RALLY NEWS NO.3 Skibbereen Service/Sunday 10.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2 Mealagh Valley
1st (2) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 16.58
2nd (4) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 17.06
3rd (1) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 17.08
4th (8) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 17.33
5th (17) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 17.34
6th (6) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 17.37
7th (5) Aaron MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 17.43
8th (18) James O'Sullivan/Brian Duggan 9Impreza WRC) 18.06
(21) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Lancer) 18.06
10th (11) Willie Fannin/Mick Courtney (Impreza N) 18.11

Patrick Elliott continues to set the pace at the front of this Fastnet Rally. When he brought his Subaru into service at Skibbereen the Cavan man said. “We lost a few seconds towards the end of stage 2 getting past a course car which was stopped, a Sierra Cosworth, and we could have gone harder on the first stage but overall it is going well and we’ll see how the day goes on”. No.1 seed Ray Breen wasn’t quite so sanguine about being held up by the stricken OO car and in fact cruised the last few corners of the stage, otherwise Ray said he was “easing his way in”.

Denis Cronin felt his Subaru is really good now and it is just a matter of getting his confidence up. Melvyn Evans had an overshoot at the quarry in the stage 2 but still had a pretty good time. Aaron MacHale lost quite a few seconds when his Focus locked up under braking and it shook the Dubliner’s confidence. Michael Barrable said he was pretty comfortable although it is first time driving his Focus in the rain, and he thinks he should maybe have a few cuts in the tread of the front tyres to try and counteract this soaking wet weather. James O’Sullivan set a decent time on the first stage, but lost certainly over 20s on the 2nd stage when he stalled his hired McKinstry Subaru WRC on the start line.

In Group N Kevin & Martin Kelleher were fastest again with the “The Big Fella” Lancer, Kevin saying. “I was surprised, it felt slow, there’s more in it”. Keith Cronin lost over 3 minutes on the opening stage with a puncture on his Lancer but set 2nd fastest group N time on stage 2, 3s down on Kelleher but 10 up on Fannin and 20 up on Ring. Alan Ring said he is being pretty careful, just concentrating on getting his Subaru to the finish and thinking of the Dunlop C/ship group N title. Willie Fannin felt his Impreza N12 was a bit stiff on the first stage but seemed to work better on the 2nd. Visiting Welsh crew Mark Morgan & Tony Fisher are on a total of 18.37 in their gpN Lancer. They have a new gearbox fitted for this rally and it seems to have different ratios. Killarney man Kevin O’Donoghue grazed a bridge on stage 2 but still had a good time. Kevin was originally entered in his Escort but switched to his Lancer at the last minute.

Phil Collins is the fastest 2 wheel drive competitor so far on a total of 18.25, but Phil said he noticed a wild noise in his Escort’s gearbox towards the finish of stage 2. His sparring partner John Dalton put his Darrian off the road in stage 1. Willie Whitty crashed 300 yds into stage 1 and we think they have blocked the road. Tadgh Linehan has got off to a dreadful start, spinning and stalling his Impreza and dropping minutes. We mentioned earlier that Dave Slattery had a new engine in his Escort. The car has stopped or going very slowly in stage 2, reason as yet unknown. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net