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RALLY NEWS
NO.7 Mt.Errigal..Sat.morning..very
early..
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 (OVERNIGHT)
1st (3) Andrew Nesbitt/James
O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 59.21
2nd (6) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza) 1.00.32
3rd (1) James Cullen/Ellen Moran (Impreza) 1.00.58
(2) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla) 1.00.58
5th (5) Ian Greer/Dean Beckett (Celica) 1.01.01
6th (9) Frank Meagher/Dermot O'Gorman (Escort WRC) 1.01.37
7th (11) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza) 1.02.08
8th (8) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.02.24
9th (7) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Imreza) 1.02.44
10th (14) Hugh M Doherty/Mike Gibson (Escort WRC) 1.02.46
11th (18) Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter (Escort Cos) 1.03.05
12th (24) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Nagle (Escort) 1.03.28
13th (35) Philip Shaw/Nigel Frazer (Escort) 1.04.24
14th (25) Donie & Tim O'Sullivan (Escort Cos) 1.04.30
15th (27) Cathal Rogers/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza) 1.04.37
Andrew Nesbitt has
over a minute in hand over Derek McGarrity and there is just
over a minute covering the next 5 cars, meaning it is all to
play for on this Shell Donegal International Rally 2000.
The first day was longer than normal, but happily there were
very few retirements amongst the top contenders, just Paul Harris
and Hugh Dunne missing from the top 20 when the cars went into
parc ferme last night.
Class leaders overnight include: Philip Shaw leading class 11A
from Glenn Allen. Glenn having a few small problems to now lie
just over 2 mins. behind Philip. Eugene Donnelly performed
his usual giant killing act to lead cl.12 and is now 4 minutes
ahead of Alan Nesbitt. Class 13 is led by David Armstrong.
David got off to a slow start when he was caught behind another
competitor and received a cracked windscreen for his trouble,
but otherwise he had a good run and is 3mins ahead of Connie
Smith in a similar Escort Cosworth. Class 11 is led by Terence
Smith from the similar 2 litre Escort of Tom Halliday. Class
10 has local driver Robbie Peoples in front, Robbie's Escort
just a few seconds ahead of the Corolla of Sean Gallagher. Normal
front runner Paul Gallagher with Karl Reid on the pace notes
is 3rd, and no sign of Karl's father Charlie! Sammy Fisher leads
class 9 by over 3 mins from Paul Blackburn - Sammy was nearly
melted in his little Mini yesterday. Alistair Glenn is
the only one left in cl.14. John Hegarty leads cl.15. Callum
Guy in his Astra leads cl.7 for F2 cars from Barry Coleman in
the Escort. Max McKillen in the Peugeot leads cl.6 by just a
few seconds from the Civic of Seamus Gallagher. Noreen McDaid
leads cl.5 with Alyn Spiers 2nd in the Suzuki. Sarah Murray is
3rd in cl.5 in her Micra.
Seamus Heron leads the gpN category in his Lancer from Natalie
Barratt with Eamonn Harvey 3rd and Brendan Kelly 4th. Brendan
lost 3mins on the first stage and is now closing rapidly on Harvey
and Natalie, but will be hard pushed to catch Heron if all things
remain equal. Paul Aherne leads cl.3, Chris Rodgers cl.2 and
Danny McBride cl.1. Finally for now, advance notice that due
to Thursday night's tragic road accident, Sunday stages 21/23
will not run. We would ask everyone to drive and behave with
utmost consideration and safety at all times. More news
later.BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON |
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