RALLY NEWS NO.2 St.Aangelo-Saturday 2pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 St.Angelo

1^st (4) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRc) 1.54.9

2^nd (7) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.56.5

3^rd (3) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza WRC) 1.56.6

4^th (8) Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter (Celica) 1.57.0

5^th (6) David Greer/Michael Reid (Corolla WRC) 1.58.1

6^th (14) Maruice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Impreza WRC) 1.58.4

7^th (5) Eamonn Boland/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.59.2

8^th (2) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla WRc) 2.00.0

9^th (9) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 2.01.2

10^th (57) Jaye Jordan/Graeme Stewart (Esc.Cos) 2.01.3

11^th (26) Dickie Curran/Gary Lyons (Lancer N) 2.01.4

12^th (20) Seamus Heron/Billy McCullins (Lancer N) 2.01.5

13^th (18) Seamus Leonard/Kevin O'Brien (Impreza N) 2.02.7

14^th (15) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 2.02.9

15^th (11) Roy White/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 2.03.1

First on the road, Austin McHale, gave a wry smile at the end of this first stage and told us "It went OK, but I forgot to switch the response system on. The stage felt pretty slippy, but otherwise OK". Austin is of course still getting used to his new Manfred Stohl Corolla WRC. Second on the road, Derek McGarrity also reported the stage very slippy, a recurring theme amongst the top drivers, and as regards the gear change selector indicators that were giving trouble before the start, the Glengormley man told us "No, we couldn’t get it fixed, we’ll just have to suck it and see, get on with it".

Daniel Doherty posted fastest time, as can be seen above, and even before the knew the other times, Daniel told us "Just what the doctor ordered, nice car, very pleased with it, good stage". Peadar Hurson in 4^th felt that his Celica was all over the road, but that is probably just a symptom of the slippy concrete. Tarmac Champion Andrew Nesbitt reported a bit of a hand braking slide wide moment which maybe cost a couple of seconds, but otherwise all OK. What he didn’t tell us was that he fell off his jet ski this morning and hurt his leg!

This St Angelo test was the only stage on the rally that the drivers could not recce in the car – they had to walk and some didn’t bother, including National Championship leader Niall Maguire, who commented at the end of the test "I didn’t know where I was going!"

In Group N, Dickie Curran put his racing experience to good stead to be fastest of the production machinery from Seamus Heron. The latter was over doing the Epynt Rally last week as a warm up, which probably helped him a little today. Expected front runner Brendan Kelly had a time of 2.09, having overshot a junction. Gene Meegan had to reverse at a junction. Donie O’Sullivan posted a time of 2.10, the Bio-Clear man saying "Still settling in". More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON