And They're Off Again!

Neil McDaid Previews Rally New York

The pressure will be on Seamus Burke this coming weekend at Rally New York. With Tyrone man Charlie Donnelly taking the first round of the United States Rally Championship at the Sandblast Rally, the defending series champion, Burke, will need to keep him at bay as he looks to level the playing field.

Rally headquarters will be located in the town of Narrowsburg, New York, just a short jaunt from New York City. The first car is set to launch for the start line bright and early on Saturday March 30, at 7:00am.

Missing from the fall rally calendar in 2006, the very popular Rally New York is back with a commitment from the organizers to be better than ever. It will count as round two of the 2007 USRC.

The rally will run on some tried and well tested stages in Sullivan County. Rally New York is unique in its format. The first 12 stages will be run on tarmac. From there crews will quickly change the setup on the cars to run the balance of the rally on gravel stages.

Some of tarmac stages will run the now infamous Blind Pond test with its large jump; a jump that caught Enda McCormack off guard last year. It's where he lost control of his Mitsubishi Evo and ended up in a small lake. Blind Pond will be run four times in one direction and then twice in the other with a stage name change to Tusten Run as stages 10 and 12. With an abundance of prime locations to watch the rally from it should make for some great action for the spectators.

The balance of the morning tarmac stages will be over the high speed test, Mathias Weiden east and west.

With a total of 19 Irish teams entered in a field of 36 and the first eight cars on the road being Irish teams, I expect the boys to dominate the event.

After his victory on the regional 100 Acre Woods rally in February, Paddy Brennan will be hoping to hold his own in the Subaru STI. Multi-time Eastern States Champion Danny "The Fox" O'Brien will also not be too far off the pace.

Gerard Coffey has come out of hibernation and will team up with co-driver Dave Dooley to have another crack at Rally New York.

Weather conditions at this point look very favorable but that's always subject to change.

For more information on the rally go to rallynewyork.com. Check in next week for a full rundown on the even.