RALLY
NEWS NO.2 End of
stage 1 – Saturday 11am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1
1st (6) Kevin
Lynch/Gordon Noble (Impreza WRC) 8.23.6
2nd (2) Eugene
Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 8.31.4
3rd (1) Austin
MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 8.36.9
4th (8) Peadar
Hurson/Glenn Patterson (Impreza WRC) 8.38.5
5th (4) Eamonn
Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 8.44.1
6th (3) Derek
McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Fabia WRC) 8.44.8
What a guy Kevin Lynch is. He was
as cool as a cucumber at the end of that tough first stage,
Francis Gap, complete with a layer of ice across the top of a
mountain. He had beaten all the established Tarmac Championship
stars, and he was completely unflustered. On top of that, he had
actually lost some time in the stage when he forced his Impreza
past Tim McNulty’s new S10 example. Lynch reckoned he dropped
maybe 10s in the process. Tim was struggling with the suspension
of his new car, it seems to be set too hard and is bouncing about
a bit, not good in this morning’s slippery conditions. No such
dramas for Lynch, who reckoned as well that he made just the right
choice of Pirelli, and they worked a treat. It was just before 10
o’clock when the top cars completed the stage. The hard overnight
frost was dissipating in the cold February sunshine, but there
were still lots of frost patches to worry the drivers.
Derek McGarrity put his new
Skoda right off the road, on a long right hander, and reckoned he
was really lucky to stay in the rally. There was a back wheel
full of soil and grass causing a vibration, but otherwise the car
was unscathed. Austin MacHale had a good run despite discovering
on the way up to the stage that his Focus had a buckled wheel.
Austin stopped and put on the spare before the stage, but the tyre
wasn’t the same as the 3 others which didn’t make for great
handling. As ever, Eugene Donnelly was brilliant in the slippery
conditions and commented. “Yes it was icy in the middle of the
stage but we had a nice settled run, no heroics, although I’m not
convinced that the rear tyres heated up enough”.
Peadar Hurson was right on
the pace despite not having competed in a Tarmac Championship
rally for a long time, the Warrenpoint man saying “I was taking it
handy”. Those not so happy included Patrick Elliott whose Impreza
suffered a puncture. JJ Fleming stalled his new Focus WRC on the
start line and dropped at least 15s. Maurice Gass struggled
through the stage with a recalcitrant gear change mechanism, and
with all the hoking about looking for gears dropped at least half
a minute, and was passed by young Gareth MacHale. Gareth is
driving his father’s Corolla WRC and joked before the start that
he is under strict instructions to bring it home in the same
condition as it left Rathcoole! Never mind that. The young man
is flying! Paddy White is another having paddle gear change
problems with his Impreza.
There is a great deal of interest in
the Group N category of the rally, but unfortunately the first few
cars, Willie Fannin and Roy White, seemed to have “suspect” times,
which would show them virtually leading the rally. People like
Seamus Leonard and Garry Jennings on the other hand were driving
the door handles of their cars and they are further back. So until
we get clarification from the check sheets, we’ll let the hare
sit. Roy White did say that he felt unbelievably rusty, his new
Lancer only arrived from Ralliart Germany late last night and he
has had no time to get in the groove. The car is also fitted with
a standard gearbox rather than a dogbox. Having said that the car
looks brilliant and no doubt Roy will not be far off the pace.
Colm Murphy did have a good test session before the rally in his
new Impreza, but still he found the rear suspension not to his
liking on that opening stage, and indeed clipped the rear right
corner and knocked the back bumper off. Paul Dempsey was also
expected to be at the front of the gpN pack on this his local
rally, but Paul was delayed when his Impreza suffered a puncture.
More news to follow.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
