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RALLY NEWS
NO.5 Service..Sunday 5pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Ruan
1st (4) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza) 50.30
2nd (3) Niall Maguire/Paul McLoughlin (Impreza) 51.05
3rd (10) Anthony O'Halloran/Sean Moriarty (Impreza) 51.09
4th (16) Richard Casey/Christina Madden (Escort) 52.09
5th (11) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Celica) 52.16
6th (24) Ollie O'Donovan/David Moyniham (RS2000) 52.20
7th (6) Tim McNulty/Greg Shinnors (Celica) 52.39
8th (19) Philip Shaw/Bridget Averall (Escort) 53.27
9th (15) Joe McGurk/Arthur Kierans (Celica) 53.48
10th (18) Patrick Elliott/Martin Cahill (Lancer N) 54.05
Great crowds of spectators thronged Ruan to see Anthony O'Halloran
set fastest time through his home village. Anthony, driving a
hired McKinstry Subaru, recorded 6.25 while Paul Harris was 6.28,
Niall Maguire 6.37 and Maurice Gass, improving all the time,
on 6.45. Gass joked "I would have needed to start
this rally yesterday it's taken me so long to get in the groove".
The spotlight however was on O'Halloran and his co driver Sean
Moriarty - they had grins from ear to ear at stage finish.
Paul Harris reported no major problems although he is still having
to bypass 5th gear. Dunlop chmpionship leader Maguire is having
a clean run, Niall says he is going just as hard as is safe.
Richard Casey continues to set the roads alight in his class
leadig Mk2 Escort. Richard with Christina Madden co driving reported
his tyres slightly losing their edge in today's hot conditions,
but otherwise OK. Hugh M Doherty was lying as high as 3rd earlier,
but apart from losing time on SS5 when the WRC took an excursion
over a wall into a field, the car had been suffering a damaged
clutch anyway, and Hugh decided not to continue after service
following stage 5.
Ollie O'Donovan has moved up to 6th place now nd leads Formula
2, Ollie still feeling that his RS2000 has a slight hesitation
in the engine revs Tim McNulty is battling on in his Celica
but at the same time going backwards in leaderboard terms.
The car is seriously off song, there is a misfire, the anti lag
system is not working and now to add to Tim's miseries, the clutch
is giving problems. Joe McGurk's Toyota also has an anti
lag problem. Kevin Barrett reckons his Subaru is losig
its edge, possibly a fuel pressure or turbo not working properly.
Dessie Keenan is battling on despite his Escort having that bent
rear axle, Dessie's total now 55.27. Jimmy Lambert has
retired his Escort, reason as yet unclear. Dermot McCauley
is leading his class, his Civic also 2nd overall in F2 behind
Ollie O'Donovan, Derry man Dermot hving a good run so far and
well up the order in the class 6 machine.
Looking back for just a moment - following Micky McArdle's retirement
earlier when the fan belt in his BMW broke and damaged the engine,
it would appear this has handed the class in the chmpionship
to Denis Cronin who of course was forced to non start today.
Gareth McHale is out on his first rally today, he is driving
the ex James & Ann Foley Civic, and has made a good start,
reporting no problems, and the mechanics tell us he is behaving
just like his father Austin!! More news later. BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON
(our thanks to Martin Walsh - Irish Examiner)
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