RALLY NEWS NO.5          Quinns..Saturday 2.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4
1st (11)Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson(Imp.WRC)22.30.9
2nd (15) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza) 22.53.1
3rd (3) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla WRC)23.02.7
4th (24) Mark Fisher/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 23.14.8
5th (2) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC)23.15.2
6th (6) Stig Blomqvist/Mark Crowe (Impreza) 23.17.5
7th (18) David Greer/Michael Reid (Celica) 23.31.7
8th (4) Hannu & Juha Mikkola (Impreza WRC) 23.39.3
9th (10) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza)23.44.9
10th (23) Trevor Cathers/Gary Lyons (Lancer N)23.55.2

It would appear that a bombshell is about to hit the rally with the unofficial news that Derek McGarrity's Subaru was weighed at the end of stage 4, and is 13 kilos underweight.  This is of course completely unofficial.  The Toshiba Tarmac Championship organisers brought in an independent eligibility scrutineer from Scotland for the entire series.  That scrutineer, Rab McDonald, weighed all the top cars and our unofficial information is that Derek's car was the only one under the specified limit. We cannot pre-suppose official procedures, but it does not look good for the rally leader.

Fastest through stage 4 was Ian Greer.  The Hillsborough man stopped the clocks on 5.57.4, the only driver to break the 6 minute barrier.  McGarrity was 6.00.9 and Frank Meagher a brilliant 6.01.7.  All the leading drivers reported the stage even slippier than before especially down at the cement factory complex.  Andrew Nesbitt described the driving conditions as just as bad as he has ever been on.  Austin McHale was nearly 10s off the pace and reported "We were on a cut slick and should have run intermediates". 

In group N, Mark Fisher was fastest on 6.11.5.  A brilliant performance.  Trevor Cathers did superbly also, just 9s slower than Mark, but Trevor had 2 flat tyres!! Natalie Barrett lost time on stage 3 when she braked late and hard to avoid a spinning car, and smacked a wheel into a wall, damaging a track control arm.  Damien Donnelly/Martin Bolton from Beragh retired their gpN Impreza after clipping a rock pulled out by another driver.

Looking back slightly, after stage 3 - Robert Woodside was 11th. Hugh Dunne was 12th and really struggling with the Legacy, apparently the centre differential pressure is not right. Brendan Kelly was 13th, Ian Greer 14th, Frank O'Mahony, still down on power with his Subaru, 15th. James Gillen was 16th, Richard Hogg 17th, Nigel Hickland 18th and Sean McArdle 19th. Barry Coleman leading F2 in his Escort was 20th. Further class leaders included Aidan Long, Mark Doyle had got ahead of Max McKillen in cl.6, both in Peugeots. Robert Reilly in his Civic was leading his class and Billy Gamble in the Suzuki was leading his class. More later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON