RALLY NEWS NO.15                     St Angelo/Monday  4.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 23 ST ANGELO
1st (4) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 2.37.22.8
2nd (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 2.37.58.7
3rd (9) Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 2.40.09.9
4th (2) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 2.41.07.8
5th (12) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRC) 2.43.31.4
6th (16) Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Lancer N) 2.50.16.8
7th (33) Willie Fannin/Mike Courtney (Impreza N) 2.57.55.7
8th (17) Guy Woodcock/Phil Harrison (Escort Maxi) 3.01.49.9
9th (21) Charlie Mavitty/Nigel Frazer (Lancer N) 3.05.25.4
10th (43) Alan Cathcart/Paddy Flanagan (Integra) 3.08.02.2

There were large crowds of spectators here at St Angelo to cheer Derek McGarrity on to a fabulous victory. A back to back win for the Glengormley man, his Pirelli shod Subaru Impreza as crisp as ever as it whistled down the runway of the final straight after 3 tough day's rallying.  Co driven by Dermot O'Gorman, McGarrity led the event from start to finish.  Eugene Donnelly gave it his all but his Corolla WRC just didn't have the legs of the Impreza in front. For Killarney's Donie O'Sullivan it was a fantastic achievement to bring his Focus WRC into 3rd place on his first visit to the Circuit of Ireland.

Derek McGarrity commented "Its fantastic to win, everything went to plan. The Pirelli tyres worked well and the car was great, even although I was conserving it for the new owner Patrick Elliott - he bought it on the start line of the rally!"  Eugene Donnelly said "Extremely tough, the pace was very strong, it boiled down to a few difficult and fast stages where Derek took me good. I had no answers. The rally was very well run, and all stages ran for us". Donie O'Sullivan was just as happy as the two men in front, in fact possibly happier, and he said. "I'm the happiest man in the north. It was an absolutely fantastic run for me, the rally was good, the spectator control was good. The stages were bumpy for our car but I didn't expect to be finishing this far up".  One of the first people to congratulate O'Sullivan was Austin MacHale. One of the most coveted trophies over the years on the Circuit of Ireland has been the Castlereagh Trophy for the highest placed southern Irish driver.  Austin joked to Donie "I've given it a good clean for you!"  Austin's joy was however tinged with disappointment, as his son Aaron, 7th overall and 2nd in group N, heading into St Angelo, hasn't made it to the finish.  His Lancer stopped on the road section with faulty transmission.

Dessie Keenan wins group N, the Billy Coleman Award winner saying "I enjoyed it, the pace was quick and I'm glad I was there to be one of the quickest". 

Last minute stories included: Daniel Doherty's Subaru having a small fire at the back after Daniel spun the car here at St Angelo and squashed the bumper on to the exhaust which caused the conflagration. It was a troubled rally for the Doherty brothers because of an electronic gremlin in their Subaru, and they did well to make the finish. 

Just some of the class winners included Alan Cathcart who brought his Integra into the top 10. Guy Woodcock battled against electrical charging problems today and managed 8th overall and highest placed 2 wheel drive. Andrew Bushe had a brilliant drive to bring his Peugeot into a class win and finish just outside the top 10. Dermot Hanafin is just outside the top 10 and 4th gpN in his Subaru after many electrical problems. Jonathan McDaid won his class, as did John McElhinney.

In the National part of the rally with still a few stages to go Jaye Jordan was still leading from Seamus O'Connell with Gary Keenan 3rd. Adrian Kermode led the Historic section in his Porsche with Martin Ward up to 2nd. Stephen Hall's Triumph seemingly retired.

BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON (with very many thanks to all who supported and helped with the RallyNews service).           www.rallynews.net