RALLY NEWS NO.6 Waterford Finish - Sunday 6pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 (LAST STAGE)
1st (11) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Impreza WRC) 1.05.16
2nd (2) Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell (Impreza WRC) 1.06.14
3rd (6) Patrick Elliott/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 1.06.40
4th (3) Cathal Arthurs/Jakes Kelly (Accent WRC) 1.06.47
5th (7) Melvyn Evans/Aled Davies (Impreza WRC) 1.06.54
6th (15) Richie Curran/Gerry English (Esc.Cos) 1.07.20
7th (9) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Celica) 1.08.27
8th (4) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Impreza WRC) 1.08.32
9th (17) Noel Redmond/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 1.08.58
10th (27) Alan Ring/Greg Shinnors (Impreza N) 1.09.14

Kevin Lynch, co driven by Gordon Noble, turned in a copybook performance on this Ravens Rock Rally to win by 58s from Macclesfield's Jim Harrison. Lynch led from the word go and exhibited massive bravery and skill through difficult conditions. For the 39 year old civil engineering contractor, in only his 2nd season of rallying, it was quite a day, his first Dunlop National Championship win. Kevin said at the finish here in Waterford. "I eased back a bit on the last stage, there is no sense in panicking. We had a good lead, I thought the rally was really good, it was slippy yes, but slippy for everybody." 

Second placed Jim Harrison, co driven by Harvey Bell as usual, brought his Subaru into the finish and commented. "Not a bad result at the end of the day. We've discovered that with the gear selection problem we also had no active centre differential, so I'm quite pleased with the result. But to be fair, Kevin was a mile away". Third placed Patrick Elliott, co driven by David Moynihan, remarked. "I'm glad its over. I found it dangerous in places. The organisers were 100 per cent, but the conditions were bad. This car can win, and although we went well towards the end my stage 3 and 4 times were a disgrace. Kevin was astonishing". 4th placed Cathal Arthurs said. "We had an up and down day but it was the same for most people". Melvyn Evans in 5th said "We finally sorted the car out for the last stage, changed the anti roll bars and got the tyres right, and we set a quickest time". Local man Richie Curran drove and good and consistent rally to take 6th place despite his Escort Cosworth emitting clouds of turbo smoke towards the end. Denis Cronin had yet another overshoot on the last stage, but Denis was happy enough at the end to get on the pace. Kevin Barrett finished in 13th and said. "Glad to see the finish of that, for a couple of stages we went backwards". Ray Breen's Impreza suffered a puncture on stage 8, in exactly the same place as he punctured on the first loop, and he said. "Its been a day from hell, it started grand and went downhill from there". In agony from his sore back, Ray levered himself out of his Subaru, and went on "It'll be a long time before I sit in a rally car again". 

The Group N story altered yet again on the final stage with Alan Ring turning in a real good time to beat Willie Fannin by 17s and get ahead in the category. Gabriel Martin was 2nd in gpN, 11th overall, Fannin 12th. Fannin commented. "I picked the wrong tyre for that final stage and I was also thinking of next weekend's Jim Clark Rally". Fannin continues to lead gpN in the Dunlop National Championship. While Niall Maguire continues to lead the championship overall, with 78 points. Jim Harrison comes into 2nd with 68. Cathal Arthurs 3rd on 66. In the 023 Tiles championship Alan Ring moves into the lead following Johnny O'Sullivan's retirement today when his Escort WRC's transmission cried enough. 

Finally for now, many thanks to all who helped and supported the RallyNews. Very well done to Ann Fitzgerald, who along with George Clancy, worked so hard with the members of the Carrick on Suir MC, as well as many others, to make this Ravens Rock Rally such a success. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net