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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Lurgan
Park/Saturday 5pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 (FINAL STAGE)
1st (1) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 15.04.5
2nd (3) Kenny McKinstry/Fintan McGrady (Impreza WRC)
15.18.6
3rd (5) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza WRC) 15.23.6
4th (7) Denis Biggerstaff/John Lewis (Impreza WRC) 15.35.0
5th (4) Niall McShea/John Reddington (Impreza WRC) 15.39.0
6th (20) Garry Jennings/Dara Mullan (Lancer N) 15.43.3
7th (19) Michael Curran/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 15.44.1
8th (9) Peadar Hurson/Damien Connolly (Impreza WRC) 15.52.6
9th (12) Neale Dougan/Rory Doyle (Escort WRC) 15.55.1
10th (13) Sean Devine/Kenny Hull (Impreza WRC) 16.03.1
Kevin Lynch punched the steering wheel of his Subaru as he crossed the
finish line of this Turkington Lurgan Park Rally. Co-driven today by
Francis Regan this is Kevin’s 3rd win in the Park, icing on
the cake for the Dungiven man to be fastest on every stage. He said
“He who has the biggest balls wins this rally, everything was 100 per
cent today, a real good day. The car was fine, our only problem was to
stay in front. It takes the sponsors, the rally was very
successful”. Second placed Kenny McKinstry with Fintan McGrady on the
pace notes today, was first over to congratulate Kevin Lynch, Kenny’s
comment “There was no catching you today”. When Kenny was offered
commiserations on finishing runner up he said “We were out of luck,
but sure that’s my life story recently. It was a very good day, I
really enjoyed it. Even when we got a stage right we weren’t able to
take time out of Kevin. The big consolation for me is that I have 3
cars home in one piece”. Third placed David Higgins was driving one
of those cars and he said “I’ve driven lots of cars all over the world
but I’ve never had as much fun as today. A big thank you to Hankook
Tyres for bringing me over. I’ll do a lot of things to come back here
to the park next year. Any time we lost today was the running of a new
stage”.
Niall McShea’s co driver John Reddington said. “Niall’s too hard on
himself, he’s not driving a rally car often enough, he still did OK”.
Just ahead of 5th placed Niall was Denis Biggerstaff in 4th
and he commented at the end. “I loved it today. The Metro is a bit of
an animal, the Subaru is much easier to drive just like a road car and
I enjoyed it much more than I thought I might”.
There was a fantastic race for group N honours between Tarmac Chanpion
Garry Jennings and National Champion Michael Curran in their
respective Lancers. Michael Curran was just a fraction quicker over
the last few stages but Garry won the category by .8 of a second.
Garry said “I’ve had closer finishes but not many. I enjoyed the day,
it was a great race with Michael, he pushed us very hard over the last
4 stages although I was running with the differentials switched off. I
would rather have finished 2nd than damaged the car. Its
still great. This is my 3rd group N win in Lurgan Park”.
Michael Curran said “I was glad I was fighting with Garry, it made it
a real good day. Maybe if we had started on the right tyre it would
have been a different story but that’s the way it is”.
Last minute stories included Raymond Johnston dropping out of the top
10 when his Subaru sheared a wheel off on the last stage, Raymond and
co driver Richard Bell just happy to finish. Stewart Clarke
unfortunately had a major accident on the penultimate stage, happily
Stewart and his co driver Barry Murphy were unhurt. Wesley Patterson
won the Mark 2 Escort Challenge from Alister McRae by just a couple of
seconds. Emma McKinstry got the drive shaft fixed on her Lancer and
made it through to the finish. Neil Weaver got his Corsa working well
towards the end and managed a good finish. Mark Doyle had throttle
problems but stayed in the hunt with his Peugeot. Rodney White put up
a great show today in his Sunbeam but was slowed slightly towards the
end when the car started cutting out on corners, possible fuel surge
trouble. John McGlaughlin had a huge fish tailing moment after the
chicane in his Lancer, got away with it and finished just inside the
top 20. Martin Elliott was 3rd gpN, Richard Hogg 4th,
John McGlaughllin 5th juust ahead of Gareth Logan. Lots
more stories but no more space….
Very well done to CoC Barry Taggart and Rally Director William
Fullerton as well as all the hard working team in North Armagh MC &
Car Club. Our thanks to the Turkington Group for their sponsorship and
hospitality today, as well as the support of Craigavon Borough
Council. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson & John McIlroy
& Dougie Hughes)
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