RALLY NEWS NO.8 Newry Service + End of SS9/Saturday/3pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 ANNASEERAGH
1st (4) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.34.28.6
2nd (1) Gareth MacHale/Craig Parry (Focus WRC) 1.35.15.4
3rd (3) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 1.35.25.9
4th (5) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 1.37.52.3
5th (12) John McGlaughlin/Crawford Henderson (Lancer N) 1.42.06.4
6th (16) Brendan Cumiskey/Conor Foley (Lancer N) 1.45.21.4
7th (11) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 1.48.50.6
8th (40) David & Suzanne Wright (Lancer N) 1.49.18.5
9th (8) Denis Biggerstaff/Alastair Wylie (Impreza WRC) 1.49.30.2
10th (24) Tommy Doyle/Tony McDaid (Clio) 1.51.26.2

The shock news in from stage 9 is that 3 times Circuit winner Derek McGarrity is out of this year’s rally, his Subaru engine blown. Derek and his co driver Diarmuid Falvey remained 4th despite their Subaru breaking its power steering belt on stage 8, but then it was time to call it a day at the start of stage 9 when the engine gave up the ghost. Fastest through the stage was Tim McNulty with Eamonn Boland and Gareth MacHale almost equal fastest 3s in arrears. Then Aaron MacHale was a further 8s back but still not a lot to choose between them.

Eamonn Boland continues to do a marvellous job at the front of the rally and when he stopped his Subaru at the end of stage 9, apart from saying “So far so good”, his main concern was looking back up the road to see if there was any sign of Derek McGarrity, just to see if he was OK. Tim McNulty in the Pierse backed Subaru also had a good run while Gareth MacHale reckoned he was cautious in the stage, felt on the day of his recce that it was a slippy place, but as it turned out there was a load of grip in today’s dry conditions. Aaron MacHale opted for a harder compound tyre for this loop of 3 stages but it seemed to work OK.

John McGlaughlin continues to lead group N although he was looking slightly worried at the end of that stage, reporting that his engine seemed to be banging about under acceleration, almost as if an engine mounting had let go. Brendan Cumiskey reported no problems, and was fastest in GpN. Kevin Kelleher was next fastest and taking it steady, as was David Wright. Tommy Doyle in the Clio had a broken sump guard for most of the stage. This caused a lot of noise but here was no real damage. Joseph McMonagle is doing his best to keep young Toni Kelly behind him in the race for best Donegal crew, both going well.

NATIONAL RALLY
Unofficial leaderboard after stage 9 (3rd National stage)
1st (102) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Impreza WRC) 22.19.3
2nd (101) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 22.45.7
3rd (103) Connor McCloskey/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 22.48.0
4th (107) Neil McCance/Sean Ferris (Lancer N) 22.48.6
5th (106) Sean McArdle/Ger McMonagle (Corolla WRC) 22.57.4
6th (120) Colm McFall/Donal Lennon (Esc Cos) 23.34.5

Sean Devine was again fastest of the National runners and reported no problems at the end of stage 9, said he had a good run, as did Glenn Allen. Connor McCloskey in the KBB Doors Impreza reckons he is getting the hang of the new car now, was a fraction quicker than Glenn Allen through that stage. Neil McCance dropped a couple of places, admits to missing a couple of gears, his own fault, not the car! Cahal Rogers was into the top 6 despite having to replace the clutch on his Lancer this morning. Cahal was also worried about a misfire and although the engineers changed just about everything electrical on the Lancer the misfire got no better and Cahal has pulled out. In the Historic Rally Mervyn Johnston in his Mini Cooper led Wm Stevenson after SS8. Richard Hall in his Escort was just in front of Derek Boyd in the Post Historic section. Denis Moynihan was 3rd ahead of Sean Treacy. Dessie McCartney was down the list, his Porsche having suffered a puncture.

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