RALLY NEWS NO.6       Monaghan..Finish..Sunday 7pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 - LAST STAGE
1st (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLoughlin (Impreza) 1.23.31
2nd (2) Bertie Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Impreza) 1.24.31
3rd (3) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Escort) 1.24.37
4th (10) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot) 1.28.49
5th (6) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Celica) 1.28.50
6th (14) Norman Armstrong/Kieran Kelly (Escort)1.29.19
7th (15) Maurice Moffett/Gavin Campbell (Peugeot) 1.29.56
8th (136) Andrew Stewart/Gerard Callaghan (LancerN) 1.29.59
9th (9) Micky McArdle/Ger McMonagle (BMW M3) 1.30.35
10th (23) Charlie Beatty/Crawford Henderson (Corolla) 1.30.59

Niall Maguire wiped his brow when he came in here to the Hillgrove Hotel finish, a happy man, not just to win the rally, but to get to the finish at all.."It was a hard tough day, very difficult conditions, I really wouldn't want to do that again". It was a hat trick of wins for the Monaghan man, who went on to praise the standard of organisation of the rally, his own team, and the marshals for doing such a good job in such wet, cold conditions.

Bertie Fisher said "A dead on day, the car was grand, but the driver was a bit rusty. My confidence took a knock when we went out on the cut slicks on the first stage, and then spinning didn't help either. Apparently there was diesel oil on the road and a lot of other people had a problem there, but we didn't know it at the time".  The race between Bertie Fisher and David Armstrong at the end was one of the highlights of the event, there was just a second between the two going into the final stage. Bertie went well, Armstrong's Escort Cosworth had a hint of a misfire for about a mile of the test, and Bertie forged through to take 2nd by 6 seconds.

Despite some steering rack worries, Mac McKenna had a brilliant run to 4th and a class win.  Maurice Gass got his confidence up towards the end and settled down to take 5th with some good times. Norman Armstrong did his usual sterling work to take 6th.

Last minute dramas included Dessie Keenan crashing and blocking the final stage, reportedly with no injuries.  Dessie was leading class 11, but that has now gone of course, so possibly Alistair Hetherington will take the category but this has to be confirmed. Charly Beattie scored a useful class win in his Corolla over Paul Gallagher.  Andrew Stewart wins group N.  Maurice Moffett struggled over the last few stages with a misted up widscreen but he was happy to record his first finish here in Monaghan for 5 years. Many thanks to all here in Monaghan who helped..and thanks to Noel Clark. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON