Rallynews No4 Lark in the Park

RALLY NEWS NO.4 St Columb's Park/Saturday 1.30

www.rallynews.net

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3

1st (7) Richard Hogg/Mark Hanna (Escort Cos) 3.46.0

2nd (8) John McKeown/Paul Fergus (Sierra Cos) 3.48.0

(10) Terence McLoughlin/S.McLoughliln (Escort Cos)3.48.0

4th (3) Kieran Shaw/Crawford Henderson (Escort WRC) 3.50.0

5th (17) Andrew Stewart/F. McShane (Impreza) 3.53.0

6th (16) Seamus Heron/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer) 3.54.0

7th (2) Eugene Donnelly/Shane O'Neill (Escort G3) 3.55.0

8th (23) Philip Shaw/Conor Murphy (Escort) 3.56.0

9th (5) Denis Biggerstaff/Damien McCann (Metro 6R4) 3.57.0

(12) Sean Cassidy/Martina Doyle (Escort Cos) 3.57.0

11th (11) Jim Crozier/Paul Callan (Proton) 3.58.0

Denis Biggerstaff moved into the lead of this Lark in the Park Rally after stage 2, but ran into trouble in stage 3 when his Metro 6R4 broke it's rear differential on the stage start line. Dromara man Denis had to do the entire stage with just 2 wheel drive, and was perhaps fortunate that he only dropped 11s to new outright leader Richard Hogg. Limavady man Hogg joked at the stage finish "I got every gear that time" - that was in reference to earlier missed gears, Richard right in at the deep end with this car, not having driven it before the start of the rally.

Last year's winner Eugene Donnelly set a scorching time in the stage and commented "A good run, nice and clean, I didn't act the bollocks that time. The road is drying out but still greasy". Ivan Orr had a better run as well with a time of 1.28, just 1s outside Hogg's time of 1.27. Ivan commented "Better run that time, getting a bit more used to the car".

Seamus Heron relinquished his hold on group N after that 3rd stage to Andrew Stewart, Seamus still battling against a recalcitrant 2nd gear. Sean Cassidy was another to have a good time in stage 3, the Ballyronan tile merchant admitting to falling asleep in stage 2. Interestingly, Sean has been hiring this Dominic McNeill car for the last couple of rallies, and decided to buy it last Tuesday! Jim Crozier had a nice neat run that time after losing time in the previous stage. His efficiency bringing up towards the leaderboard. Derek Jobb lost a couple of seconds in the gpN race, his total now 4.01.0, Derek got very sideways at the finish of the stage. Other gpN totals include..Dan McCartan on 3.57.0 and Raymond McLaughlin in the red Impreza 4.04.0. Philip Shaw had a bit of a fright on stage 3 when he met Eugene Ferry's Escort - Eugene had wrong slotted - Philip was given Eugene Donnelly's time as his own was considered invalid. Greg McCormick continues to set good times although he was a bit slower than Eugene Donnelly through that stage 3, but Greg's BDA Escort is producing some awful knocking noise from the gearbox..more later..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON]