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RALLY NEWS
NO.5 Equestrian Centre Cavan..Sunday 4.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6
1st (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLoughlin (Impreza) 54.31
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Nagle (Escort G3) 55.36
3rd (6) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Escort Cos) 56.10
4th (20) Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle (Celica GT4) 56.12
5th (12) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot rwd) 56.55
6th (7) Sean McArdle/Paul McCann (Celica GT4) 57.01
(10) Norman Armstrong/Ciaran Kelly (Escort) 57.01
8th (15) Patrick Elliott/Martin Cahill (Lancer N) 57.33
9th (11) Glenn Allen/Adrian Johnston (Escort) 57.35
10th (9) Micky McArdle/Ger McMonagle (BMW M3) 57.59
Niall Maguire was a lot quicker than the opposition through stages
5 and 6 and that was despite a spin in stage 6. Niall commented
here at service "We were on intermediate tyres OK, but the
middle of the stage was very wet". Eugene Donnelly
continues to hold a superb 2nd place in his G3 Escort.
A damaged front left mudguard is testimony to how hard Eugene
is trying. He said after stage 6 "After me getting
it all cleaned up and painted, I go and do that. It was
a hairpin left and I hit the handbrake, shouldn't have been anywhere
near it, and she went into the bank". David Armstrong
got ahead of Tim McNulty on stage 6 to move into 3rd place -
David had a bad time ins tage 4 when he was held up at the start,
but went well through the next 2 stages. He tells us that his
car is not on full power, they have had to switch the anti lag
off, as they are on new electronics, and it is not fully sorted
yet.
Sean McArdle in the Toyota had a good run through stages 4 and
5, but not great throughs stage 6 Derrylane, which he says he
can't get the hang of at all. Tim McNulty lost a bit of
momentum through stage 4 to let David Armstrong get ahead, Tim
reckons that it's a difficult day for tyre choice, and he's just
being careful enough. Micky McArdle had 2 spins ins stage
6 and also is having to drive a wee bit gently as he knocked
the sumpguard off the BMW at one of the big jump over bridges
early on.. The vibration that he referred to at the end
of stage 4 disappeared when he changed wheels. Mac McKenna set
a scorching time through stage 6 to move ahead of Norman Armstrong
in class 11A.
Patrick Elliott seemed to lose momentum over the last couple
of stages, he still leads gpn convincingly but needs to be looking
over his shoulder at the hard charging Joe McHugh who reduced
the deficit by 13s on stage 5, and 10s in stage 6. Patrick
did have a couple of small overshoots which didn't help.
The McHughbrothers also reported a major slide and a big scare
into the very tight K left hairpin right round shed in stage
6. James Cole seems to be missing here at service - no news as
to his whereabouts. The Tractamotors man was up to 9th. In the
battle of the 1600's - Charlie Beatty was 19s up on Sean Gallagher
after 5 stages. Trevor Lancashire is still doing a brilliant
job to lead class 11 on 58.09. James and Ann Foley in their Civic
are unofficially leading their class with a total of 59.23.
Owen Lamont's subaru is losing power mid stage. BRIAN & LIZ
PATTERSON |
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