UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2

1^st (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 16.00.5

2^nd (1) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 16.01.3

3^rd (3) Charlie Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 16.06.1

4^th (11) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 16.33.1

5^th (8) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 16.34.7

6^th (14) Michael Curran/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 16.39.7

7^th (6) Noel Redmond/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 16.43.8

8^th (5) Kevin Barrett/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 16.55.1

9^th (15) Alan Ring/Derek Brannigan (Impreza N) 16.59.5

10^th (12) Hugh M Doherty/Michael McBride (Impreza WRC) 17.03.1      

The persistent drizzly wet conditions caused a certain amount of mayhem on the 2^nd stage of this Galway Summer Rally with top runners Jim Harrison, JJ Fleming, young Ian Barrett and Daragh Rafferty all having various accidents in the stage.  Junction 5, a downhill approach into a cautioned K left turn 6 right over gravel bump seems to be the worst place.  Jim Harrison’s Impreza WRC ended up in a garden, Charlie Donnelly overshot there and lost a fair bit of time, Willie Fannin had a massive overshoot at the same place and then Daragh Rafferty’s Impreza had a big accident and blocked the road. Ian Barrett’s Lancer ended up stuck in a ditch, although we do not know exactly where in the stage, and JJ Fleming thumped the back of his Impreza and parked up.  When we say his Impreza, it is really Eamonn Boland’s car, and when Eamonn heard the news he rolled his eyes skywards and quietly quipped. “That’s his deposit cheque gone”.   One of the later crews, Martin McGee and Damien Crawford to be precise told us that they had to stop at the scene of the accident and noticed a thin stream of oil running down the road towards the accident spots. 

No such problems for No.1 seed Ray Breen.  He was far and away fastest in the stage.  Ray went into stage 1 on full wet tyres and although they were not absolutely ideal for the first stage, they suited stage 2 very well.  Interestingly Breen also reported an overshoot at that junction 5 in stage 2.  This clearly demonstrates the speed he was going at on the rest of the stage.  Charlie Donnelly actually reported 2 spins, one of them when the engine stalled, and having led by 12s after stage 1 he was suddenly 3^rd, nearly 6s in arrears.  Eamonn Boland ran slick dry weather tyres and said. “They weren’t so bad, although it was wet the surface was mostly quite abrasive”. 

Denis Cronin reported that he made his usual slow and cautious start, also had a small problem with the brake bias.  Noel Redmond concentrated on keeping everything very tidy, as did Kevin Barrett, both in Impreza WRCs.  Niall Maguire is having a good run so far although Niall was pretty upset when he saw Jim Harrison’s Impreza off the road and made sure that he could see the OK board before the continued.  Hugh Martin Doherty had a problem with his Subaru steering in stage 2 following a good time in stage 1, Hugh also had an overshoot in stage 2.  

Michael Curran had a good run through the first 2 stages to move into the group N lead ahead of Willie Fannin, Michael did catch Hugh M Doherty in stage 2 but said it cost him no time. Alan Ring had a massive moment at that junction 5 in stage 2 and Willie Fannin lost his group N lead when he careered down the slip road. 

Jack Sleator is on a total of 17.36.9 having lost some time on the first stage when the wipers wouldn’t work properly and also his anti lag system wasn’t switched on correctly.  Joe McHugh did the first stage with no intercom and therefore no pace notes, his co driving brother Dermot said he made a great job of driving it blind.  Martin Ward in the BMW said he picked the wrong tyres while Aidan Walsh in the Escort had an overshoot in stage 2. Frank Sweeney, also in an Escort, had 2 spins.  Paul Dempsey is running at 33, having his first outing in a group A Impreza, and he was on the wrong diff settings and the wrong tyres for the first stage, and said it was like a bad handling Mk2 Escort. 

Unofficially we have Martin Ward leading cl.14 on 17.45 from Sean Lyons on 17.54. In class 13 Paddy Boyle/Marty Sherlock are setting the pace with 17.27.2. Pat Spain is 7s back and Aidan Walsh had a poor first stage and he is 14s back from Spain.  Finally for now on the Rally Germany Kris Meeke’s Citroen has just lost 1m40s with a puncture but has managed to hold on to 2^nd in the Juniors behind Daniel Sorda and ahead of Guy Wilks.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net