UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 End of Leg 1
1st (4) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.05.13.2
2nd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.06.00.7
3rd (2) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.06.20.5
4th (14) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 1.06.44.4
5th (16) Stephen Murphy/M Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.06.54.5
6th (8) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 1.07.50.5
7th (3) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.07.51.5
8th (12) Aaron MacHale/Craig Parry (Focus WRC) 1.08.55.2
9th (27) Seamus Leonard/John McCafferty (Lancer N) 1.09.30.8
10th (9) Nigel Hicklin/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 1,09.58.5
11th (25) Alan Ring/Brian Duggan (Impreza N) 1.09.59.2
12th (11) JJ Fleming/Robbie Ward (Focus WRC) 1.10.27.1

Happily there were no major dramas amongst the front runners through the final Saturday stage, Ballydaly. This is the Gortnagane stage run the other way round, from Millstreet into Killarney. It is a narrow, fast, twisty road, very challenging and very difficult. It was Tim McNulty who set a very dominant fastest time of 11m02s. Eamonn Boland was 11.09. Gareth Jones 11.12, with Eugene Donnelly a further 3s back. McNulty was in top form when he finished the stage and just had time to tell us that he enjoyed it, the car went really well and of course the brilliant sunshine was the icing on the cake. At that Tim was whipped away for a drugs test, along with Eugene Donnelly and a couple of other top drivers. Eugene Donnelly was saying very little following stage 9, he gave a shrug of his shoulders and said something along the lines of..”Aaahh, just tiddled through the stage”. Which sort of sums up the Maghera man’s mood. Derek McGarrity in 3rd place still hasn’t got the water injection system on his Subaru fixed and said it was particularly annoying because it was such a hot day. When asked could it be sorted for tomorrow Derek was of the opinion, probably not, that there had been loads of service time today, and the engineers haven’t been able to sort it as yet. Derek’s co driver Dermot O’Gorman felt it had been a pretty difficult day, not very good for them, a lot of hassle with times and their own notes for the last stage were just a bit too complicated.

Gareth Jones in 4th seemed to have his Impreza sorted after his problems through stages 7 and 8 when the car had been off the road and slightly damaged. Stephen Murphy turned in another very respectable time for stage 9 to hold on to 5th. While Denis Cronin turned on his Impreza anti lag system through stage 9 and seemed to go very well. Denis had been concerned earlier about the car overheating and had tried to close the engine down a little just in case. Eamonn Boland in 7th set another very good time through stage 9 while Aaron MacHale improves from stage to stage. Aaron said. “I really enjoyed that last stage although the intercom is still going fuzzy and when you shout it is worse really”.

Seamus Leonard/John McCafferty continue to lead group N and indeed would appear to have set fastest gpN time on every stage today. Seamus saying “The car is really good, one of 3 works ones built by ADR, great to drive. I found that last stage very tricky, the road didn’t flow, its not the same as Gortnagane going the other way. Overall we had a good day, it’s a pity Garry and Colm have gone. Still Alan Ring was setting a sharp pace, but this new car is lovely to drive, very forgiving”.

Further stories include –JJ Fleming not happy with the brakes in his Focus WRC. Kevin Kelleher was very cautious on the last stage and dropped a little time whereas James Foley and Roy White speeded up a little. John McGlaughlin has crashed his Lancer out very heavily on a downhill gravelly section in Rock Chapel. Denis Biggerstaff lost quite a bit of time when his Impreza broke its power steering, its now fixed but Kinallen man Denis lost many minutes. Tom Holton had a poor last stage by his standards, the fans were disconnected and the car overheated, losing power. Willie Fannin has fixed the manifold on his Impreza, but it was a sort of temporary job and the broken exhaust has melted some of the bushes in the suspension/steering. Willie said his main priority now is to get the car sorted for next weekend’s Carlow rally. Phil Collins had a good run towards the end of the day and continues to lead the modfieds. More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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