RALLY NEWS NO.9
Armagh – Saturday 11.30am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD
AFTER STAGE 12 MULLYCAR LOUGH
1st (1) Mark
Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Focus WRC) 1.15.55.9
2nd (3) Eugene
Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.16.47.0
3rd (5) Tim
McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.17.11.1
4th (4) Derek
McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.17.20.1
5th (9) Eamonn
Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.17.26.2
6th (6) Austin
MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.17.52.0
7th (8) Matthew
Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 1.18.03.2
8th (7) Peadar
Hurson/Damien Connolly (Impreza WRC) 1.18.05.5
9th (18) Seamus
Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 1.21.53.9
10th (20) Alan
Nesbitt/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 1.22.29.1
“The engineers did a mega job
sorting out the rear suspension.” Reported Mark Higgins when he brought his
Focus into service once again here in Armagh. Mark
was fastest through stage 11 and then fastest again through stage 12, and has
built up almost a minute of a lead over Eugene Donnelly. Following his accident
this morning when his Focus careered backwards into a telegraph pole Mark said
that the car just wasn’t right over the jumps. His engineers have increased the
damping to match the spring rates, and Mark says the car is working really well
now. Having said that Mark admits that he is really starting to
think about points in the Pirelli British championship, getting the car to the
finish, and is prepared to lose a second a mile if necessary, as there are only
4 proper stages left. Also switched into a championship frame of mind is 2nd
placed Eugene Donnelly. Pirelli Tarmac championship points are Eugene’s goal
and said of that stage 12 Mullycar Lough, “It was a dirty stage, tricky, it
would be easy to have had a spin or a puncture so I really did back off.
I came here to finish 1 place behind Derek, had a good race yesterday,
but now its time to settle down.”
Tim McNulty in 3rd
place said. “We had a spin in that last stage, it was past the long straight at
the mushroom farm and then it was square right and square left with high banks –
for a split second a spectator taking a photograph caught my eye and suddenly we
were gone sideways and wedged. I’m finding the pace very fast, but not
absolutely crazy. You get days like that, just get comfortable. Yesterday wasn’t
so good, we had the diff locking thing and as well as that it took a little
while to get comfortable with Anthony back reading the notes”.
David Higgins lost his group
N lead on that stage 11 – we reported on the last RallyNews that one of his
Lancer’s brakes was spouting smoke and flames and the brake pedal was going to
the floor. That transpired to be a loose brake nipple but David still had no
brakes in stage 12 and the car flew off the road backwards into a field.
In the fracas the exhaust broke and got closed over which dropped the
power and of course made the most peculiar noise. Anyway, David has managed to
get the car to service and his total now is 1.23.00.9 after losing about 2
minutes in the stage. This puts him just over a minute behind
group N leader Seamus Leonard so it will be interesting to see if he has a go at
pulling back the time. Seamus did back off slightly in stage 12 as there was a
vibration in the front left corner of his Lancer.
We reported on the last
RallyNews that Alan Nesbitt was having gearbox troubles, he has managed to keep
the car going and thinks he may be able to get it sorted at service. Garry
Jennings was fastest of the early group N runners through that 12th
stage although Garry says his Lancer seems to be getting very tired indeed. Emma
McKinstry put her gpN Lancer into a field on that stage but lost little time,
reportedly Lorna Smith was off at the same place.
Derek McGarrity’s co driver
Dermot O’Gorman says they are still struggling with the down on power engine and
in his words “Derek’s in the ditches trying to keep up, really struggling, its
getting a bit ropey”. Matthew Wilson missed a gear but otherwise
had a good run through stage 12. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Kieran
McAnallen put the 00 Lancer off the road at the end of stage 12 and on stage 11
his mobile phone had slipped under the pedals and he’d been nearly off half a
dozen times. Sean McArdle is getting more used to his Cordoba WRC and
starting to enjoy the car although has lost several minutes with spins. Brian
O’Mahony has put his Puma into a field for half a minute and it is now minus a
front right wing. Darren Gass was flying in the little Saxo but lost a mountain
of time with a broken throttle cable, and then put the car off into a field in
stage 12 when the brakes gave up the ghost. Possibly the same field as David
Higgins. Stephen Petch in the Group N Impreza has parked in stage 12.
Billy Coleman Award runner up Peter Wilson is having a good run in
his Civic but is unopposed in his class, as is Conor Harvey, although he lost
over a minute when he put the 206 off the road in stage 8. Alan Carthcart is
running with a broken manifold in his Honda. Kate Heath’s Impreza seems to have
no anti lag following a re-mapping of the engine.
More news later. BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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