RALLY NEWS NO.5 Service/Tralee/Sunday 3.20

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Smearla River
1st (5) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 49.42
2nd (1) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 49.44
3rd (3) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 49.59
4th (4) Donie O'Sullivan/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 50.08
5th (9) Seamus Leonard/John McCafferty (Impreza WRC) 50.13
6TH (8) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC0 50.37
7TH (6) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 50.44
8TH (7) Noel Redmond/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 51.03
9TH (11) Jack Sleator/Andrew Purcell (Impreza WRC) 52.04
10TH (12) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 52.06

Michael Barrable was joint fastest with Donie O’Sullivan through the short 5th stage, Kieldoff, and then fastest by 1s from Donie on stage 6, but Barrable stays stubbornly in 3rd place with the battle for the lead between Niall Maguire and Patrick Elliott, these two also swapping seconds on every stage. There are 2 stages remaining and it promises to be a real race to the flag here at the Fels Point Hotel. There has been a huge amount of rain over the last couple of hours which made 2 stages, Kieldoff and Smearla River, almost waterways for the drivers and there are lurid tales coming in of 100mph slides. Patrick Elliott lost a few seconds on a tight hairpin right junction in stage 6 when he had a half spin, but otherwise a good run. Niall Maguire reported no problems at all, Niall really piling on the pressure in his quest, not just for victory, but to extend his advantage in the Dunlop National Championship. Donie O’Sullivan reckons he could have had some more cuts in his tyres to dispel the standing water, otherwise OK. Michael Barrable is driving flat out to try to regain the lead that he lost with his stage 4 puncture, but he is on an almost impossible task. When Glenn Allen brought his Corolla WRC into service he said. “That’s gutsy stuff out there, flat out downhill on standing water and the car wandering about, aquaplaning!”

Kevin Barrett has the brakes sorted on his Subaru but Kevin admitted to backing off in the very wet conditions. Seamus Leonard in 5th has repeated that he doesn’t think his Subaru has the legs of the cars in front. Noel Redmond turned in a couple of decent times for stages 5 and 6. He discovered that he didn’t have the proper switches turned on for the first 4 stages and the car was in semi safe mode. Jack Sleator said he fell asleep through those 2 stages, his times were well down.

Alan Ring had a big scare at the end of stage 6 and very nearly was off the road, but kept it altogether to hold his Group N lead. Ray Hilliard’s GpN Lancer was piffing from a manifold following a heavy landing after a big jump but going OK. Eamonn Daly is holding on to 2nd place in group N and it would appear that Danny McBride has now come into 3rd in the category. Willie Fannin is now 6th in group N behind Gavin Harris and Fergal Costello.

Maurice Moffett continues to lead the 2 wheel drive category and cl.14, ahead of Trevor Mulligan. Moffett said that he has eased his pace slightly, that he’s in a sort of no man’s land with a little bit of fresh air between himself and Mulligan. Dave Slattery now leads cl.13 ahead of Fintan Canty, Canty is getting fumes into the car and is a bit light headed. Aidan Walsh was well up in cl.13 but dropped a lot of time through stages 5 and 6 when his Escort windscreen totally misted over. Mark Sheahan is leading cl.6 in his “Mr Binman” Clio and is coming up into the top 20. Thomas Fitzmaurice set 2nd fastest group N time through Smearla River but Thomas is well back following his S4 puncture.

More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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