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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Finish/Athenry/Sunday 6.30 UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 (FINAL STAGE) Charlie Donnelly and his co driver Paddy Toner pulled out all the stops through stages 7 and 8 to set stormingly fastest times to win the rally by 21s from Michael Barrable. Aaron MacHale came into 3rd. When Donnelly stepped out of his Corolla WRC here at the finish outside the Raheen Woods Hotel he was both delighted and relieved. Leaving service in Loughrea Charlie’s Corolla was tying with Michael Barrable’s Focus WRC and Donnelly had the threat of a big road penalty hanging over his head following power ste4ering problems at the start of stage 5. There were no penalties and as stated above Donnelly flew through the last 2 stages. He commented “I’m relieved, tired and in pain but I really feel great at the same time. It was a good rally and there was a lot of drama, but that’s what rallying is all about. I’m delighted to win.” The icing on the cake for Charlie is that he has now put himself into a very strong position in the Dunlop National Championship. It is certainly far from over but Patrick Elliott’s chances took a big dive today when his Subaru broke down with an electrical problem on the first stage. The next event in the series is the Clare Stages a few weeks from now and that could well be the decider even with the Fastnet remaining. Michael Barrable in 2nd place said “We enjoyed the day immensely, found something like the old form”. Aaron MacHale in 3rd said “We went a bit better this afternoon but I was too slow this morning. I have to get my act together for Clare, maybe do some testing”. Noel Redmond was pushing hard for 3rd place and was within a second of MacHale going into the last stage but Redmond’s Subaru incurred a front right puncture through that Black Road test and he dropped 18s to Aaron. Martin Doherty in 5th had his usual accomplished run while Niall Maguire in 6th said he really enjoyed the day, just an overshoot plus a stalled engine earlier taking the edge of his performance. Tim McNulty looked as if he was going to challenge for a top position but he retired his Subaru on the final loop of stages following a clutch problem. Gabriel Martin and his co driver Paddy Robinson put up a marvellous performance to win the Group N category from Willie Fannin. Willie closed right up on Martin on the penultimate stage but on the final stage Martin pulled out all the stops and was 10s faster than his Subaru rival. Gabriel commented here at the finish “We were on the right tyres towards the end. I’m delighted to have won group N. I think a lot of it is down to switching back to a Lancer this season”. Willie Fannin commented “Gabriel drove hard on that last stage, I certainly didn’t back off”. Maurice Moffett led the 2 wheel drive category for most of the day but Sean Lyons pulled out all the stops towards the end and almost overtook Maurice. However Maurice just stayed in front to win by 0.3 of a second. Paddy Boyle turned in a great show to win class 13. Finally for now well done to young Ross Forde who mainly put the rally together, John O’Connell who was CoC on the day and all the hard working Galway MC team. Our thanks to all who helped and supported the Rally News service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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