RALLY NEWS NO.2                                                         Near Arvagh/Sunday/12.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Bruse Hill
1st (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC)  9.00
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Celica) 9.02
3rd (6) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Esc.Cos) 9.07
     (7) Patrick Elliott/Sean Moriarty (Impreza) 9.07
5th (9) Andrew Stewart/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 9.08
6th (23) Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Lancer N) 9.14
7th (8) Sean Gallagher/Liam Costello (Esc.Cos) 9.17
    (19) Aaron McHale/Damien Connolly (Lancer N) 9.17
9th (2) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 9.23
10th (3) Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle (Impreza) 9.25

There were a few surprises in the times when the first few cars came through the opening test of this Cavan Rally.  Michael Barrable and Tim McNulty were a bit off the pace, while Hugh Dunne finished the stage but may be going no further.  No such problems though for Niall Maguire, the Monaghan man fastest, and reported no dramas.  Second placed Eugene Donnelly was having an anxious look at his Toyota's temperature gauge at the finish of the 7.6 mile test.  Eugene's personal temperature looked a bit high as well, obviously he had been working hard in the big Celica to get on the pace.  Patrick Elliott has shaken off the effects of food poisoning this morning and remarked "A tough enough stage."   David Armstrong's time was all the more surprising when he reported at stage finish that he had caught Hugh Dunne's struggling Subaru.  When Dunne did appear, the Naas man reported wonky power steering, and indeed expressed the feeling that he may not be able to go much further.  We did not get Hugh's time but unofficially reckon that he dropped well over a minute in the stage.

Barrable and McNulty?  Michael Barrable reported a broken intercom half a mile into the stae so no pace notes for 7 miles. While McNulty had chosen slick racing tyres and reckoned he should have been on intermediates.  

Other stories from that first stage included - Sean Gallagher, 2nd in the Dunlop series, having power steering troubles.  Although he set fastest gpN time, Andrew Stewart had a small overshoot.  Mac McKenna's rear wheel drive Peugeot seemed to have a down on power engine.  Martin Brady in the gpN Escort Cosworth stopped to change a puncture.

More times - George Robinson 9.33: James Cole 9.34: Sean McArdle 9.42: Mac McKenna 9.56: Tom Randles 9.51: Norman Armstrong 9.34: Michael Shaw 9.45.

More news later…BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON                www.rallynews.net