RALLY NEWS NO.4 Parc Ferme/Saturday/7pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 (End of Day 1)
1st (3) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 45.31.1
2nd (1) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 46.27.2
3rd (2) John McCarthy/M Morrissey (Corolla WRC) 46.28.6
4th (4) Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Focus WRC) 48.31.8
5th (5) Kevin O'Kane/Martin Brady (Impreza WRC) 48.45.6
6th (15) Pete McCullagh Jnr/Alan Dolan (Lancer N) 48.48.0
7th (20) Keith Cronin/Antony O'Conail (Lancer N) 48.49.7
8th (12) Garry Jennings/David Moynihan (Lancer N) 48.14.7 (includes 1m penalty)
9th (9) Dominic McNeill/Francis Kenny (Escort WRC) 49.18.1
10th (114) Sean Lynch/Martin McNicholl (Impreza WRC) 49.25.4

By his own admission Kevin Lynch had a slightly fraught day with a few overshoots and also stalled his Subaru at a hairpin, but the Dungiven man is still pleased enough to be leading the rally by almost a minute at this overnight halt. Kevin hasn’t really done a gravel rally since the Bushwhacker last year so this is a good warm up for his home Dogleap event as well as Lurgan Park. Second placed Glenn Allen went well towards day’s end, just a broken brake pipe earlier halting his progress. John McCarthy had been 2nd leaving last service but slipped to 3rd. John, current leader of the McCauley Trailers championship, has been hampered all day because his Corolla has a slight coolant leak under the bonnet. When the car overheats the ECU tries to close down the proceedings so the mechanics have fitted extra water sprays to the radiator to try to keep the temperature down tomorrow. Stephen Moore in 4th has been slowed during the day as his Focus is suffering a broken fly by wire system which also affects the anti lag. Kevin O’Kane in 5th has been comfortable enough with his pace and since Brian McGillen has retired Kevin is looking at 2nd place in the championship.

Pete McCullagh Jnr leads group N and he had a good run through the day. Garry Jennings has been fastest on stage times but has incurred a 1m penalty for an alleged jump start. Garry totally refutes this and is going to query it tonight. There were at least half a dozen other drivers penalised for the same thing at the same spot.

Dominic McNeill has at last managed to get his Escort WRC intercooler changed and also a damaged brake calliper so his car is in good fettle for tomorrow. James Murphy has also had many problems today with his Escort WRC, when the power steering pipe broke for example it also knocked out the active differentials. James has the car back on song and is just outside the leaderboard on 50.21.9 so is looking forward to tomorrow. John Hickey finished the day in some style, his newly build Impreza going well towards the end of the day and he is pleased that the new car has been reliable. Damien Quinn retired earlier today with a blown clutch on his Impreza WRC, he has it repaired and is here at parc ferme looking for a start on the Sunday leg.

Seamus O’Connell is on an overnight total of 50.04.03 and is the best placed of the 2 wheel drive cars. Neil Weaver also made it through the day despite breaking an engine mounting in stage 6. Neil’s co driver Nick Thornton commented that he thought it was a fantastic day’s rallying.

More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON HYPERLINK "http://www.rallynews.net" www.rallynews.net
(with thanks to Greg Shinnors)