RALLY NEWS NO.4 Service/Westport/Sunday 1pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 AUGHAGOWER 2
1st (1) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 30.18
2nd (7) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 30.33
3rd (2) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 31.05
4th (3) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 31.08
5th (5) Noel Redmond/Derek Brannigan (Impreza WRC) 32.04
6th (6) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 32.05
(16) Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Focus WRC) 32.05

The above times are from the early cars only. Some of the drivers further back could well come on to this leaderboard.

The main story from stage 3 was that Tim McNulty was fastest by 2s from Niall Maguire with Aaron MacHale a further 5s back. Conditions were still difficult and McNulty reported a very big moment.

PJ McDermott had been lying 2nd after stage 2 but his Subaru is apparently off the road on that 3rd stage.

Looking back to the times after stage 2: Danny McBride was in fact ahead of Willie Fannin in the battle for group N with Fergal Costello coming into 3rd in the category.

Rodney Wilton led class 14 in his Escort from Eugene Ferry in a similar Ford. Mark Alcorn led cl.13 from Camillus Bradley. Joe McHugh led cl.15. Daniel Conaghan, clerk of the course for the Donegal Forestry, led cl.12 in his Escort from Patrick Bonner. John McHugh led cl.11. Adrian Cannon led cl.1 and Roger Kennedy led class 7. Pakie Duffy led cl.3. Kenneth McHale in his Yaris led cl.1.

We mentioned on an earlier RallyNews that Sean Flanagan/Brian Duggan had stopped on stage 2 having set a top 10 time in stage 1. They managed to get the Subaru into service, get it repaired and are going out to do a couple of stages to see if the car is OK.

One of the interesting things that is happening on the rally is that Seamus Coffey is going to climb Croagh Patrick every day for 7 days, starting on Tuesday. Aaron MacHale and his co-driver Killian Duffy are climbing beside him on Sunday 16th. The whole venture is to raise money for the Irish Autism Action Group.

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