Quirke ready for a blast on the South Carolina sand

Kenneth Quirke returns to action in the United States this weekend with the Sandblast Rally in South Carolina on Saturday.

The New York-based West Kerry man is one of several Irish-American competitors making the trip to Saturday’s event.

Quirke is on co-driving duty for Monaghan native, Liam McNeils. The pair previously worked together on last year’s Kentucky Tarmac Rallysprint in a Ford Fiesta and will start at car 11 for the event.

They are part of a multi-car Irish-New York team which also includes Martin Donnelly and Leon Jordan in Ford Fiesta R5 (seed four). Quirke will partner Donnelly later this month in the Rally of the 100 Acre Wood in Missouri – the second round of the American Rally Association’s National Rally Championship. Seamus Burke and Martin Brady are also on the entry list in their usual Mitsubishi Lancer E9 and are seeded at two while Paul Rowley and Dominik Jozwiak are the third seeds in another Ford Fiesta R5.

“The last time we headed away for a rallysprint was Kentucky last year. It was mighty craic and fun. The residents and people of the local town were so nice and welcoming. We are expecting the same hospitality down in South Carolina,” Quirke said. “Looking forward to the weekend’s fun and craic. These rally sprints are a lot more laid back than a counting round of the ARA National Championship. They are held by NASA, another Motorsport governing body that holds rallies and rallysprints that are a lot more laid back and easy going than a typical ARA event.”

The Sandblast Rally is a car and motorcycle time and distance race run primarily in the Sandhills State Forest and H. Cooper Black Recreation facility in Chesterfield Country, South Carolina. There are classes for cars, motorcycles and side-by-side off-roaders.

This article was originally published in The Kerryman. Kerry Motorsport News is the motorsport content provider to The Kerryman.