THERE IS ALWAYS A KERRY CONNECTION: McBRIDE’S ROAD TO THE BILLY COLEMAN BEGAN IN KERRY
When Kyle McBride was announced as the Billy Coleman Award winner last week, few outside his inner circle realised how important Kerry was in his early rallying story. His breakthrough moment came at the 2021 Kerry Winter Stages Rally, only his second full event in a rally car.
McBride had already spent a couple of seasons learning his craft in the Junior 1000 category in a Toyota Aygo, building experience in events like the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally and the Donegal Forest rounds. In 2021 he moved up to a Honda Civic, a big step at the time, and the Kerry Winter Rally was only his second outing in the new car.
As an unknown driver then, he was placed deep on the reserve list as car 179. There was little expectation of a start, but McBride still made the long trip from Donegal to Kerry with the Civic, hoping for a chance.
That chance arrived in a very unexpected way.
On the Saturday before the rally, Kerry Motor Club member Mark Kane ran into mechanical trouble during the shakedown with his Subaru. Kane and his crew worked late into the night trying to save the entry. McBride, despite being a reserve with no guarantee of competing, stayed on to help with the repairs.
By the early hours it became clear that Kane would not make the start. When his slot opened on the running order, the next available place fell to McBride, a stroke of luck helped by his willingness to help earlier in the night.
He grabbed the opportunity and finished 50th overall, a small but significant step in a career that has now taken him all the way to Irish rallying’s most prestigious young driver award.
In another twist, when Mark withdrew his entry he could have taken back his entry fee, but instead he asked the club to award it as a prize for the highest placed junior. And in a perfect bit of timing, it was Kyle who ended up winning that prize as the highest place Junior in class J16.
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