RALLY NEWS NO.10 Omagh Service/Sunday 3.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 Barnes Gap
1st (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.27.03.5
2nd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.27.39.6
3rd (4) Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Impreza WRC) 1.27.39.8
4th (9) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 1.28.26.4
5th (6) Kevin Lynch/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 1.29.56.9
6th (3) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.29.58.6
7th (12) Sean Devine/Paul McGlaughlin (Impreza WRC) 1.32.06.9
8th (8) Gareth Jones/Andrew Bargery (Focus WRC) 1.32.15.0
9th (20) Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 1.34.03.4
10th (18) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 1.34.37.2

Through the Barnes Gap stage Kris Meeke really flew but then lost time near the end with another puncture. However he still set fastest time, 5s up on Higgins and 10s up on Donnelly. Rally leader Mark Higgins said at stage finish. “Just 2 stages to go, we’ve backed off, its get her home time”. Meeke’s puncture happened very near the end of the test when he clipped a wheel and it really cost little time. He was able to change the offending rim before the next stage, Rousky. Eugene Donnelly looked fairly resigned at stage finish and he’s just concentrating now on getting his Subaru back to the finish.

Andreas Mikkelsen had a good run to maintain 4th place but having said he had a good run he was still 2s down on Donnelly so making no impression on the cars in front, but a long way ahead of the cars behind. It is Kevin Lynch in 5th now, the Dungiven man on a good pace through that 10th stage, but still almost 7s down on the young Norwegian. Eamonn Boland in 6th place reported that his Focus centre differential seems to have stopped working, which of course throws extra stress on the rest of the transmission so he is doubtful if he is going to get the car back to the Guildhall finish. Sean Devine and Gareth Jones in 7th and 8th had a clear run. Martin Doherty was 9th but his Subaru is either running very late or has stopped. There was no sign of him at stage finish. Emma McKinstry is having a fairly fraught morning, her world rally car having some niggly suspension troubles. Denis Biggerstaff upped his pace this morning and was into 12th o/a after stage 9, but for some reason was running late at the end of stage 10. Stephen Murphy slipped to 14th because of his puncture on the first run over Barns Gap and has now withdrawn his Focus from the rally, mainly because of the death of his friend Enda Nolan.

Seamus Leonard continues to lead group N but that could all change as Seamus put his Lancer off the road on that Barnes Gap stage for a good 20s. That in itself wasn’t a disaster as he had nearly a 1m lead over Colm Murphy, but the Leonard Lancer is now damaged and the intercooler is broken which means of course that the engine will be down on power. Colm Murphy, who is of course the current GpN Tarmac Champion, said at stage finish. “Game on”. Roy White had a good time through the stage and he seems a lot happier with his Lancer’s Proflex suspension. Similarly Connor McCloskey was well on the pace and he has made a lot of changes to the set up of his Lancer. Young Colin Britton was setting some good times in GpN but he has pulled out following yet another puncture.

Just outside the leading GpN group, behind McCloskey is John McGlaughlin then Kevin O’Donoghue, Gary Cairns and Conor Byrne. Shaun Reid seems to have retired his Reid Motorsport GpN Lancer with further mechanical troubles.

In the National Rally Glenn Allen has a fairly substantial lead with his Corolla WRC. Raymond Johnston is 2nd in his Subaru and Stephen Moore (Focus WRC0 3rd. Neil McCance leads group N and is 4th o/a just a second behind Moore. Camillus Bradley is leading 2 wheel drive, Camillus burning the rear tyres of his wee red Escort on every other stage! In the Fiesta Sporting Trophy Conor Harvey leads by 2.9 seconds from Tadgh Buckley with Alastair Fisher 3rd, just over 6s back and Jonny Greer 4th. None of the drivers report any problems. William Mavitty crashed his example out on the first stage this morning. In the Historics Mervyn Johnston leads in his Mini Cooper. Dessie Nutt was struggling with his Mini Cooper, the car wouldn’t rev above 4000 but going better now. In the Post Historics Sean Treacy has got ahead of Adrian Kermode, the latter lost time with a road penalty. Sean has had a trouble free run although his BMW 2002 is bottoming out on some of the tougher Rousky jumps and dips.


More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd)