RALLY NEWS NO.3 Service/Saturday/1.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 BALLINASCARTHY
1st (3) Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Impreza WRC) 30.22.7
2nd (7) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Lancer N) 30.31.5
3rd (4) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Corolla WRC) 30.55.3
4th (5) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 31.25.7
5th (24) Neil Williams/Eurig Davies (Escort) 31.38.0
6th (15) Wesley Patterson/Ruth Guest (Escort) 31.38.3
7th (12) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 31.47.9
8th (22) Conor Curley/Nigel Frazer (Escort) 32.00.5
9th (21) Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort) 32.05.7
10th (17) James Stafford/Frank Dwyer (Darrian) 32.09.0

Stages 3 and 4 caused all sorts of problems for the drivers, mostly because of oil on the road, combined with the wet conditions and there were many stories of slides into ditches and punctures. Even rally leader Donie O’Sullivan had a big moment. The Impreza clipped a stone 2kms into stage 4 and finished the stage with a flat tyre. Donie dropped about 50s and described the conditions as “treacherous”. Colm Murphy is up to 2nd now and leads the Evo Challenge contenders but Colm is also struggling a little, his Lancer just a tad out of line having clipped a bridge in stage 4. Owen Murphy had been lying 2nd in the Evo Challenge but his Lancer lost a lot of time in stage 3 with a puncture, his cause not helped when the jack wouldn’t work. Liam McCarthy is 3rd, having been 2nd but knocked back with a penalty. Tom Curley had been 3rd in the Evo Challenge, we are awaiting his times from 3 and 4 to see if he has got ahead of Owen Murphy.

John Dalton in the Darrian was struggling very slightly through the wet first stage but with the roads drying a bit now he looks a bit more comfortable and has come up into 4th overall. Phil Collins has been knocked back following an off road excursion and a damaged oil pipe on his Escort and his total now is 33.23.6. Neil Williams has been turning in solid times in his Escort to hold 5th just ahead of Wesley Patterson in 6th. Wesley lost some time when he got caught in behind Kevin O’Donoghue’s struggling Escort. Kevin’s car having some problem in the handling department, not helped by the oil on the road. Also caught out by the oil was Pat Donegan who Escort was in a ditch for a couple of minutes. Adrian Hetherington had a spin at an acute right and his Escort got wedged, costing some time.

Guy Woodcock stopped and changed a puncture on his Super 2000 Escort in stage 2, lost 4 minutes. Gary & Harvey Bell in the MF GlobalSpreads backed Impreza dropped quite a few seconds on the first 2 stages because of overshoots. Brian O’Mahony felt himself to be very rusty and his Clio is down the time sheets slightly. Washington James put his Darrian off the road for minutes on the opening stage. Mark Nangle has a small issue with the head gasket on his Impreza but it seems to be holding out.

In the Citroen C2R2 Irish Cup Marty McCormack was the class of the field through the first few stages. Barry Evans was lying 2nd, Paul Manton 3rd, Mark Buckley 4th. Current UK Citroen C2R2 Champion Martin Laverty was struggling to get to grips with the conditions and was well down the order. Marty McCormack had a couple of half spins, but otherwise was flying. Steve Clery rolled his example, Buckley stopped to make sure he was OK, both got going.

We mentioned on our last RallyNews that Stephen Murphy was parked at the end of the 2nd stage following an off road excursion. It has transpired that the radiator and oil cooler were slightly damaged on his Impreza and he is going to try and get a run out tomorrow for the Sunday leg. JJ Fleming has not appeared at service after 4 stages, we think he slid his Focus off on oil on stage 3.
Well known commentator Dougie Hughes celebrated his 75th birthday last night in the Quality Hotel – and he’s none the worse for wear this morning – a remarkable man!! 26 year old Clonakilty girl Deirdre Archibald is one of the 4 finalists in the You’re a Star television show which has the big finale tomorrow. If you would like to cast your votes for the popular and talented Deirdre just text Star 9 to 53125.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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