1^st (4) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.02.03.3

2^nd (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.02.27.9

3^rd (2) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.03.22.9

4^th (9) Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.03.24.3

5^th (12) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRC) 1.04.13.4

6^th (16) Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Lancer N) 1.06.54.9

7^th (23) Garry Jennings/Paul Garry (Lancer N) 1.07.16.4

8^th (15) Aaron MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Lancer N) 1.07.43.5

9^th (18) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Lancer N) 1.08.13.9

10^th (33) Willie Fannin/Mike Courtney (Impreza N) 1.09.57.9

11^th (26) Raymond McLaughlin/Kieran Harrigan (Lancer N) 1.10.40.2

12^th (34) Eoin Doyle/Paul Walsh (Impreza N) 1.10.22.8

Derek McGarrity was fastest again through stage 9, Croagh Bridge, by just 1s from Eugene Donnelly and then on stage 10, Barley Hill, Donnelly was able to turn the tables in style by beating the rally leader by 7s. Behind the leading two Donie O’Sullivan and Austin MacHale have been trading times. Austin just edging in front to take 3^rd position overall here at Omagh service.

In Group N Dessie Keenan is still the man to beat, Garry Jennings and Aaron MacHale are piling on the pressure, but still its Monaghan man Dessie who leads the category.

Derek McGarrity commented "I just really don’t like that Barley Hill stage, we had no real problems". Eugene Donnelly said "That’s the best stage of the rally so far for us. We got the tyre choice right, but I’m still learning the car, this is the first time that we’ve had it up to this heat!" Donie O’Sullivan said "We picked a harder compound front tyre, softened the rear suspension and the car is working well. We’re having a good race with Mr MacHale. We’re not flat out, keeping it safe". Austin said "We didn’t get the first of the 2 stages right, I had a slight overshoot at a junction which cost 5 or 6 seconds. We stayed on the same tyres all morning. They weren’t so good on the first 2 stages but as the beat built up they were good". Daniel Doherty reported "Not bad on the last couple of stages, a fair good run. We’re having some problems with the throttle position sensor, the engine is not slowing down when I lift my foot".

In Group N the pace is unbelievably high, and fastest of all of course is Dessie Keenan, who said "We’re flying, we’ve been in the ditches alright, its Mk2 Escort stuff really". Garry Jennings joked "We’re going grand, but these boys are showing us the way. I’ve been told to keep this car on the straight and narrow!" Interestingly, Paul Garry who is co driving for Garry told of hurting his back on a very high speed swoop through a big dip, some demonstration of the G forces and capability of the modern Group N cars. Aaron MacHale, having set fastest gpN times through stages 7 and 8, was a fraction slower through 9 and 10, and said. "We were sleeping in stage 9, and then on the top of the mountain the on/off switch knocked off, I copped on right away what it was, we didn’t lose much, maybe 6 seconds". Colm Murphy stalled on the start line of stage 10 and lost a few seconds. Raymond McLaughlin has lost 5^th gear on his gpN Lancer, no spare gearbox, but said "More than happy to be where we are". We reported earlier about Sean Devine putting his Impreza in a field. He attempted a 5 right in 5^th gear, went over the hedge, needed a farmer to pull him out with a tractor, and co driver Robert McDaid burned his hands trying to untangle the sheep wire around the rear diff. Eoin Doyle continues to creep up the leaderboard despite a bad vibration at the front of the car and overshooting a stage 10 junction.

Paddy White in the Lough Allen Hotel & Spa Impreza WRC still has oil dripping on to the clutch and bad fumes in the car. Dermot Hanafin’s Group N Impreza started to cough to a halt on stage 9 – co driver Claire Mole phoned service man Geoff Jones who reckoned it was a fault in the ECU, and the only answer was to switch the car off for 3 minutes. This they did, the Subaru started up again, but in total they dropped 5 minutes, after being 11^th overall. Conor Byrne was 10^th after stage 8 but put his GpN Lancer in a field in stage 9.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net