RALLY NEWS NO.5                                Finish - Sunday 7pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 (last stage)
1st (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 1.18.39
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Celica)1.19.19
3rd (6) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Esc.Cos) 1.20.10
4th (7) Patrick Elliott/Sean Moriarty (Impreza) 1.20.15
5th (23) Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Lancer N) 1.22.40
6th (10) George Robinson/Tommy Speers (Esc.Cos) 1.23.04
7th (29) Gordon Rogers/Philip McEntee (Escort) 1.23.45
8th (141) James & Paul McCann (Esc.Cos) 1.23.53
9th (27) Trevor Lancashire/Noel Hall (Escort) 1.24.06
10th (33) Seamus Gallagher/John McCafferty (Saxo) 1.24.09
11th (30) Paul Gallagher/Karl Reid (Corolla) 1.24.26
12th (31) Dominic McLoughlin/Cyril Donellan (Peugeot) 1.24.36

Niall Maguire and Paul McLoughlin in their McElvaney and Triton Showers supported Subaru led this Cavan Rally from start to finish.  Michael Barrable challenged Maguire early on, but Michael retired on stage 4 with brake trouble, to leave Maguire a clear run to victory. This is Niall's second Cavan win, but he reported today that the stages today were as tough as any he has tackled.  His victory moves him even further ahead in the Dunlop National Championship, which is starting to look more and more like a one horse race this year.    Niall commented at the finish "A great rally, tough, fair play to Eugene,he pushed us all the way and he's very good on the slippy stuff".  When Eugene Donnelly got out of his Bio-Clear backed Celica he said "I was disappointed on the 2nd and 3rd stages when the engine went off song. Apart from that, we had a great run.  The car is in forestry specification, so I didn't really know what to expect on the tarmac, but we pushed hard towards the end and it was good."  Eugene's co driver Paul Kiely commented "That's 2 second places and a first in two weekends - not so bad!" Third placed David Armstrong almost saw the podium position slip through his grasp towards the end.  With Patrick Elliott closing, a bird smacked into Armstrong's Escort Cosworth windscreen, and made an absolute mess, sods law dictating that the windscreen washers ran out of liquid, and David had a hard job picking his way to the end of the stage.  He made it - that's what it's all about.

Adrian McElvaney scored a brilliant gpN win and indeed was able to ease off towards the end. His closest rival, Aaron McHale, put his Lancer off the road, to allow Michael Shaw, following a rusty start to the day, come through strongly to take 2nd in gpN.  

Some late stories included….James and Paul McCann sticking in the top 10 despite power steering problems.  Sean Gallagher in the Saxo won his class as did Paul Gallagher, Trevor Lanc\ashire and Gordon Rogers.  Finally for now, many thanks to all who supported and helped with the RallyNews service today. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON