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RALLY NEWS
NO.4 End of stage 3 - Friday 3.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 - CLOGHAN LODGE
1st (3) Andrew Nesbitt/James
O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 24.53
2nd (6) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza) 25.28
3rd (1) James Cullen/Ellen Moran (Impreza) 25.36
(2) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla) 25.36
(5) Ian Greer/Dean Beckett (Celica) 25.36
6th (11) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza) 25.48
7th (9) Frank Meagher/Dermot O'Gorman (Escort WRC) 25.59
8th (8) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 26.14
9th (14) Hugh M Doherty/Mike Gibson (Escort WRC) 26.23
10th (7) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Imreza) 26.29
11th (10) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Porsche) 26.35
12th (24) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Nagle (Escort) 26.37
The 4.9 mile Cloghan Lodge stage wasn't as decisive as the earlier
two, but still Andrew Nesbitt was far and away the fastest with
a time of 5.02. Tarmac Champion Ian Greer was 2nd fastest
with 5.09. Derek McGarrity 5.10. Austin McHale 5.11.
Last year's winner here, James Cullen, was well down with a time
of 5.19, the Letterkenny man reporting an overshoot in the stage.
Austin McHale had softened his Corolla's rear suspension very
slightly at service and the Dubliner had that determined look
on his face which signals "watch out everybody"!!
It was interesting to see Ian Greer 2nd fastest on that stage
3, he was also making adjustments to the suspension at service.
Frank Meagher was another to be a lot happier at the end of that
3rd stage and said "We're getting there". Frank's
time was 5.12, fifth quickest. Eamonn Boland had a good
run in stage 3 and reported no problems, but we do hear that
he had a puncture in stage 4 and dropped, perhaps 15s. Hugh Dunne
had a front right puncture in stage 3 and was in a tearing hurry
off the end of the stage to get the car checked out, and a new
wheel fitted. It's quite a short road section between Cloghan
Lodge and Brenagh.
Paul Harris slid on at a corner in stage 3. Eugene Donnelly had
2 overshoots and dropped a wee bit of time. Sean McArdle and
Cathal Rogers both had overshoots. Killarney man Donie O'Sullivan
softened his Escort Cosworth's suspension and set a nice time.
Niall McShea is not too far off the leaderboard in the little
1600 Saxo, with 27.33. Niall found he was braking just
a little bit early, a legacy of last weekend's tough Scottish
Rally over the gravel tracks. Philip Shaw is provisionally
leading class 11 with a total time of 27.12, Philip and co driver
Nigel Frazer having a good run so far. Glenn Allen is running
in cl.11A, Glenn and co driver Adrian Johnston with a time of
27.33. Glenn getting his confidence up now that his rear
suspension has been changed. Stephen Harris in the Legacy
finds the car very wandery on the straights, not so bad on the
corners, but overall a bit disconcerting, and and his total is
27.21. Ivan Stewart was having mechanical bothers on the
way into service and we didn't see him after stage 3- he's either
running very late or retired. More later.BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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