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RALLY NEWS
NO.2 End of stage 1...Sunday 1pm (in a hailstorm!)
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1
1st (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLoughlin (Impreza) 8.28
2nd (5) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (BMW M3) 8.42
3rd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Nagle (Escort G3) 8.44
4th (6) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Escort Cos)8.45
5th (20) Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle (Celica GT4) 8.52
6th (24) Dessie Keenan/Barry McMahon (Escort) 8.54
7th (7) Sean McArdle/Paul McCann (Celica GT4) 8.55
(12) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot rwd) 8.55
9th (10) Norman Armstrong/Ciaran Kelly (Escort) 9.00
10th (9) Micky McArdle/Ger McMonagle (BMW M3) 9.01
11th (22) James Cole/John Clarke (Escort Cos) 9.02
Bright sunshine one minute - hailstones the next - that's what
greeted the drivers on the first stage of this Hotel Kilmore
Cavan Rally. The first couple of cars seems to get through
OK, but for everyone behind tyre choice was a lottery.
Paul Harris finished the stage OK, but Paul was in a bit of a
panic, and the yellow Subaru sped up the road to service with
steam coming from under the bonnet. We hear on the grapevine
that the Letterkenny man is having a recurrence of the problem
which first started in Carlow a few weeks ago. The chances of
him continuing in the rally do not look good.
Niall Maguire finished that first stage, Inishmore, pretty cool,the
Monaghan man reported the road slippy, but with no dramas.
Eugene Donnelly felt his car was misfiring, a problem which has
been going on for 3 weeks, and the Draperstown man can't find
the reason. Denis Cronin in the BMW felt he made a slow
start, but it was still a nice time for the Bantry man.
If Denis can finish the course today with a ood position he could
move into the lead of the Dunlop National Championship. Next
up was David Armstrong. He reported his Escort Cosworth to be
badly misfiring after a big jump in the stage. Sean McArdle had
no problems, but the Toyota of Joe McGurk had a very sore nose
when it finished the stage, Joe reported having been through
a hedge. Micky McArdle told of the very slippy conditions,
as did Tim McNulty, who has been moved up the running order,
Tim being caught in 2 separate heavy showers in the stage.
Patrick Elliott was the first of the gpN cars to appear at the
finish of the stage, and he told us of having been stopped by
a marshal briefly in the stage, just before where Dominic Loughran
was stopped. James Cole had a good run and reported no problems.
Some times just outside the top 10 - Joe McGurk on 9.18 despite
his accident: Patrick Elliott was 9.08, while Joe McHugh also
in gpN, caught out on slicks, was 9.22. Mick McQuaid was almost
into the top 10 with 9.03. Camillus Bradley 9.11. Kevin Barrett
9.18 and caught on slicks in a hailstorm. Sean Gallagher 9.21.
Trevor Lancashire 9.08. Maurice Moffett had 9.10 and Declan
Wilmott 9.16.
More news from service after stage 3: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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