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RALLY NEWS
NO.6 Service/Saturday
6.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 – END OF LEG 1
1st (2) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 54.09.6
2nd (7) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 54.30.1
3rd (5) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 55.37.0
4th (6) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 56.00.1
5th (16) Tony Davies/Brian Hardie (Impreza WRC) 56.16.1
6th (8) Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop (Impreza WRC) 57.30.0
7th (10) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 58.10.3
8th (12) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 58.52.0
9th (48) John Foley/Jonathan Waterman (Impreza N) 59.23.6
10th (25) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Escort) 59.24.5
11th (27) Willie Power/Liam Brennan (Darrian) 59.50.1
12th (51) Washington James/Aled Jones (Darrian) 59.53.7
Tim McNulty was fastest through stages 7 and 8 to cement an overnight
lead of 21s on Michael Barrable and with Liam McCarthy a further
1m7s back. McNulty reckoned he was driving about 95 per cent
over the last few stages, was happy with the way he was going and
looking forward to tomorrow. Michael Barrable is also looking
forward to tomorrow and said. “It will be interesting to see
how it goes, tomorrow’s stages are more technical, Tim’s
lead is only a puncture away”. Liam McCarthy adjusted
the rear anti roll bars of his Impreza S12 and was happy with the
car over the last few stages. Denis Cronin in 4th felt that
he was being a bit overly cautious through stages 7 and 8 as the
dampness descended on the roads. Tony Davies in 5th place
felt he didn’t go well on the last stage tonight but is looking
forward to tomorrow and wouldn’t say no to a bit more rain
as he likes wet conditions. Jon Ingram in 6th felt that stage 8
was his best stage of the day and certainly he set a really competitive
time on it, more or less equal to Liam McCarthy. John Dalton found
his Darrian skating about all over the road through the Ring and
Ballymore stages as the conditions got slippier.
Kevin & Martin Kelleher continue to lead group N as well as
hold 8th overall. They had a fortunate escape when their “The
Big Fella” backed Lancer clipped a wheel against a rock on
the Ring stage and the tyre subsequently went down at stage finish.
They were able to fit the spare although it was a different type
of tyre but got through stage 8 successfully. John Foley holds
2nd in GpN and 9th overall and was faster than Kelleher through
the Ring stage but dropped quite a few seconds through Ballymore.
In overall terms Foley has been pretty impressive today in view
of his 2 year rally lay off. James O’Sullivan was 3rd
GpN but the 023 Tiles man reports some overheating on his O’Donoghue
Lancer, but says he is having great fun.
Kevin O’Donoghue continues to be the best of the Mk2 Escorts.
There is a massive battle behind Kevin between the modified crews,
with Martin McGee, Adrian Hetherington, Conor Curley, Rodney White
and Neil Williams all biting at the heels of 12th placed Washington
James. Willie Power in 11th had the fuel pressure light flashing
when he came into service just now.
Looking outside West Cork for a minute to Bishopscourt – Glenn
Allen won from Denis Biggerstaff with Raymond Johnston 3rd and Stephen
Moore 4th. It was nip and tuck throughout the day between the drivers
but then when the rain came on stage 5 Allen streaked into the lead.
Glenn now leads the NI Championship. Richard Cathcart won gpN today
from Jim Crozier.
Back here on the West Cork Rally Todd Falvey in his Porsche was
quickest Historic on the first 2 stages of their category from Martin
Sheehan and don Moynihan in their respective Mk1 Escorts.
More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
(with thanks to Kevin O’Driscoll: Pat Cahill: Dougie Hughes:
Michael Patterson) |
