RALLY NEWS NO.3                       Buncrana/Service/Sunday 4pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 Mamore
1st (2) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 26.56
2nd (8) Andrew Stewart/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 27.35
3rd (6) Ivan Stewart/Timothy Duggan (Esc.Cos) 27.41
4th (5) James Gillen/Victor Carruthers (Esc.Cos) 27.42
5th (10) Seamus Donnelly/Paul Garry (Escort) 28.30
6th (16) Paul Gallagher/Karl Reid (Corolla) 28.35
7th (29) Stuart Darcy/Barry Goodman (Lancer N) 28.38
8th (14) Stephen Harris/Damien Crawford (Lancer N) 28.40
      (21) Damien Gallagher/Mac Walsh (Escort) 28.40

The above leaderboard is very provisional - there have been a couple of stage interruptions that  means that some of the drivers have not got doing some of the stages.  The most recent difficulty was on stage 3 when Daniel & Michael Doherty, comfortably in the lead, but going hard, unfortunately put their Subaru off the road, at the wee tight spot over the bridge before the climb up to Mamore Pass. Our initial information is that both Daniel and Michael are OK, but the stage has been stopped, and the rescue services sent in as a precaution.  This means that just 9 cars got through the stage competitively, and other drivers were sent on the alternative roadbook.  There was also a blockage on stage 1 - so there is a bit of calculation to be done by Angus in the results room as regards applying slowest normal time to the cars who did not get a stage time. 

No doubt about the way Maguire is going at the front now.  He is completely on his own starting this 2nd loop of stages, and the Monaghan man told us at the control into service "We had a good run through stage 3, but not so good ins tage 2.  I was a bit too cautious, and then when we hit a bump very hard the intercom clicked off and I ran wide on the next corner".  Andrew Stewart in 2nd place and leading gpN remarked "Going great".  Third placed Ivan Stewart told us "We've had a good enough run but there's still water getting into the engine".  Fourth placed James Gillen has directly the opposite problem, his Escort Cosworth ran out of water at the end of stage 3.  The Castlederg man struggled his car in here to the control and co-driver Victor Carruthers ran into the Inishowen Gateway Hotel and snatched a couple of large jugs of water out of the bar!!   

News of further retirements includes - Philip Shaw withdrawing his Escort when lying 4th overall because of a mechanical problem. Cathal Rogers' retirement was down to his Escort G3 getting stuck in 6th gear. Both Robbie Peoples and Trevor Lancashire did not appear out of stage 2, this is unconfirmed. Charlie Beatty stopped when his Corolla broke a half shaft.

News from Killarney Forestry is that Eugene Donnelly & Paul Nagle have taken  their Toyota Celica to victory which means that Eugene is the new KBB Doors Forestry Rally Champion. Dermot Kelly finished 2nd, 16s behind Eugene, John McCarthy was 3rd.
More news later.   BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON                     www.rallynews.net