RALLY NEWS NO.3 Service In/Near Caheragh/Sunday 10.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2 Mealagh Valley
1st (3) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 19.52
2nd (2) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 20.04
3rd (7) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 20.12
4th (5) Patrick Elliott/Martin Cahill (Impreza WRC) 20.44
5th (1) Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell (Impreza WRC0 20.46
6th (11) Michael Curran/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 21.04
7th (10) Nigel Hicklin/Damien Connolly (Impreza WRC) 21.11
8th (15) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 21.16
9th (6) Kevin Barrett/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 21.18
10th (34) Cyril McCullagh/Kevin McGovern (Octavia WRC) 21.19

Denis Cronin and Ray Breen set equal fastest times through stage 2, Mealagh Valley, which means that overall Cronin still leads following his fastest time on the first stage. There was a little bit of doubt about the finish times of the first few cars but this would seem to be correct.

Melvyn Evans is just a smidgeon outside the pace of the 2 in front, but otherwise at the moment no one else is threatening to take the lead. No.1 seed Jim Harrison freely admits that he is being a bit hesitant, braking just that fraction early, lacking confidence and even his tyre choice wasn’t quite ambitious enough. Although the conditions are damp and slippy they are certainly not streaming wet. Ray Breen said after that 2nd stage. “The car felt really good, the tyres were working very well, I think indeed gave us quite an edge, the road was damp and slippy in places, but OK”.

Denis Cronin reported no real problems although he was more concerned with trying to make sure that his stage finish time was correct. Initially the card was showing that he was 1 minute slower than Breen.

Fourth on the road Patrick Elliott still has gearbox troubles with his Subaru. Melvyn Evans felt that his tyres went off just a little bit, a half spin not helping the Welshman’s cause. Kevin Barrett reports no problems in his new Subaru, Kevin just being pretty careful. Tony Davies dropped a little time on that 2nd stage when his Impreza lost turbo boost a few miles from the end of the stage when a pipe came adrift. Nigel Hicklin’s Subaru developed some gearbox trouble in the stage and Nigel had to revert to the manual change instead of the paddle shift. At least he wasn’t quite as bad as Willie Fannin who broke the gear stick clean off the box and had to change gear with just a little stump. Not a good way for Willie to celebrate his birthday!!

Another group N driver in trouble was 023 Tiles man James O’Sullivan who clipped a wheel on a tight hairpin left and finished the stage with the front wheels well askew. Dickie Curran is going nicely his total 21.29 in the new Lancer 8.5. Dickie saying that he’s really on a test session. Michael Curran continues to lead gpN with a smooth run. While Kevin Kelleher was just 1s slower through stage 2 to hold 2nd in the gpN category. Kieran O’Callaghan was expected to make a big charge but his Lancer suffered a little fuel starvation problem through the 2nd stage. Another local driver Owen Murphy suffered a puncture on the first stage and then got held up behind PJ McGrath’s accident. McGrath’s gpN Impreza was on its roof at junction 5 in the stage. Tom Randles in the Celica was first on the scene, made sure the crew was OK and then stopped at the radio point to report the accident.

Cyril McCullagh, the Prospeed engineer, is having a run out in one of the Skoda Octavias today. Cyril got blocked in the first stage and then went pretty well on the 2nd and despite having to pass slower cars has managed to get the WRC machine into 10th. We wondered on the last RallyNews about Hugh Martin Doherty and the whereabouts of his Subaru. Donegal man Hugh Martin started 8th on the road but is running well back now, his Impreza WRC having suffered 2 left side punctures.

Fastest 2 wheel drive performance so far seems to be from Allen Treacy in the Corolla. Allen is just ahead of Brian O’Mahony in the front wheel drive Puma with Ken O’Neill a couple of seconds back. Wesley Patterson is 8s down on Treacey, Anthony O’Halloran’s Manta suffering a misfire, is a further 5s back. Brian O’Mahony reckons his forestry spec Puma may not go much further today as he is having to slam the gear lever back and forward. Ken O’Neill has won his class on the Dunlop series and the 023 Tiles so he’s just concentrating on getting his Puma to the finish today. Willie McCarthy in the Escort reckons his car is set too low at the back and the brakes are not giving him much confidence while Trevor Bustard’s Impreza has lost 3rd gear. LATE NEWS: Paddy White/Martin Brady out of Catalunya, tyres went off on penultimate stage and car went straight into Armco at square right. Crew OK, car fine – but stuck. Both very disappointed.
More news later. BRIAN & Liz PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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