RALLY NEWS NO.6
Service/Letterkenny/Saturday 10.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8
Cark Mountain
1st (3) Andrew
Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 44.28.5
2nd (1) Eugene
Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 44.28.6
3rd (2) Derek
McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 44.35.2
4th (5) Kevin
Lynch/Gordon Noble (Impreza WRC) 44.50.4
5th (7) Tim
McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 45.17.3
6th (6) Eamonn
Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 45.24.5
7th (10) Paul
Harris/John McCafferty (Impreza WRC) 46.19.6
8th (4) Austin
MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 46.29.6
9th (59) Shaun
Gallagher/Charlie McGinty (Lancer N) 47.19.9
10th (11) Cathal
Arthurs/John McElhinney (Accent WRC) 47.57.2
11th (9) Steve
Perez/Neil Dashfield (Focus WRC) 48.00.1
12th (24) Seamus
Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 48.04.2
Derek McGarrity was fastest
through stage 8, Cark Mountain, while on stage 7 we thought
earlier that Kevin Lynch was fastest, but on revised times it
would appear to be Andrew Nesbitt. Rally leader Nesbitt did not
however have a good time through stage 8, some small gearbox
trouble and a time consuming spin at “Boland’s Corner” denting
Nesbitt’s progress, although happily not his Subaru. When Andrew
arrived in here to service he was deep in conversation with one of
his engineers and it is a possibility that the gearbox in the
McKinstry Subaru may be changed. Derek McGarrity had a great run
through that stage 8, but as he explained, he used to test on the
first 4 or 5 miles of that road and he knows it like the back of
his hand. Eugene Donnelly backed off just a little, saying “We
had a real good run on the opening stage but I started to get
uncomfortable when I caught sight of Andrew, there were bits of
dust and it just brought back memories of last year when we ran
into the side of his car”.
Kevin Lynch felt his tyres
go off ever so slightly at the start of stage 8 but apart from
that had a good run. Tim McNulty is really charging now in
his Pierse backed Impreza, Tim inching out a tiny little bit of
fresh air between himself and Eamonn Boland, although Eamonn
admitted that he didn’t have a great run through Cark Mountain, no
real reason why. Paul Harris has got all the gears working in his
Impreza and he had a real charge through that 8th
stage, whereas Austin MacHale had a half spin at a gravelly
junction and went backwards, the 2 swapping places on the
leaderboard. Another man going a bit backwards was Steve Perez,
the Vodka Kick man said he had no real problems, just a little
lack of confidence on these very fast stages. Cathal Arthurs is
going well this morning and has moved ahead of Perez.
In Group N Shaun Gallagher continues
to set the roads alight and is completely dominating the
category. Seamus Leonard in 2nd gpN was a little
cautious through stage 8. Roy White had a good run to record 2nd
gpN fastest time, and he lies 3rd in group N. Garry
Jennings is still 4th but by his own admission, going
backiwards, the car having no grunt as he said himself.
Unfortunately Willie Fannin has crashed out on a sharp right left
sequence in Cark Mountain, driver and co driver OK, but it was a
fair accident. Andrew Stewart slowed a bit to make sure they were
OK, Andrew’s Lancer showing signs of contact with a chicane,
otherwise OK.
Denis Biggerstaff dropped a
bit of time on that 8th stage following a spin. Gareth
Jones continues to improve and his time would have been up with
the top 10 runners.
In the National section
Damien Gallagher made a huge charge through this morning’s 2
stages to get ahead of Robbie Peoples and close right up on
National leader Phil Collins.
Finally for now, 2 special guest on
the rally are Stephen Morrissey and Joe Collins, both NYPD members
and rally crazy….it must be their Irish roots of course. Joe was
originally from Kerry and Stephen was from Limerick….and very
welcome they are.
More news later. BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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