Rallynews Live from the Triton Showers Lurgan Park Rally 2005

RALLY NEWS NO.5 Lurgan Park – Saturday 2.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5

1^st (1) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Impreza WRC) 11.17.8

2^nd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Andrew Mullan (Corolla WRC) 11.25.5

3^rd (3) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 11.26.3

4^th (11) Glenn Allen/Kieran McCracken (Corolla WRC) 11.38.3

5^th (8) Paul Bird/Andy Richardson (Focus WRC) 11.38.8

6^th (5) Niall McShea/Willie McKee (Cordoba WRC) 11.47.4

7^th (10) Maurice Gass/Andrew Cullen (Fabia WRC) 11.47.9

8^th (25) Garry Jennings/Pamela Ballantine (Lancer N) 11.56.0

9^th (12) James Gillen/Rodney Johnston (Impreza A) 12.00.2

10^th (21) Craig Bennett/Christine Bleakley (Focus WRC) 12.01.4

Eugene Donnelly set his first fastest time of the rally through this 5^th stage, albeit by just 0.9 of a second from Kevin Lynch with Kenny McKinstry over a second back. That is what this Lurgan Park Rally is all about, seconds and bits of seconds. Kevin Lynch has led from the word go, fastest on the first 4 stages and perhaps Eugene’s quickest time on stage 5 marks a turning of the tide. However, it could be very much a false dawn. When Lynch’s KPL Impreza WRc came to a halt at the in control he said. “We had a good run I’m just making sure now that we get round every stage, that’s the main thing. We have 7s of a lead and here in Lurgan Park that is a lot”. Eugene Donnelly commented. “Yes we had a good clean run, I stuck with the same tyres and everything went well”.

Kenny McKinstry’s co driver Noel Orr commented. “That run felt a lot quicker but it was exactly the same time as the previous one. We’ve been looking at Lynch off the line and through the gravel bits after the start and he’s just picking up a fraction here and a fraction there, he’s obviously prepared to push it to the limit”. Glenn Allen in 4^th was just that few seconds off the pace of the guys in front, Glenn saying. “Eugene is picking those couple of seconds a stage but I’m not going to put it on the chopping block, I’ve no insurance on the car”. Niall McShea improved on that one, the Production World Rally Champion saying “At least we didn’t do anything wrong that time it was almost our first clean run. On the last stage we had the start control knob in the wrong position”.

Denis Biggerstaff also went better in his Metro 6R4 after the earlier incident when the throttle pedal broke off. Paul Bird admitted to a small mistake on that 5^th stage, in his own words “I ran it off the road at the end of the trees”. James Gillen said. “We’re just driving for enjoyment now, the earlier off at the chicane cost too much time”. Neale Dougan seemed to slow on that run, Neale saying something about differential problems. Adrian McElvaney was laughing his head off when he came in and said. “We’re just acting the cod now, missed a few gears and getting a bit wild, great fun”. Adrian is in 21^st position following his earlier problem. Ollie O’Donovan is 24^th and now having good clean runs setting decent times. Craig Bennett has done well to battle back into the top 10, his Focus WRC running with only 3 gears. Mark Doyle stalled the McKinstry Subaru off the start line and lost a lot of time plus any chance of a good result despite his earlier encouraging performance.

In Group N Garry Jennings had another good run, fastest of the all the other group N cars, although Michael Curran is only half a second behind. Garry said his worst moment of the stage was when he came into the control and Gary Milligan asked him for a cheque for his Ulster Rally entry!!! Gary Milligan is Clerk of the Course for the Ulster this year. Nigel Hicklin said that he has trouble remembering the stage whenever they change the layout. John McGlaughlin in the gpN Lancer reported a very scary moment over the gravel and also that his Lancer clutch is starting to go, that it is one rally overdue a change. Terry McGonigle says his Lancer is sliding about all over the place and he doesn’t know what is wrong. Young Ian Barrett is still struggling to discover the technique of driving on gravel. (Maybe he should take some lessons from his father Francis Barrett who is a former Irish Forestry Rally Champion!). Martin Elliott was well down in the dumps when he finished the stage and reported. “The car is missing like hell, we’re right out of it, dropped a load of time”.

In the race for the best Escort title – Camillus Bradley continues to lead, David James is 2^nd Escort and Wesley Patterson 3^rd. The Escorts are competing in class 2 and interestingly Rodney White has his beautiful Sunbeam up to 2^nd in the class, splitting the Escorts. Stewart Clarke was in the running but he has dropped down the field following a major problem in stage 5. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to John McIlroy of Autosport and Ciara Conlan who produced the previous RallyNews while we had a small tea break!)…..

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