watch so I will see how the first couple of stages go.”