RALLY NEWS NO.2
Oldcastle Service/Sunday 1.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1
1st (1) Mickey Curran/Mark McNally
(Escort) 9.14.9
2nd (12) Mark Alcorn/Kevin
McCaffrey (Corolla) 9.27.1
3rd (2) Gordon Rogers/Philip
McEntee (Escort) 9.29.6
4th (16) Russell Woods/Stuart
Clarke (Escort) 9.33.5
5th (10) James Cassidy/Peter
Wilson (Escort) 9.44.7
6th (4) Arthur Kierans/Conor Foley
(Escort) 9.48.0
7th (8) Ollie O'Reilly/Martin
Cahill (Escort) 9.48.8
8th (9) PJ Bonner/Paddy Boyle
(Escort) 9.52.0
9th (135) Gerry Smith/Raymond
Drury (Escort) 9.56.5
10th (5) Pete Greene/Gerard Greene
(Escort) 9.58.3
Despite not being happy about the frosty
roads Mickey Curran set the stage alight with a stunning time to
lead this Castle Single Stage Rally. Unfortunately Mickey took one
of the jumps so hard that he feels he may have damaged his Escort’s
gearbox. The mechanics are now going to have a good look at it in
service. Also going really quickly was Mark Alcorn in his Corolla,
Mark determined to make his mark and not worry too much about the
frost, although he said his Corolla was sliding about a fair bit. In
truth, as the sun warms the roads most of the frost is rapidly
disappearing to leave just a few tricky places in the shadows and
also the uphill section just after the hairpin a few miles in was
reportedly very slippery.
Gordon Rogers reckoned he had a fairly good
run, no problems, while 3rd on the road Arthur Kierans
felt he was getting no grip at all. Peter Greene spun his Escort
twice at hairpins. Pat Bonnar is just off the leaderboard on a time
of 10.02.2, Pat feeling that he was too cautious.
Gerry Smith in the Escort at No.135 had an
overshoot at the square left just before the flying finish. Gerry’s
Escort dived up a narrow lane and he lost quite a few seconds
getting back on to the road.
Early retirements include – car 7 Gareth
McCullagh. Car 14 David Whitty. Car 17 Johnny Fitzsimmons.
McCullagh apparently crashed his Escort, this has to be confirmed.
No news on David Whitty. While Johnny Fitzsimmons crashed his
Escort about a mile past the quarry and blocked the road. First car
on the scene was Geoffrey Dolan in the Sunbeam and he had to stop,
and then a queue of cars rapidly built up so no doubt those
competitors will get a notional time for the stage.
More news after stage 2. BRIAN & LIZ
PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
