The Cuisine de France Subaru was piloted in such a fashion that the opposition never really had a glimmer of an opportunity once the reigning tarmac champion got his new car into top gear. He set a string of fastest times over the 3-day event, and once he took the lead on the second stage, only one outcome looked likely. Daniel Doherty had set the pace early in the event however, impressing the many thousands of spectators who had gathered at St Angelo for the first action of the 2002 rally.

    The massive turnout of enthusiasts for the airfield stage surprised even seasoned rally goers. Both long time rally fanatics and those who were experiencing the sideways action for the first time mingled together in a carnival atmosphere, which was enjoyed by all. The queues of traffic stretched from the airfield right back to Enniskillen, as fans from far and wide travelled to see the best that Irish rallying has to offer, and the competitors certainly delivered.

    The Saturday action consisted of two special stages, each run twice, in addition to the three tests at St Angelo, and when the sun set on the litter strewn airfield at the end of the day, Nesbitt had already raced into a commanding lead. Paedar Hurson provided the surprise of the day, as he steered his Toyota Celica into second spot, and, Derek McGarrity completed the podium positions after day one. Daniel Doherty had dropped back to fourth after his lightning fast time on the opening test, while Austin McHale, who was one of the pre-event favourites, was disappointed to be outside the top five.

    Day two dawned damp, and the Southern stages, which many drivers already regarded as car breakers, suddenly had an added unwanted dimension. It was not long before the Sunday run claimed its first victim, and it was the best local chance of a top ten finish that was to fall by the wayside.

    Garry Jennings had spent Saturday driving his Peugeot 106 at his usual breakneck pace, and by the first overnight halt, the Kesh man was not only in the leading Fermanagh crew, but also in the leading two wheel drive car, in 13th overall.

    He set out on a Sunday morning looking to set the rally alight, but the only thing to catch fire was his car. A heavy landing over a jump damaged the exhaust, and before long the underside of the car was belching out smoke. Garry tried to continue to the end of the stage, but the choking smoke in the car became so bad that they had to stop at the side of the stage, and flag down the following rally cars to help extinguish the blaze. Luckily, the flames were quickly brought under control, and although Garry’s rally jacket turned into a smoking jacket, the rest of the car will be repairable. It does leave the Kesh man with a problem for next weekend’s Fivemiletown event, however, and before the embers had died, Garry was already thinking of the possibility of hiring a four wheel drive car for the local event.

    Back at the head of the field, it was turning into a one-man show, with Andrew Nesbitt in a class of his own. Paedar Hurson’s brave drive was about to come to an end however. A broken driveshaft meant that the surprise package of the rally was reduced to rear wheel drive only, and with no spare to replace the broken part, he had to pack his bags and head for home a day earlier than he would have liked. It was scant reward for a great performance from the Celica driver.

    Austin McHale, who had moved up to second spot at the mid way point of day two, began to experience transmission problems in his new left hand drive Celica, and the Dubliner began to slowly fall away from the top of the leaderboard. The mood in the car was not helped when a fire extinguisher came loose on one stage and started to roll around the floor of the World Rally Car. Co-driver Brian Murphy eventually emerged at the end of the stage with the offending item firmly wedged between his legs. Derek McGarrity was the man to capitalise on the problems of McHale, and the Newtonabbey driver had moved into a comfortable second place by the end of the day. Up to third place had come Eamon Boland, who was slowly getting the measure of his new state of the art Subaru Impreza. In the group N category, old campaigner Trevor Cathers, partnered by Gordon Noble, had made his way into the top ten overall, and was leading Brendan Kelly for the battle for the showroom honours.

    Easter Monday saw the rally back north of the border, with the faster, more open stages based around Fivemiletown. The change of stages made no difference to the trend of the event however, as Nesbitt continued to increase his lead throughout. Even a spin on the final stage could not take the Armagh man’s first victory away from him, and he eventually came home almost three minutes clear of his nearest challenger, the similar Subaru of Derek McGarrity. McGarrity had been held up by Nesbitt’s last gasp mistake, and almost fell into the clutches of the hard charging Boland, but in the end the five second cushion was enough to relegate the new style Subaru to third. A frustrated Austin McHale came home in fourth, with Niall Maguire and Davy Greer completing the top six. Trevor Cathers took seventh overall and first in group N.

    Nesbitt picked his way through the massive crowds in Belmore Street, and the bands led him past the Q101 West Megablaster, but the Armagh man could have patented the name, because his performance over the three days was undoubtedly Mega.

    At the prize giving he recalled the last time he had a Circuit of Ireland victory in his sights. On that occasion, it was the late Bertie Fisher who pipped the Armagh man to the title, but Nesbitt recalled the prophetic words of his rival at the finish of that event in 1999. “Bertie beat me fair and square on that occasion - I got a puncture,”joked the 2002 winner, “but he came up to me and said that my time would come. I’m sure he’s looking down now and saying “well done ya pup ya,” because that is what he always called me - ya pup.”