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Today saw the opening round of the PaceNotes / MSA Northern Ireland Rally Championship with the return of the champion Kevin Lynch into the seat after rumhours of retirement for a while he came back today to the frosty sun beaten circuit and done what he does best WINNING. Kevin beat off stiff compition from Allen, Jonston and Curran Jnr and after 6 special stages he beat Mike Curran who was out in an Octavia WRC by what looks like about 4 secs overall. This was a great battle in the last 2 stages, especially considering Curran first drove the car at about 6am this monring on route to the circuit. Ending the top 3 and a further 4 secs down was Raymond Jonston who was driving exceptionally well all day and put in a huge challenge for a podium position in what is an older "out of date" Impreza WRC.

In GrpN it was father and son team of Dickie & Chris Curran who brrought their evo 8.5 home in top spot and 9th overall followed by Elliot and Hogg but from watching the days action it was as hotly contested as the rest of the field as is normally the case with the production men. The 2wd class supported by Superdrive Motorsport Centre had Wesley patterson taking the top spot in his Fecking Irish Whiskey Mk2 escort with Kennedy and White giving a good battle along with Bradley all day with a lot of great action for the spectators. So this brings a close to the opening round of the NIRC and check www.nirally.com for more information on it and round 2 will be on 18th March at Bishopscourt Racing Circuit!

<strong>Top 10</strong>
1. Lynch
2.M Curran
3.Jonston
4.Allen
5.Devine
6.Hickland
7.Biggerstaff
8.Herron
9.D Curran
10.Elliot

Images available at request and please mail graham@rmsmotoring.com for more as this is only a selection of the images captured

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Graham is a photojournalist and motoring writer with over 20 varied years of coverage from manufacturer press launches to international motorsport and motoring events throughout the world. Graham is a full member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and Ulster Motor Writers Association.