RALLY NEWS NO.4                           Dingle-Sunday 5.45         www.rallynews.net

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6   Conor Pass
1st (7) Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell (Impreza) 38.42
2nd (2) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 38.47
3rd (5) Liam O'Callaghan/David Hogan (Impreza) 39.01
4th (6) Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle (Impreza) 39.28
5th (9) Donal O'Donovan/Pat Lordan (Celica) 39.40
6th (10) Kieran Shaw/Crawford Henderson (Esc. WRC) 39.46
7th (8) Patrick Elliott/Sean Moriarty (Impreza) 40.08
8th (14) JJ Fleming/Robbie Ward (Impreza WRC) 40.24
9th (28) Andrew Stewart/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 40.41
10th (18) Sean Gallagher/Liam Costello (Escort Cos) 41.22
11th (12) Anthony O'Halloran/Kieran Cusack (Manta) 41.33
12th (15) James Cole/John Clarke (Celica) 42.05

There is certainly a huge battle going on at the front of this Circuit of Kerry Rally, Jim Harrison just having the edge over Niall Maguire over stages 5 and 6.  Liam O'Callaghan in 3rd is driving well and hard in his hired McKinstry Impreza, but can make no impression on the two cars in front.  The stage times make interesting reading - on stage 5, Minard Castle, Harrison recorded 6.38, Maguire and O'Callaghan each doing 6.40. In stage 6, Conor Pass, Harrison posted 6.26, Maguire 6.29 and O'Callaghan 6.36.  O'Callaghan was in fact beaten by Tim McNulty, who recorded 6.32.

Harrison commented at service "It's going well, but I think in the final analysis this could be all about tyres. We're short of the best Pirellis for this warm weather and just hope the tyres will last. In stages 3 and 4 my tyres started to overheat, and we lost time to Niall".  Maguire said "We're having a good run, no problems".  Liam O'Callaghan related "I can't understand losing the time in Conor Pass, I feel as if I'm driving really well, maybe it's just down to the car against the slightly newer machinery".  Fourth placed Tim McNulty said "The tyres are a problem, simply because we can't get a hard enough compound for this warm weather. The car was stepping out on my, I'm fitting new rubber as often as I can, but I'm fairly happy with my pace now".  Donal O'Donovan was slowed through stages 4 and 5 when the water injection system failed. It was thought to be down to a little bit of dirt in the filter. The Dunmanway man has gone really well through stages 5 and 6 now that the trouble has been sorted.

Andrew Stewart continues to lead gpN convincingly and reports no problems. Unofficially Gerard McKirnan is into 2nd place in gpN driving an Evo5 Lancer, Martin Brady is 3rd in his Escort Cosworth and Aaron McHale 4th and 18th overall.  McHale told us that during the first run over Conor Pass the car filled up with smoke when the carpets at the back went on fire, as a result of a leaking exhaust.  Anthony O'Halloran continues to lead the 2 wheel drive race from Alan Treacey who is going well in his Corolla rear wheel drive. Unofficially we have John Rooney 3rd.  More later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON         www.rallynews.net