RALLY NEWS NO.5 Skibbereen Service/Sunday 3pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Bawnishal
1st (2) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 49.41
2nd (6) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 51.02
3rd (5) Aaron MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 51.18
4th (18) James O'Sullivan/Brian Duggan (Impreza WRC) 51.20
5th (8) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 51.25
6th (21) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Lancer) 52.29
7th (11) Willie Fannin/Mick Courtney (Impreza N) 52.46
8th (16) Phil Collins/Derek Brannigan (Escort) 53.08
9th (10) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Impreza N) 53.33
10th (14) Keith Cronin/Anthony Connell (Lancer N) 54.09

It has been wet all day but stage 6, Bawnishal, was virtually a river in places on shiny tar, and as Patrick Elliott’s co driver Paul Goodman said “Every corner was an accident waiting to happen”. One driver caught out was number 1 seed Ray Breen. He hand braked his Focus WRC at very slow speed at a junction and the car slithered over the shiny tar into a deep gully. There were large crowds of spectators to push, pull and lift but a rope had to be fetched from a nearby farmhouse before the Focus could be extricated. Breen’s time loss was close to 10 minutes and naturally any chance of a good result gone. This all happened on stage 6. Patrick Elliott has well over a minute lead now so he can afford to be extra careful over the last 2 stages. Aaron MacHale was slightly off the pace over the morning stages but was fast through stages 5 and 6, Aaron putting it down to a change of tyres.

James O’Sullivan continues his good form to move up into 4th place. Michael Barrable has had a really good run to hold 2nd. Melvyn Evans was nearly knocked out at the start of stage 5 when he inhaled fumes from the car in front and then in stage 6 he was delayed behind Breen’s incident. Denis Cronin is way back in the order, Denis’ Subaru spun and lost more time in stage 6.

There was a major upset in Group N when Kevin & Martin Kelleher retired from the lead on stage 5, their Lancer engine apparently suffering a problem with a crankshaft sensor. Kevin did say that he felt the car going off cylinders in stage 4 so possibly that was the crank shaft sensor working loose. Willie Fannin now has a good lead in group N which allow Willie to back off a little bit, but having said that he will have to keep a weather out for young Keith Cronin who is flying through the stages. Alan Ring continues to drive at a steady pace, intent on getting his Subaru to the finish in his quest for Dunlop championship points. Mark Morgan changed to different tyres for stage 5 and 6, he speeded up and is just outside the leaderboard on 54.30.

Jer O’Donovan in the Escort Cosworth has had a steady run all day, happy to be building up miles and his total is now 55.12. Phil Collins continues to lead the 2 wheel drive section. Phil changed the gear cluster in his Escort following the earlier noise and said it is going really well now. He joked here at service that the highlight of his day has been passing a Focus world rally car in a stage. That happened to be David James who is feeling very unwell, a renewal of his Cork 20 problems where he was being affected by oil fumes in the car. Peter Kelly is still in the running for 2nd best 2 wheel drive behind Collins, but his Escort seems to be missing slightly and not revving out cleanly. John Hickey is on 56.10 and is having more intercom problems. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net