RALLY NEWS NO.9
Cork Road Service/Sunday 2pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12
Shanera
1st (1) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.45.55
2nd (3) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.46.30
3rd (9) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Impreza WRC) 1.47.17
4th (6) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 1.47.59
5th (2) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC)
1.48.04
6th (4) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.48.59
7th (7) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 1.49.19
8th (8) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 1.51.04
9th (21) Tommy Graham/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.54.20
10th (28) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 1.54.57
Through the Caragh Lake stage Eugene Donnelly was
2s faster than Andrew Nesbitt meaning the gap between the 2 was just 29s. On
stage 12 Shanera, Andrew Nesbitt set his first fastest time of today, 6s up on
Eugene to pull the gap back to 35s. There are 4 tough stages remaining so
anything can happen, but at the same time Nesbitt is looking reasonably
secure. Andrew commented here at service in control. “As you know we had that
wiper trouble which knocked us back a bit, but we had a real good run through
Shanera”. Eugene Donnelly grimaced with pain as he climbed out of his Corolla
WRC. In fact his legs nearly went from under him. He said “My back is very
very sore down at the bottom. I even heard my neck crack on the jump. It was
pretty scary stuff. I’m not so bad in the car as the rally seat braces me. I
had a bit of an overshoot on that last stage which cost a few seconds,
otherwise everything OK”. Kevin Lynch in 3rd hopes to get his
paddle gear change fixed here at service which should speed him up a bit for
the next few stages. Despite making a wrong tyre choice for the last 2 stages
Eamonn Boland was able to get ahead of Derek McGarrity. Derek recounted a
puncture on Caragh Lake. Even though he has mousse in the tyres it still cost
him time. Derek’s engine is still down on power. The engineers have now worked
out what the trouble is – a boost pack isn’t working properly, but there is no
spare here, so Derek has to suffer to the finish.
Austin MacHale in 6th place had intercom troubles through
Caragh Lake which cost a few seconds, and Austin now needs to be looking over
his shoulder at the hard charging Tim McNulty. Denis Cronin is now holding a
comfortable place in 8th, he can’t really do anything about the
cars in front as the gap is now too big. Tommy Graham was off the road briefly
in stage 12 on a square right into acute left junction. Also the clutch in
Tommy’s Impreza WRC seems to be getting very noisy. Denis Biggerstaff was
trying to make a charge up the leaderboard but he has crashed his Impreza WRC
on a fast 4 left at the end of Shanera. There was water on the road, the
Subaru slid wide and then the front of it slammed into a ditch. Denis has
lost only a little time, but the car will need a fair bit of sorting out
before he tackles Molls Gap.
In Group N there was a major change on the
Shanera stage. Terry McGonigle had sensationally moved into the lead from a
start position of 89, but he picked the wrong tyres for stages 11 and 12 and
on stage 12 Shanera, on a 5 left into 6 right his Lancer careered up a bank
and fell over on to its side. He was able to get going and crawl slowly out of
the stage holding up some other drivers. His total time loss approximately 5
minutes, and he is now way down the order. This leaves Colm Murphy back in the
lead, Colm looking very confident now. When asked did he fall asleep earlier
to allow McGonigle in front, the Limerick man gave a wry smile and said.
“Napping maybe, not asleep!” Alan Ring is 2nd in gpN, Kevin
Kelleher 3rd and James O’Sullivan 4th. O’Sullivan’s 023
Tiles Lancer is still using lots of water. James has the heater on full to try
to dissipate some of the heat. He’s getting melted in the car, he knocked the
roof vent off yesterday when he got tangled up with Fannin’s fallen pole.
James joked “At this rate I’ll be losing about 4 stone in sweat on this
rally!” Alan Ring, as well as holding 2nd in gpN, is having a
massive battle with Tom Randles for the John Mullane Best Kerry Crew Award. A
lot of kudos at stake for this one. Randles had a spin in Caragh Lake, but
otherwise swopping seconds with Ring.
In the National section Phil Collins is running very late after
changing his Escort gear box. He had a massive lead over Dessie Keenan, but
even with road penalties he is still 30s in front of the Monaghan man. Kieran
O’Neill is in 3rd, Kieran pushing his Kadett to the very limits of
its adhesion, and happy to be still going after changing a gearbox oil seal.
In Sardinia Sebasien Loeb ran out the winner from Solberg with
Gronholm 3rd. Mark Higgins was up as high as 6th but
then his Focus developed gearbox/hydraulic trouble, and he eventually finished
10th. Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson were fastest Junior WRC on the
final stage, but still had to settle for 3rd in the category, but
at least they will earn some world championship points. More news later.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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