RALLY NEWS NO.4                                Lurgan Park/Saturday 3pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5

1^st (1) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 10.11.4

2^nd (3) Kenny McKinstry/Fintan McGrady (Impreza WRC) 10.20.7

3^rd (5) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza WRC) 10.26.9

4^th (7) Denis Biggerstaff/John Lewis (Impreza WRC) 10.31.4

5^th (20) Garry Jennings/Dara Mullan (Lancer N) 10.37.9

6^TH (14) Nigel Worswick/Clive Molyneaux (Escort WRC) 10.39.0

7^TH (4) Niall McShea/John Reddington (Impreza WRC) 10.39.8

8^th (19) Michael Curran/Fabian McShane 9Lancer N) 10.40.2

9^th (11) Raymond Johnston/Richard Bell (Impreza WRC) 10.40.5

10^th (13) Sean Devine/Kenny Hull (Impreza WRC) 10.44.5

Another stage, another fastest time, for Kevin Lynch.  Kenny McKinstry thinks that his pace is getting closer to the leader’s but with over 9s in hand Kevin looks odds on for a hat trick.  “We’re still taking it steady in there” said Lynch.  “I think his key is neatness” said Kenny. 

Former British Champion David Higgins now looks more secure in 3^rd after Glenn Allen’s fine performance came to an end.  His Toyota suffered a suspected prop shaft failure on the start line of stage 5 and the Cookstown man’s day ended on the spot.  Higgins still thinks there is more time to come from his Subaru.  “I softened the car up before but with the new stage layout it is too soft. We’ll change it back now”. 

Allen’s demise promotes Denis Biggerstaff to 4^th – the Kinallen man’s time was only four tenths of a second off Higgins.  “We hit a piece of concrete and I thought we might have a flat tyre” said Denis.   “I backed off a bit but it seemed OK”. 

Garry Jennings now holds 5^th – he has turned off the differentials on his Mitsubishi because of worrying noises earlier but his main class 1 rival Mike Curran only managed to take 0.2 of a second from him in stage 5. 

Blackburn’s Nigel Worswick really seems to have got the hang of the park.  “Its great round here when you hook it all together” said Nigel. “I don’t think we could have found any more time in there”.  His time of 1.45.9 gave Escort WRC rivals like John McKeown and Sean Haveron something to think about. 

Other tales included – an overshoot for Niall McShea, a missed gear at the hairpin for Peadar Hurson.  John McGlaughlin clicked the chicane near the finish and thinks he may have damaged his steering.

Wesley Patterson pulled out all the stops on that 5^th stage to increase his advantage in the Mk2 Escort challenge and that was despite Wesley’s Escort making strange 2^nd gear noises.  Alister McRae is 2^nd and Jimmy McRae has now pushed his way up to 3^rd. Camillus Bradley was flying and right in the hunt but he has had a bad stage 5 time dropping over 15s. 

On the WRC Rally Deutschland Sebastien Loeb is enjoying Lynch-style levels of dominance. He leads Citroen team mate Daniel Sordo by 24s with Ford’s Marcus Gronholm over 2m adrift in 3^rd.

More news later. SHAMMY & SCULLY (John McIlroy & Liz Patterson)..with a little help from BP!