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RALLY NEWS
NO.6
Killarney/parc
ferme/Saturday 6.30pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 (last Saturday stage)
1st (3) Derek McGarrity/Christopher Patterson (Impreza S44)
1.17.28
2nd (4) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC)
1.18.26
3rd (7) Liam O'Callaghan/David Hogan (Impreza WRC) 1.18.27
4th (1) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.18.45
5th (5) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRc) 1.19.11
6th (2) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla WRC) 1.19.57
7th (16) JJ Fleming/Robbie Ward (Impreza WRC) 1.21.54
8th (11) Trevor Cathers/Francis Regan (Lancer N) 1.22.07
9th (12) Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Impreza N) 1.22.34
10th (9) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Impreza WRc) 1.23.11
No shortage of interest at the front of this Gleneagle
Hotel Killarney Rally of the Lakes with Derek McGarrity
holding on to an overnight lead, Eamonn Boland moving ahead
of Liam O'Callaghan to occupy 2nd place and Andrew Nesbitt,
on a charge, to make up for the 2 minute time loss earlier.
Nesbitt was fastest through stage 8 and fastest again
through stage 9. In fact through stage 9, Kilgobnet,
the reigning tarmac champion was 18s faster than McGarrity,
to leave the overnight gap at 1m17s before the 9 stages
tomorrow. McGarrity was held up, we think, for a few
seconds behind Austin McHale at the end of stage 9. Austin
having spun his Corolla WRC
Liam O'Callaghan dropped from 2nd to 3rd when he spun in
stage 9.
In Group N Trevor Cathers again set a stunning time, 9s
faster than Donie O'Sullivan and these 2 are now looking
relatively unchallenged in the showroom category. Seamus
Leonard has run into trouble, his Seamless Aluminium Subaru
emerging from Kilgobnet with damaged rear bodywork and a
punctured front tyre. Roy White is also dropping out
of the gpN picture, his Lancer suffering boken drive shafts
in stage 8, Caragh Lake. Bob Fowden made a slowish start to
the day but his times have improved steadily, and he could
be moving into 3rd in gpN.
Just outside the leaderboard Johnny O'Sullivan has set some
good times, but punctures have delayed him and his total is
now 1.23.23. Good enough for 11th place. Liam
McCarthy is a bit further back on 1.25.02 and Pete Doughty
is back on 1.26.21 having suffered clutch problems earlier
and lost 10 minutes leaving service.
Best 2 wheel drive performance has come so far from Denis
Cronin in his beautiful BMW M3 whose total now is 1.24.39
which puts him in approximately 14th position. Tom Randles
is 2nd 2 wheel drive and Jimmy Lambert 3rd. James
O'Sullivan is leading the 1600 class in his 023 Tiles
Escort.
Tony Davies has put up a brave performance today in his
Metro 6R4 and he is lying just behind Cronin - Tony's co
driver Brian Hardie is bursting for a pint of Guinness
after what has been a very tough but very enjoyable day's
rallying. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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