RALLY NEWS NO.3
Millstreet Service/Saturday 11.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2 Gortnagane
1st (1) Andrew Nesbitt/James
O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 20.24
2nd (2) Derek McGarrity/Dermot
O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 20.32
3rd (6) Eamonn Boland/Francis
Regan (Impreza WRC) 20.40
4th (3) Eugene Donnelly/Paul
Kiely (Corolla WRC) 20.46
5th (4) Austin MacHale/Brian
Murphy (Focus WRC) 20.49
6th (9) Kevin Lynch/Gordon
Noble (Impreza WRC) 20.55
7th (5) Peadar Hurson/Glenn
Patterson (Impreza WRC) 21.08
8th (7) Tim McNulty/Eugene
O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 21.10
9th (26) Garry Jennings/James
McKee (Lancer N) 21.38
10th (8) Denis Cronin/Helen
O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 21.42
Andrew Nesbitt followed up his fastest
time over the opening Molls Gap stage with quickest on stage 2, Gortnagane.
Interestingly, Peadar Hurson was 2nd fastest, just 1s back. Derek
McGarrity had a 5th gear slide into a ditch but got away with it
and Eugene Donnelly had a relatively slow time, reporting that it was purely
himself, the car was fine, he just didn’t click. The Gortnagane stage is
always a difficult one, narrow, very fast, rocks at the side of the road.
Today low cloud and mist allied to wet roads pushed the difficulty factor up
even further. Andrew Nesbitt shrugged that off, said that he took it
relatively steady, nursing his Subaru’s clutch, which he reckoned had been
slipping slightly over Molls Gap. Derek McGarrity was pretty jumpy when he
reached us here at service in Noel C Duggan’s at Millstreet, Derek saying that
he took a well known hazardous jump flat out. Hazardous enough for the
organisers to put some bales at the side of the road. Anyway, Derek took it
flat in 5th gear and had to go for the hand brake to get around the
next corner, and the rear left corner of his new Impreza WRC S10 skidded into
the ditch. The car arrived in here to service with a smashed rear bumper and
bent quarter panel, loads of grass sods sticking out of the rear rim,
testimony to a very close call.
Eugene Donnelly said. “I had a bad run,
terrible, just down to me. It started well, but I just couldn’t get on it”.
Austin MacHale felt that he had made a very poor tyre choice, Austin was on
slick dry weather tyres. Peadar Hurson reported a misfire on the first stage
where he dropped a bit of time, he certainly made up for it on stage 2, the
engine having cleared and he just flew. Eamonn Boland had a good run, lots of
sweat evidence of Eamonn trying very hard. Tim McNulty was a bit hesitant
through the stage, his Impreza suffering a bit from a soft brake pedal. Denis
Cronin was slow enough, Denis saying he was far too cautious. He also
reported that his main problem on the opening stage was a damaged half shaft.
Further stories include. Tony Davies
crawling through the stage, his Subaru having no brakes at all. Tony held up
Denis Biggerstaff and also George Cullen. George Tracey spun his Peugeot 206
WRC a couple of times. John Dalton’s Darrian was stopped in the stage, after
the gravelly section. JJ Fleming lost a bucket of time, his Focus WRC only
having 2 gears, 2nd and 3rd for most of the stage.
In Group N Garry Jennings completely whopped
everybody. Garry’s time 12.51 as against Colm Murphy on 13.14. Aaron MacHale
and James O’Sullivan both on 13.16. Last year’s gpn winner Alan Ring on
13.29. Jennings burned the brakes out of his Lancer in his efforts, and co
driver James McKee was on the radio on the way into service asking the
mechanics to be prepared!! Seamus Leonard had a bad run, his Lancer stuck in 5th
gear. While Willie Fannin also lost a fair bit of time, his Impreza suffering
a puncture.
In the battle for 2 wheel driver Phil Collins
recorded a pretty amazing 13.10. Dessie Keenan was a few seconds slower and
Colin McRae was also slower, his time 13.18. Colin saying “I’m having trouble
with this gearbox, just at the moment not enjoying it at all”. News from
Sardinia is that Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson broke a power steering pump belt
on the way to the first stage this morning. He managed to get it fixed before
the stage and then stage was stopped anyway because of someone else’s
accident. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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