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RALLY
NEWS NO.6
Enniskillen Service/Saturday 6.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 St Angelo 2
1st (4) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 34.46.9
2nd (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 35.10.6
3rd (9) Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 35.34.7
4th (2) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 35.45.1
5th (12) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRC) 36.00.2
6th (16) Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Lancer N) 37.29.4
7th (23) Garry Jennings/Paul Garry (Lancer N) 37.38.4
8th (24) Robbie McGurk/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 38.03.7
9th (15) Aaron MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Lancer N) 38.04.7
10th (18) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Lancer N) 38.15.9
11th (28) Conor Byrne/Niall Byrne (Lancer N) 38.40.0
12th (29) Dermot Hanafin/Claire Mole (Impreza N) 38.55.5
13th (32) Sean Devine/Robert McDaid (Impreza N) 38.57.6
14th (33) Willie Fannin/Michael Courtney (Impreza N) 39.03.1
15th (26) Raymond McLoughlin/Kieran Harrigan (Lancer N) 39.09.9
Of the 47 cars that started this Circuit of Ireland International 43 were still
running at the overnight halt. The retirements were Tapio Laukkanen (fire).
Maurice Gass (misfire). Tim McNulty (smashed gearbox casing). Glen Wilson
(clutch). Derek McGarrity set fastest times through the first day. We did
think that Eugene Donnelly was fastest on stage 5, but it turns out that the
handwriting on Derek's card that looked like a 5 was actually a 3. Eugene
Donnelly had been 3rd after the opening St Angelo test with Donie O'Sullivan
2nd, but Eugene got ahead and stayed there throughout the day. Donie dropped to
4th at one point following a slightly slow time. Austin MacHale got into 3rd,
dropped back to 4th following a spin in stage 6 St Angelo.
Just some of the overnight class leaders include - Guy Woodcock whose Ford Maxi
leads class A7 and is 17th overall. Dessie Keenan leads group N after a
fantastic drive today. Garry Jennings did lead but was held up behind Charlie
Mavitty, who struggled through stage 5 with a damaged wheel. Andrew Bushe
leads class 6 in his Peugeot 106 from Aidan Caddye with Brendan Comiskey 3rd.
Alan (Pentti) Cathcart is enjoying a day out on the stages from his usual
Saturday activity of hitting a small white ball, and is leading class N3 in his
Integra from Keith McQuillan's Civic Type R. John McElhinney leads class 5
in his Suzuki Swift from the similar machine of Alyn Spiers. Harry
Cathcart 3rd. Frank Tuomey leads class N1 from the all ladies crew of
Aisling Dooris/Wendy Blackledge, both in GpN Suzukis. Aisling is still
recovering from a broken shoulder bone and is a little weak in her left arm, but
going well.
On the Easter Stages part of the rally, with just the short St Angelo test
remaining, Kevin Lynch had almost 40s advantage over Kieran Shaw. Dickie Curran
3rd and leading GpN. Denis Biggerstaff 4th, Michael Curran 5th, Seamus
Donnelly 6th. John McGlaughlin 7th. Stephen Moore 8th. Jonny McKenna 9th and
Craig Bennett 10th. Just some incidents from the Easter Stages included
Lynch having a massive moment on a big jump on the penultimate stage, although
he admitted he didn't need to be pushing. Denis Biggerstaff commented about his
first run in the Subaru. "Some truck this thing, it can do things I can't
believe, every stage I learn something more, its going to be hard to go back to
the Metro 6R4"
Kieran Shaw lost any hopes of a win when he hit a stone in stage 4 and dropped
15s when he damaged a wheel. His business partner Brian McCloskey was well
into the top 6, but backed his Subaru into a couple of hedges at high speed and
dropped back to 15th. Dickie Curran fitted a set of Pirelli RE's to his Lancer,
kept them all day and said they were fantastic. Craig Bennett's Focus WRC gear
change broke on the 2nd stage then he put the car on top of a hedge, then the
intercom broke. Jonny McKenna had power steering problems on the penultimate
stage. Seamus Donnelly broke a couple of brake discs. Just seconds
separated the Mk2 Escort men of Brendan Campbell, Brian Armstrong, Philip
McConnell and Drew Stewart, running in that order from 11th to 14th going into
St. Angelo.
More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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