RALLY NEWS NO.7      Quinns..Saturday 5 pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6
1st (11)Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson(Imp.WRC)34.40.5
2nd (15) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza) 35.02.1
3rd (2) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC)35.10.4
4th (3) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla WRC)_ 35.12.7
5th (24) Mark Fisher/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 35.41.7
6th (6) Stig Blomqvist/Mark Crowe (Impreza) 35.43.9
7th (4) Hannu & Juha Mikkola (Impreza WRC) 36.00.2
8th (10) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza)36.19.3
9th (18) David Greer/Michael Reid (Celica) 36.27.2
10th (21) Hugh Dunne/Greg Shinnors (Legacy) 36.28.8
11th (1) Ian Greer/Dean Beckett (Celica) 36.33.6
12th (23) Trevor Cathers/Gary Lyons (Lancer N)36.47.5

Despite a fly by wire throttle problem Andrew Nesbitt was fastest through stage 6 by just the blink of an eye from Derek McGarrity, with Austin McHale a further second back,  Daniel Doherty 2s in arrears. Nesbitt told us that the remote control throttle seemed to be jamming open some way, and he was asking for it to be changed here at service. McGarrity was still in subdued form, Daniel Doherty reported no problems. The two big question marks on the rally at the moment are - can Ian Greer shake off the 1m.30s road penalty applied earlier and can McGarrity escape exclusion following his underweight car findings at the end of stage 4.  These 2 matters could make a dramatic turn around to the leaderboard, and indeed also affect the positions in the Toshiba Tarmac Championship.

Hugh Dunne had another good run through that stage, the Legacy man really fighting the odds in this older model car. Austin McHale set another cracking time through stage 6, but Austin reckons that once again he made slightly the wrong tyre choice.  Frank Meagher is well on the pace, despite being down towards the end of the leaderboard. At the same time, Frank telling us "Although the car is handling pretty well we've still a lot of work to do on the suspension before Donegal". David Greer was relieved to get away with a high speed spin on the very fast section at the top of the hill.  Ian Greer remarked at stage end "That was beautiful, just beautiful".  It's remarkable the different feelings the drivers have for this stage over the mountain - some love it - some aren't happy at all.

Mark Fisher continues to dominate group N and indeed is locked in battle with Stig Blomqvist in the overall classification. Brendan Kelly had a spin up the hill, but is still a bit more pleased with his performance. Robert Woodside has a new gearbox fitted but dropped 7mins road penalty in the process. Class leaders include - Alan McMahon from Billy Gamble, both in cl.1 Swifts. Robert Reilly leads cl.2 from Jimmy White, both in Civics. Aidan Long in his Astra leads cl.3. Keith Colton in his Ka leads cl.5 from theSuzuki of Alyn Spiers. Max McKillen now has 7s in hand over Mark Doyle in the Peugeot 106 race for cl.6. Andrew Kearney is 3rd but way back after 2 off road excursions in his little 105. Barry Coleman leads Sean Keen from Derek Jobb in the F2 race. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON