RALLY NEWS NO.5                                Athenry Service/Saturday 3.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Francis Gap

1st (5) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 31.35.1
2nd (6) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 32.01.1
3rd (3) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 32.24.2
4th (7) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 32.25.3
5th (16) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Lancer N) 32.49.8
6th (23) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 33.11.6
7th (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 33.22.7
8th (12) PJ McDermott/Sean Harris (Impreza WRC) 33.23.2
9th (15) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 33.29.1
10th (14) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 33.48.1

(The above times are unofficial and include the times for stage 1 about which there are some questions.  A few anomalies surround those stage 1 times and they are not being shown on official results)

Following his first stage puncture Mark Higgins was way down the order but he has certainly made up for lost time over the last few stages.  His Subaru stopped the clocks well under the “bogey” time in stage 5 and then far and away fastest through stage 6.  That stage 6 threw a bit of a spanner in the works for Tim McNulty who caught up with Eugene Donnelly’s struggling Subaru and dropped 16s to Higgins.  Tim McNulty shrugged his shoulders here at service and said. “That’s rallying”.  Eugene Donnelly was upset that he had held anyone up but there was something wrong with his Subaru throttle sensor.  Mark Higgins reckoned that the big difference between his performance this afternoon and this morning is that he can now see out the windscreen of his Subaru.  Mark was one of 4 drivers to beat the “bogey” time in stage 5.  The others were Tim McNulty, Eamonn Boland and Eugene Donnelly. 

A major retirement after the Ballybuck stage was Norwegian visitor Andreas Mikkelsen, his Focus WRC grinding to a halt with a reported broken steering arm.

Aaron MacHale was a bit hesitant over the Francis Gap stage and then got a shock at the stage finish when he discovered that the control had been moved and he was short of a few notes!  Kevin Barrett reported a hairy drive over the 6th stage but otherwise all OK.  Niall Maguire lost some of his impetus over the Francis Gap stage and dropped a few places.  Seamus Leonard who lost so much time this morning in stage 1 but has been setting decent times during the day was another to drop time in stage 6 when his Impreza landed in a bog.  Seamus managed to get out and get going with just a few seconds loss.  Sean Lyons was another to go off in Francis Gap, he got caught on a 2 left with running water and dropped 4m. He was just a few seconds down on JJ Fleming going into the stage. JJ’s Focus is now on full song, the overheating problem resolved when they found a leaking hose.  Mike Bird spun his Subaru in stage 4. 

Patrick Callanan & John Kilmurray in the Civic went off the road briefly in stage 6, co driver John also losing his pace notes!   Martin Rowe is down the order slightly, Martin having no confidence in the handling of his Subaru which he reckons needs different springs and they are just not available. Colm Murphy was slowed slightly over the last couple of stages with bent steering on his Lancer.

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

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