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RALLY NEWS NO.6
St Angelo – 5.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 7 St
Angelo
1st (4) Andrew Nesbitt/James
O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 36.20.6
2nd (1) Derek McGarrity/Dermot
O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 36.44.3
3rd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul
Kiely (Corolla WRC) 37.01.4
4th (5) Eamonn
Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 37.08.0
5th (8) Kevin Lynch/Gordon
Noble (Impreza WRC) 37.14.1
6th (7) Tim McNulty/Eugene
O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 37.26.6
7th (3) Austin MacHale/Brian
Murphy (Focus WRC) 37.26.7
8th (6) Peadar Hurson/Glenn
Patterson (Impreza WRC) 37.31.0
9th (16) Sean Devine/James
McKee (Impreza WRC) 38.48.5
10th (57) Garry
Jennings/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 39.02.0
A spectating Kris Meeke, winner of the
Junior World Championship in Monte Carlo this year, remarked “Where I
was, a real fast section, quick corners, there was only one man who
didn’t lift his foot off the accelerator, not for a split second. That
was Andrew Nesbitt. He had total commitment, and that’s what its all
about”. The stage times say it all. Andrew hasn’t done a rally since
last year’s Ulster, and here he is with a 24s lead over joint Tarmac
Champion Derek McGarrity, with Galway winner Eugene Donnelly a further
17s back. McGarrity said he enjoyed this St Angelo test, and indeed he
was quickest. Eugene Donnelly on the other hand just simply does not
like this type of venue and dropped several seconds to the cars around
him. When asked was he going to get the McKinstry engineers to make
any changes to the car for the Sunday leg, Andrew said. “No, its fine,
just a check over and some petrol”. McGarrity also felt his car was
good, the Pirellis were working well and everything was fine. Eugene
Donnelly was very disappointed to have set fastest time through stage
6, and then to find that it was to no advantage, as he and several
other drivers had beaten the bogey time. The earlier problem with the
transmission was cured by a change to the relay pump. Eamonn Boland in
4th reported no problems during the day. Kevin Lynch in 5th
feels he is really getting into the groove and there is still a fair
bit to come. Tim McNulty rounds off the top 6, and again Tim is really
settling into the task, his Impreza S11 simply flying now, and there’s
a long way to go on this event.
In Group N Garry Jennings has held the
edge throughout the day over Seamus Leonard. Willie Fannin has pulled
himself up into 3rd in the category. Colm Murphy is still
very unhappy with the handling of his Impreza, he thinks it is lifting
a wheel some way, its not getting the power down, and then the
transmission is going a bit haywire. A couple of Group N drivers to
look out for on the rest of the rally include young Emma McKinstry,
who says her only problem is getting her right foot down hard enough
on the accelerator. While young Conor McCloskey is right into the top
20 now, although running further down in the field in his lancer. But
he should be re-seeded for Sunday, right up with the quick men. One
disappointment late on was the retirement of Conor Byrne who crashed
in stage 5. He had been setting gpN times which would have seen into
approximately 4th in the category, but that wasn’t to be.
Aaron MacHale is struggling with his new Lancer. He told us that
before the start of the rally they had to fit several alternators, and
play about with the wiring to try to get the car to run properly, and
it still doesn’t seem quite right.
EASTER STAGES UNOFFICIAL L/BOARD AFTER
STAGE 7
1st (302) Glenn Allen/Damien
Connolly (Corolla WRC) 43.32.8
2nd (305) Raymond
Johnson/Richard Bell (Impreza WRC) 43.58.3
3rd (303) Denis Biggerstaff/Damien
McCann (Impreza WRC ) 44.55.3
4th (309) Dickie Curran/Gary
(Bloke) Lyons (Impreza WRC) 45.06.0
5th (315) Neil McCance/Sean
Ferris (Lancer N) 45.10.6
6th (319) Eddie Quinn/Robbie
Hamilton (Lancer N) 45.49.9
7th (317) Gary Cairns/Justin
Coyle (Lancer N) 45.51.5
8th (321) Alistair
Cochrane/Pam Norris (Escort) 46.07.6
9th (324) Ronan Curley/John
McKinley (Escort RS) 47.10.1
10th (313) Terry McGonigle/Sean
Harris (Lancer N) 49.50.1
More news in the morning. BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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