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RALLY NEWS
NO.9
Clonakilty Service/Sunday 1.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12 Ballinascarthy
1st (2) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.22.38.6
2nd (7) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 1.23.13.8
3rd (6) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 1.25.46.0
4th (5) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 1.25.48.4
5th (10) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 1.29.29.5
6th (12) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 1.29.51.1
7th (8) Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop (Impreza WRC) 1.29.55.7
8th (25) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Escort) 1.30.54.4
9th (36) James Stafford/Frank Dwyer (Darrian) 1.31.24.5
10th (22) Wesley Patterson/Ruth Guest (Escort) 1.31.45.6
11th (51) Washington James/Aled Jones (Darrian) 1.32.05.8
12th (19) James O'Sullivan/Brian Duggan (Lancer N) 1.32.21.3
Neil Williams 13th: Conor Curley 14th: Adrian Hetherington 15th:
Michael Barrable and co driver Dermot O’Gorman are really
keeping the pressure on rally leader Tim McNulty, but no matter
what they do McNulty keeps edging away and extending his lead. When
McNulty’s Pierse backed Subaru came roaring in here to Clonakilty
service he took time out to explain that the weather conditions
were mixed but that he had no problems. Tim was 3s faster than Focus
WRC driver Barrable through stage 11 and 0.7 of a second faster
through stage 12. It may not seem a lot but it all mounts
up. Barrable did mention that he had brake problems through
stage 10. His engineers re-fitted pads that they had used
earlier and the brakes were fine through stages 11 and 12.
Denis Cronin had a good run through those 2 stages and got ahead
of Liam McCarthy for 3rd. Liam’s new Subaru suffered a puncture
in stage 12 when a wheel clipped a rock lying in the road.
Denis actually caught McCarthy towards stage finish and perhaps
lost a few seconds. Liam had no problems really in stage 11, but
Denis took 12s off him there as well so the pressure was on. Tony
Davies/Brian Hardie had been 5th overall but leaving service to
go to stage 11 the gearbox box and that was that. This allowed
John Dalton up into 5th, the Welshman saying he is having a brilliant
run.
Kevin & Martin Kelleher hold 6th place in their group N Lancer
and had a good run through stage 12. Their closest group N
rivals John Foley & Jonathan Waterman were forced to retire
their Impreza at stage 11 when the differential broke. This allows
James O’Sullivan/Brian Duggan up into 2nd gpN with their 023
Tiles Lancer. James reported a spin in stage 11 and joked
“That blows my chances of catching McNulty!” Sean
Flanagan is now 3rd GpN.
Jon Ingram has moved up from 8th to 7th in his Subaru and that is
despite a spin in stage 12. Kevin O’Donoghue’s mechanics
took his Escort gearbox out at last service and refitted it with
new seals, which has cured his oil leak. Wesley Patterson
has moved up the leaderboard to 9th o/a and reports no problems.
While Washington James in 10th is struggling with 4th gear troubles
in his Darrian. David Guest in the Clonakilty Black Pudding backed
Peugeot is leading his class now by 3 minutes despite intercom problems.
Dave Slattery is leading the Sunday Runners, Dave’s Escort
stopped for 5 minutes with wiring problems yesterday.
Further retirements include – Gwyndaf Evans whose Escort did
not restart this morning, reportedly having clutch problems. Willie
Power’s Darrian also did not restart this morning. The
normally very consistent John Quinn crashed his Chevette HSR on
a left hander over a bridge in the Ballinascarthy stage.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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