RALLY NEWS NO.4 End of stage 4  Saturday 2.15pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Francis Gap

1st (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 31.10.5
2nd (6) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Impreza WRC) 31.25.3
3rd (1) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 31.31.5
4th (8) Peadar Hurson/Glenn Patterson (Impreza WRC) 32.01.0
5th (3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Fabia WRC) 32.05.8
6th (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 32.07.4
7th (5) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 32.39.7
8th (15) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Corolla WRC) 32.40.4
9th (25) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 32.41.5
10th (11) Denis Cronin/Helen O'sullivan (Impreza WRC) 32.52.6

Kevin Lynch piled the pressure on through stage 4, the 2nd visit to Francis Gap, and was fastest, but by just less than a second from Austin MacHale, with Eugene Donnelly a further 5s back. Eugene's Corolla had a brake problem. Derek McGarrity trailed Eugene by 20 odd seconds, his Skoda having suffered a puncture. Another Skoda in even bigger trouble was Jonny Milner's. Jonny lost over 3 minutes, his Octavia having lost all its brakes.
Further to Lynch's fastest time in stage 4, we hear that his Impreza finished stage 5 OK, but then was parked with the bonnet up for over 6 minutes after the stage stop line. Reason as yet unknown. Back to that stage 4, and Eugene Donnelly looked pretty shaken when he brought his Corolla to a halt, reporting that the front brakes had gone completely, the pedal had gone to the floor, and he had been off the road twice. Lynch remarked that he was going at a comfortable pace. Austin MacHale reported that his tyres were a lot better, the car was working well and he could feel the road. Jonny Milner was very late arriving at stage finish, saying that he just had no brakes at all and he had lost time trying to bleed the braking hydraulic system. Jonny started the stage out of order, and held up Group N leader Colm Murphy.
Tim McNulty went a bit better on that stage 4, said that the handling of his new Impreza WRC was a bit better, but the car was still hard to handle over the bumps. Denis Cronin had a slowish stage but didn't really know why. Gareth MacHale had a good run and was 6th fastest. JJ Fleming stalled his Focus WRC engine at stage start, which he did the first time through that stage. Maurice Gass had his gear selector problems sorted out and his time was a bit better. Although having said that, the ice had all melted off the top of the mountain, so most people were a bit faster. Tony Davies dropped well over a minute in the stage when his Impreza suffered a puncture. Paddy White seemed to having further difficulties with his Impreza WRC, the turbo pressure had dropped right off and the car wasn't selecting gears again.
Seamus Leonard continues to hold 2nd in group N behind Colm Murphy, but Garry Jennings has closed up on Leonard. Seamus didn't have a good stage, an overshoot and then getting held up behind the struggling Willie Fannin not helping his cause. Fannin’s Subaru had turbo problems. Aaron MacHale had been 15th o/a starting that stage 4, but we have no further times as yet. Young Peter Wilson from Kells, runner up in the Billy Coleman Award this year, was leading his class and 26th o/a in his Civic after 3 stages.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net