UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 - LAST STAGE

1st (1) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza) 24.48

2nd (4) Trevor Cathers/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 25.25

3rd (8) Andrew Stewart/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 25.32

4th (6) Philip Shaw/Herbie Blackburn (Escort) 26.21

5th (5) Joe MacHugh/Dermnot MacHugh (Escort) 26.23

6th (10) Eugene Ferry/John Gallagher (Escort) 26.29

7th (20) Damien Gallagher/Mac Walsh (Escort) 26.35

8th (16) Paul Gallagher/Karl Reid (Corolla) 26.40

9th (15) Rory Kennedy/Kieran McFadden (Lancer N) 26.42

10th (19) Raymond Johnston/Ivan Fisher (Lancer N) 26.44

Just outside the top 10 - Martin Lynch (26.49): Dessie Keenan 26.52: Garry Jennings 26.55: Shaun Gallagher 26.58: Gordon Rogers 27.00:

Paul Harris striked his Auto Fast Fit backed Subaru through the final stage to score a convincing victory today, while Trevor Cathers absolutely flew through the final stage, to move ahead of Andrew Stewart for 2nd place. When Harris and co driver Eugene O'Donnell climbed from their 2 door Impreza here at the Milford Hotel, Paul commented "I was glad to get her round, the screen misted up 3 miles from the end of that last stage, and I couldn't see a thing. It was a good enough day, enjoyable rally, but really I needed a bit more motivation". Trevor Cathers commented "I had to get the finger out at the end, young Stewart came here to race and an old man like just can't junp in and be as quick right away as we used to be!" Andrew Stewart was in fact 7s slower on his 3rd stage than he was on his 2nd, but a large number of the top drivers agreed that the stage seemed to get greasier as the day progressed, despite the sunshine and dry weather.

Philip Shaw was 2s faster than Eugene Ferry through the last stage to take the class 13 honours, although interestingly the fastest Mk2 Escort of all on that stage 3 was Damien Gallagher. Dessie Keenan would appear to have done enough to win class 14, following the retirement of Camillus Bradley, Dessie felt he had the class in the bag, and in fact fitted slick tyres for the last run so he could give it a real sideways throw through Glen village to entertain the spectators. Paul Gallagher had a brilliant run to dominate cl.11 all day. Garry Jennings just pipped Shaun Gallagher in the Peugeot 106 race - Garry was 3s up on Shaun at the end, while Stuart Darcy was over 30s back, the Billy Coleman Award winner reckoning his tyres just did not suit the conditions today. Interestingly, Shaun Gallagher felt that he had a much quicker run through stage 3 than earlier, and his co driver was surprised that the time was a bit slower than his stop watch would have indicated.