THE SCENE is now well and truly set for this, the 39th running of Wexford Motor Club's flagship event, formerly the Wexford rally and now titled the Riverbank House Hotel Dick Bailey stages rally. The roll of honour for the event reads like a who's who of Irish rallying, with the late Frank Meagher and Bertie Fisher, along with the likes of Billy Coleman, Ger Buckley and Austin McHale, all having sprayed the champagne on the two-day event.

Last year it was local man P.J. McGrath with Billy Collins on the notes who made it back-to-back victories after his first win on the event in 2008. Following P.J. and Billy last year was the Focus WRC of Damien Cole and Craig Drew and it is the Forest of Dean Motor Club members who start this event with number one on the door.

Damien debuted his Get-Connected Focus WRC on last year's event and a clean debut resulted in second overall after the late retirement of Michael Barrable. However, it was a clear signal of the increase of the Englishman's pace that he outpaced Barrable near the end of the year's ALMC stages rally to take his first overall win in Ireland. Damien and Craig are on a great run of form at the moment and the Ford crew have to start the event as one of the favourites.

At number two is the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 of Neil McCance and Johnny Hart. Neil has happy memories of Wexford, having taken the 2009 Irish Evolution challenge title on the event last year. After overall wins on both the Carlow Stages and Raven's Rock rallies, McCance and Hart seemed to have one hand on the 2010 Evo Challenge title. But having tried to drive for points on the last two rounds, McCance and Hart have had two non-finishes so they now aim to go flat out from the start and ignore the Challenge situation. With this in mind, McCance should be well up with the leaders and one to watch.

While McCance took the 2009 Irish Evolution challenge, number three seed Danny Barry was sweeping all before him on his way to the 2009 British Evolution challenge title. Daniel, partnered by Martin Brady, was the class act of the field and had a great season last year. This year saw Daniel contest selected IRC events and he will come to Wexford with victory firmly in his sights. In the hot seat this weekend is Waterford's Craig Breen, winning driver of the recent Ulster rally and the 2009 Billy Coleman award. One can't help but think Danny and Craig could be the men to beat.

At four is the first of the two-wheel drive entrants, Simon Mauger, who has Cork's Alistair Wylie calling the notes. Simon is a double winner of the Escort challenge in Carlow while this year has seen him challenge the WRC crews in the MSA tarmac championship. This is the first time Simon and Alistair have been paired together, but Simon is sure to not let this slow him in his effort to finish top modified pilot in Wexford. The pressure will be on Mauger and Wylie to repeat the success Simon achieved in Carlow and remain undefeated against two-wheel drive opposition.

At five is a pairing who were in irresistible form in 2009. Wesley Patterson and Marti McGarrity were the top modified cars in Galway, Killarney, Donegal and Skibbereen in last year and this year, the Lisburn man has been a threetime modified winner, twice in Loughgall and also in Lurgan Park. This is the first time Wesley and Marti have come up against Mauger so they will be sure to bring the fight to him. Wesley was here in 2008 where, despite a small indiscretion, the blue Mk2 was top modified and fifth overall. Wesley will once again be looking to claim top modified and he'll not have to look too far for encouragement with Marti beside him.

Starting at six is the 2.5 Millington-engined Darrian T90 GTR of Washington James and Llinos Jones Davies.

Washington and Llinos have been regular visitors to Wexford and indeed Ireland for many years and this year could well see them top the modified battle for the first time.

Washington was having a great battle on the Cork 20 last year with Phil Collins and Barry Meade until an incident on the last stage caused retirement. Washington will be hoping for dry weather to make use of the power to weight advantage of the Darrian on the fast Wexford stages and take the battle to Mauger, Patterson and the rest of the modified contingent.

At seven is a welcome addition to the Dick Bailey stages rally entry list, the ever-sideways Toyota Starlet of Monaghan pairing Maurice Moffett and Jason McKenna. Moffett and McKenna are a favourite with the fans for their spectacular antics aboard their well-known Starlet, with their effort regularly getting them up into the top five in the national championship rounds. Maurice has only appeared sporadically this year but the fast-flowing stages should suit the short wheelbase Starlet. One thing is for sure, Maurice and Jason will be right in the thick of the two-wheel drive battle.

Seeded at eight, third Escort and the first class 13 car in the event is the rapid Escort of Neil Williams and Eurig Davies. Neil had a massive battle with Liam Howlett and David James on this year's Carlow stages and he'll be looking to take to battle to Howlett on his local stages this weekend.

Neil and Eurig are great supporters of Irish rallying, and are regular competitors on these shores. They've had some great battles over here, most notably with Willie and Johnny Whitty back in 2007 where they led the local aces before being outpaced over the Sunday stages.

Neil will be looking to head the class 13 battle and if rain should come, mix it with the more powerful Millington class 14 cars.

At nine is the second Irish evolution challenge entrant and current championship leaders, Brendan Cumiskey and Conor Foley. Brendan is another former Irish evolution champion and this year his consistency has netted him a substantial lead. His win on the Ulster rally last month will have him full of hope that he can reclaim the crown her lost to McCance last year.

Rounding out the top ten is a pairing who have come so close winning group N on this event before, Mark Nangle and Nollaig Breen. They have lost out by one second on not one but two occasions in the past. They are up against it this year with the big Evo contingent but they are sure to give it their all on what they nearly consider a home event at this stage.

So that's the top ten on this year's event but there is much, much more outside this. Just outside the top ten includes Sam Moffett, who is tied for second in the Evo challenge with Neil McCance. After that comes the class 11 contingent with Mark Kennedy, Alan Boggan, Paddy O'Dwyer, John Hendy and Jason McSweeney all there in what promises to be one of the battles of the event.

Joining Neil Williams in the class 13 battle will be Johnny Murphy, Sam Smyth, Liam Howlett, Shay Power and Graham Scallan. Both Howlett and Scallan could be the dark horses of the event. Howlett, in the Mann Engineering-backed black Mk2, led the class on the Carlow and was setting top times before intercom problems led to an off. Despite the time loss, he still took third in class while on the Raven's Rock, he held eighth overall and led the class once again before gearbox failure caused retirement.

Scallan has had rotten luck since he debuted his Honda-engined Escort back in 2008. But in between the problems, there has been plenty of glimpses of good pace and if anyone is due a break, well then it's surely the Wexford brothers in their Rallytrader.ie-backed Escort.

Sandwiched in the middle of the class 11 and 13 cars is the 1400cc Darrian of John Stafford and car preparation mancum-navigator Richard Cleary.

Stafford in the GJM Construction-backed Darrian will be hoping the nimble Darrian will be able to give the more powerful cars around him a run for their money.

The rally will have a ceremonial start down on the quayfront on Friday at 7 p.m. First car will leave Hertz Parc Ferme at 9.05 a.m. on Saturday to tackle nine stages on Saturday and a further six stages on Sunday. Centralised servicing will take place in Wexford racecourse.