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RALLY NEWS NO.4 Clonmel/Finish/Sunday 5.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 – last stage
1st (1) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 58.12
2nd (7) Jack Sleator/Andrew Purcell (Impreza WRC) 59.26
3rd (4) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 59.47
4th (6) David James/Jim Crowe (Focus WRC) 1.00.36
5th (9) Ian Barrett/Eoin O'Flaherty (Impreza N) 1.01.05
6th (5) PJ McGrath/Killian Duffy (Impreza WRC) 1.01.36
7th (31) Gwyn Thomas/Anthony O'Connell (Puma) 1.02.18
8th (15) Owen Murphy/Paul Williams (Lancer N) 1.02.34
9th (30) Terence O'Shaughnessy/Eugene McGrath (Corolla GT) 1.02.51
10th (18) Liam Wall/Andy O'Donoghue (Escort) 1.03.06
For Gareth MacHale today's victory on this Sepam backed Stonethrowers Rally was an important milestone in his Motorsport career. It has been a great comeback following his Sardinia accident, it was also Gareth's first tarmac victory as against his wins in the forests and it was a great way to celebrate his 27th birthday! As Gareth's father Austin kept a watchful eye, Gareth brought his Focus WRC into the finish ramp, thanked his co-driver Brian Murphy with whom he was doing some pace note development work, also thanked Tom Gahan his engineer and the organisers of the rally. He also said "Today was exactly how we wanted it, to get mileage. The car ran perfectly in the difficult conditions and we were able to back off over the last couple of stages". Jack Sleator set a fastest time on the last stage to reinforce his 2nd place, Jack taking the opportunity to fit hard compound tyres and it certainly paid off as the sun broke through the clouds. Kevin Barrett had a good steady run to 3 rd place and he was another one doing a bit of extra work on his pace notes, trying to see further down the road. David James in 4th was well pleased with his performance.
Ian Barrett and his co driver Eoin O'Flaherty scored another group N victory and had no problems with this Impreza towards the end. Their closest rival in the category, Owen Murphy, slid his Lancer into the scenery almost within sight of the finish of the last stage but got away with little damage and 2nd GpN. PJ McGrath experimented with the differential settings on his Impreza WRC towards the end and he was very happy with his speed on the final stage. Terence O'Shaughnessy had a great run to take a class win in his Corolla and Gwyn Thomas also had a great drive in his Puma to finish 7 th o/a and win class 15.
Finally for now well done to all in the Tipperary motor club for a great event, especially Micheal Boland the Clerk of the Course and all his team.Our thanks to all who helped and supported the Rally News service.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
