RALLY
NEWS NO.6 Parc Ferme Sligo/Saturday 6pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Isle of Innishfree West
1st
(7) Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Focus WRC) 1.08.55.0
2nd
(6) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.09.48.2
3rd
(4) Kevin Lynch/Allan Harryman (Impreza WRC) 1.09.53.5
4th
(9) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 1.12.10.3
5th
(8) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Corolla WRC) 1.12.53.1
6th
(2) Freddy Loix/Robin Buysmans (Ignis) 1.12.54.8
7th
(1) Daniel Carlsson/Mattias Andersson (Lancer N) 1.12.57.0
8th
(16) Roy White/Stephen McAuley (Lancer N) 1.14.22.8
9th
(25) Noel McCarrick/Anthony O’Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.15.51.3
10th
(10) Sean Devine/Killian Duffy (Impreza N) 1.16.17.7
11th
(18) John McGlaughlin/David McElroy (Lancer N) 1.16.28.7
12th
(38) Eddie DonaghyCharlie Donaghy (Lancer N) 1.16.30.2
Matthew
Wilson and his co driver Michael Orr brought their Focus WRC into
overnight parc ferme here at Sligo two very happy young men. Their
lead over the chasing Eamonn Boland & Francis Regan in a similar
Focus WRC is 53s, with Kevin Lynch/Allan Harryman a further 5s back
in their Subaru. There are 6 special stages through the forests of
Enniskillen tomorrow, terrain that should hold no worries for the 18
year old Matthew, as he has won 2 forest rallies in the last 2
weeks. Matthew commented. “That last stage, past Parkes Castle, I
want to just go and do that again, it was fantastic. An awesome
stage even if it was a bit damp at the end, it was like a race track
in places. We’ve had a fantastic day, OK it was a bit difficult at
the start in the tough conditions and we haven’t done any real
tarmac since the Ulster Rally, but overall its been a great day”.
Eamonn
Boland had a real good run through the final stage this evening but
he was still 2s slower than Wilson but at least he had done enough
to turn the tables on Kevin Lynch. Lynch got up into 2nd
place after stage 5 but suffered a front right puncture just at the
end of stage 6 when he went about 25 metres down a ditch and the
front right wheel clipped a stone. Kevin lost little time there but
had to do stage 6 with a tyre which was running in basically the
wrong direction for the tread. Still, Kevin can look forward to
tomorrow to the forest stages that he is familiar with from the
Lakeland Stages Rally.
Gareth
MacHale had his first clean run of the day through stages 5 and 6
and it showed in his times moving from 7th to 5th
overall. Gareth is still a fair bit behind 4th placed
Glenn Allen, Glenn’s Corolla still hampered by brake troubles.
Freddy Loix had a fabulous run through the final stage to get ahead
of Daniel Carlsson. Freddy saying. “This is a good stage for me, no
bumps no 1st and 2nd gear, the car is so good
on this stage. In stage 5 I also pushed hard on the bumps and jumps,
it is OK for one time but not twice!” Daniel Carlsson picked the
wrong tyres for the final stage, seemed to be too soft a compound
and the car was moving about on the road. The Swedish driver still
however leads group N from Roy White in the FESP Lancer. Aaron
MacHale dropped out of the group N picture somewhat when he banged
the rear quarter panel of his Lancer on a muddy square left in stage
5 and the bodywork got squeezed in against the tyre. After a mile or
so the car filled with smoke and Aaron had to stop and pull the
bodywork out so he could keep going.
We have
just received a text message from paddy White’s co driver Martin
Brady to say “Paddy White’s rally over – wheel fell off! On straight
before Dromohair hairpin. We’re OK – front wing and wheel in field
1km away!”
Further
stories include – young Darren Gass’s hired Puma blew its engine on
stage 2. John McGlaughlin has speeded up well over the last few
stages and is lying just on the edge of the top 10 and well up in
gpN. Shaun Gallagher has had the turbo changed on his Lancer but is
down the order, also finding the car down on power as the new turbo
is only running at one bar. Sean Devine dropped a lot of time on the
penultimate stage when he punctured a front right tyre on a long
hairpin right where he clipped a stone. Another text message from
Garry Jennings following his retirement basically said that a 50
pence part fixed the gear linkage! Seamus Donnelly had a lucky
escape in stage 4 when his Lancer turbo pipe split, the car filled
up with smoke but kept going and he lost little time. As of a couple
of stages ago Andrew Mullen in the Sligo Pallets Puma was leading
his class by over 30s from Andrew Stewart in his Swift. Sligo man
Andrew said he was having a great day’s rallying, despite the car
losing reverse gear and also knocking down a few chicanes! More news
in the morning…
BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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