Rally News No.4              Service In Mountrath Mart Sunday 3.45pm

 Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 6

 1^st (1) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 49.24

2^nd (3) Martin Doherty/Andrew Cullen (Impreza WRC) 51.10

3^rd (6) Aaron McHale/Gerard McGonigle (Corolla WRC) 52.42

4^th (17) James M Stafford/James F Stafford (Lancer N) 53.26

5^th (12) David James/Derek Brannigan (Focus WRC) 53.31

6^th (20) P J McGrath/Killian Duffy (Impreza N) 53.34

7^th  (18) Mark Courtney/Paul Kelly (Celica) 54.10

8^th (19) Darragh Raferty/Martin Brady (Impreza WRC) 54.20

9^th (21) John Kelly / Robbie Shaw (Lancer N) 54.27

10^th  (164) Stephen Cullen/Edward Roche (Impreza N) 54.57

11^th (25) Mike Quinn/Sean Enright (Escort Mk2) 55.19

12^th (14) Adrian Quinn/Alan Morgan (Lancer N) 55.21

To say that Ray Breen has this Birr Stages Rally under control would be an understatement, the Wexford man is just cruising round the stages and is still stunningly fast in his Focus WRC.  He was 21 seconds quicker than Martin Doherty in stage five and 23 seconds quicker in stage six to lead the rally by almost 2 minutes with just two stages remaining.  Martin Doherty is pleased with his place in his pristine Impreza WRC while Aaron McHale is pretty much on an identical pace to the Donegal man and is professing himself happy in the Corolla WRC.  Darragh Raferty came into service in a bit of a panic having lost at least a minute in stage six when the front diff broke on his Impreza WRC but still lies strongly in the top ten.

In GpN young Ian Barrett has had to retire the Triton Lancer after his gear box almost inevitably gave up the ghost.  The Stafford brothers continue to set a storming pace in the GpN battle though lost a few seconds in stage six with a slipping clutch but still leads comfortably from P J McGrath. 

David James is settling in really well to his Focus WRC and describes the car as absolutely beautiful but the Wexford man has been feeling poorly all day and reckons that it is getting worse and is really struggling to drive the car.  Mark Courtney is having a strong run in his Celica but dropped a few seconds with a spin in stage five. 

Further down the field Sean Lyons had been having a cracking run in his Mk2 and we reckon had been leading after Liam Wall retired but he overshot a hairpin in SS5 and dropped over a minute to his nearest competitors.  Mike Quinn seems to be leading the 2wd’s in his Mk2 while Trevor Culbert is also going strongly and has a total of 55.52.  Sean Lyons is now on a total of 56.42.  David Delaney is still going in the little S1600 Fiesta but has no clutch and is struggling to get the car moving from a standing start.  Class 13 seems to be between John Quinn and Sean McEvoy who are swapping seconds for this class.  

More News Later …… Michael Patterson & Zoë Todd