1^st (4) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 16.17.4

2^nd (3) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 16.23.0

3^rd (5) Donal O'Donovan/John O'Rahilly (Celica) 16.30.3

4^th (24) Ashley Field/Janice Holley (Darrian) 16.35.4

5^th (8) Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinall (Impreza WRC) 16.35.5

6^th (9) Nigel Hicklin/Sam McMullan (Octavia WRC) 16.43.1

7^th (11) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 16.49.9

8^th (7) Bob Fowden/Jerry Hynes (Impreza WRC) 16.51.1

9^th (10) Phil Collins/Derek Brannigan (Escort) 16.53.2

10^th (15) James O'Sullivan/Kieran O'Callaghan (Lancer N) 16.59.6

Despite the beautiful sunshine and rapidly rising temperatures here in Clonakilty, stage 2, Clogagh, just outside the town, had wet muddy patches underneath the trees.  It definitely wasn’t a good stage for Liam McCarthy, whose Subaru engine went off song, nor for JJ Fleming who slid his Focus WRC into a ditch.  McCarthy led after the opening stage at the Ring, but when he reached us here at service he reported. “The engine started to misfire and then we stalled at a junction”.  This allowed Denis Cronin into the lead, Denis reporting “The car feels nice, although I might soften the back just a little”.  Donal O’Donovan in 3^rd place said. “Its hard to have confidence, ‘tis worse we’re getting with this soft brake pedal”. 

JJ Fleming said little about his accident, there was only a small bit of damage to the back of the Focus, but he lost about half a minute.  JJ got the car out of the ditch fairly quickly, but then it took him a while to settle down and he was caught by Bob Fowden.  The Welshman squeezed past JJ after a couple of miles, and then he put his Impreza into the ditch on a square right, happily losing only a few seconds.  Steve Fleck spun his Subaru which cost about 10s.  Nigel Hicklin had to slow mid stage to avoid a golden Retriever dog.  When he was saying this, a bystander commented. “Its as well you missed it. If you had hit the dog Liz would never have allowed you on the RallyNews ever again!” 

Phil Collins is the first 2 wheel drive on the road, although Ashley Field is the highest placed 2 wd in his Darrian.  Phil reported “The road is very slippy in places, there are damp muddy patches, we’re losing a lot of traction out of the junctions”.  Phil Collins actual time for the stage was 9.09.8. John Dalton in the Darrian did 9.05.5.  Ashley Field 8.09.4.  Gwyndaf Evans was disappointed to be down on 9.18.0, Gwyndaf lost a fair bit of time when he caught Wesley Patterson in the stage.  Welshman Gwyndaf said. “Just one of those things, it was a narrow place and he couldn’t let me past, I was behind him for about a mile and a half”.  Ashley Field in the Darrian is the real surprise package this morning. Co driven by Janice Hooley, Ashley reports no problems so far. 

One of the front running Mfk2 Escort men, Willie McCarthy, has parked his Ford in a ditch towards the end of that 2^nd stage.  Tim Ball had fuel problems with his Darrian through stage 1.  At least he thought it was fuel problems, he disconnected the rev limiter on the road section to stage 2, and feels the car is better, but the ignition pack is possibly knackered.  Tony Davies lost some time when his Subaru spun at a hairpin, and he is also still having problems selecting gears.

In Group N, 023 Tiles man James O’Sullivan was far and away quickest through stage 2 with a time of 8.05.3.  Early gpN leader Mark Morgan recorded 9.21.2. Gabriel Martin, still unhappy with his car’s handling, 9.26.3.  Kevin O’Donoghue 9.31.3.  PJ McGrath 9.20.4.  John Hickey, still lamenting his forest suspension set up, 9.26.7.  Willie John Dolan is debuting a new Impreza N11 and had a massive spin at the end of the first stage, happily no damage.

Finally for now, our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mike Panes who died suddenly last Wednesday. 45 year old Mike was a great co-driver and a regular visitor to Irish rallies including West Cork. The funeral is at 3pm Tuesday 22^nd March, Thornhill Crematorium, Cardiff, followed by a few drinks at the Ty Mawr Arms, Lisvane, Cardiff.

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