RALLY NEWS NO.9 Ballinasloe Service/Sunday 12.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 11 Ballyfa
1st (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.24.27.5
2nd (1) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Focus WRC) 1.24.35.0
3rd (2) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.26.28.3
4th (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.26.57.1
5th (3) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.27.09.6
6th (8) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Focus WRC) 1.27.28.3
7th (14) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.27.54.6
8th (16) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 1.28.38.2
9th (12) Ray Breen/Damien Morrissey (Focus WRC) 1.28.52.5
10th (11) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.28.55.3
11th (6) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.29.28.8
12th (9) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 1.30.08.0

On stage 11 Ballyfa Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly was fastest by 5s from Marcus Gronholm with Gareth MacHale a further 11.5s back. Eugene said at stage finish. “That was one hundred per cent, brilliant stage”. Gronholm said. “It was so fast, I was lifting off on the crests, it is so different from yesterday”. Gareth MacHale reported all well, no problems. Mark Higgins moved ahead of Kevin Lynch, Higgins reporting himself to be a fair bit happier with the car while KPL really made no comment, but definitely seems to be struggling to come to grips with his new Focus WRC. Stephen Murphy in 7th said he has backed off, just consolidating his place, nothing to push for. JJ Fleming is lying 14th and gradually getting into his stride following a long lay off. Tony Davies is 16th. Tony is suffering from flu and also put his Subaru in a ditch briefly this morning. Hugh M Doherty is 22nd in his Focus WRC and has the tracking now well sorted out. Something in the rear got bent yesterday and the car was “crabbing”. PJ McDermott is out in an Impreza WRC and he is lying 23rd. Darragh Raftery is 25th.

In Group N James Foley said he was struggling to find a good pace, he now has a very substantial group N lead. Colm Murphy was fastest group N on that stage 11 although Colm is lying 6th in the category following yesterday’s puncture. Kevin Kelleher was 2nd gpN, Kevin O’Donoghue 3rd and Damien Tourish 4th.

In the Fiesta Sporting Trophy part of the rally Letterkenny’s Conor Harvey was fastest on their opening stage today. Conor is a wee bit worried about brake balance but otherwise OK. William Mavitty was 2nd fastest, 11s down on Conor. Mavitty hit one of the chicanes. Tadgh Buckley was 3rd, just 1s behind Mavitty. Tadgh reckons that he made a wrong tyre choice. Jonny Greer was 4th. Alastair Fisher was 5th, Kyle Orr 6th. Paul Quinn 7th having collided with a hedge at one point. Colin Flanagan retired at junction 6 with mechanical problems.

In the Historic section of the rally Martin McCormack was leading overnight from Frank Cunningham with Kevin Flanagan 3rd. One of the more bizarre retirements from the Historics occurred when firstly Ray Breen’s service truck ran into Ernest Stewart’s new Avenger and then the accountability car ran into the back of it. Ernest was unable to continue. He didn’t get one stage done!

In the Junior category of the rally Vincent McAree leads in his Peugeot 106 from Aidan Friel (Civic) with Darren McKenna 3rd in his Corolla.

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

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