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| West Cork Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.7 - Service Darrare College - Sunday @ 13:16:20 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.7 Darrare College Service/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 BALLINASCARTHY
1st (141) Denis Cronin/Coleman Hurley (Impreza WRC) 1.19.22.2
2nd (2) Brian O`Mahony/John Higgins (Impreza WRC) 1.19.24.9
3rd (5) Owen Murphy/Anthony Nestor (Lancer N) 1.20.24.3
4th (1) Daragh O`Riordan/Tony McDaid (Fiesta WRC) 1.21.07.1
5th (8) John Joe Fleming/Robbie Ward (Focus WRC) 1.22.06.8
6th (4) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 1.22.40.9
7th (6) Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan (Escort) 1.23.07.2
8th (12) Ed O`Callaghan/Raymond Scott (Escort) 1.24.35.7
9th (9) John Cope/Alistair Wylie (Impreza WRC) 1.24.59.5
10th (33) Stephen Carey/Brid O`Driscoll (Civic) 1.26.48.5
The above leaderboard is slightly provisional as both Pat O`Connell and Adrian Hetherington crashed out on that loop and caused stage interruptions.
Out at the front of the rally Denis Cronin has had minor mishaps on each of the 3 stages to allow Brian O`Mahony to close to within 2s of the lead. There are just 3 stages remaining until the Clonakilty finish. Owen Murphy continues to do a brilliant job to hold 3rd o/a and lead GpN. Denis Cronin commented here at service. `We were caught on the hop on the first stage today and stalled the car. On the 2nd stage of the loop we had too much respect for the mud and lost time although the pace seemed fine. Then on the 3rd of the loop we had another stall and a spin.` Brian O`Mahony said. `Yes, we have been going well. We have softened the suspension and altered the settings in the central differential.` Owen Murphy told us. `The car is understeering a lot. We picked too soft a tyre probably but it is a matter now of getting the car home. It is getting very sore` What Owen means by that is that he has been driving the car so hard on this rally it really needs a rebuild!
Daragh O`Riordan in 4th place set a fastest time to start the day, a quick time on the middle stage and a relatively average one on the third of the loop Daragh said. `We changed the damper settings and moved the seat further away from the pedals. It is like going back a few years getting used to the car. The last stage just did not flow. The Fiesta is totally different to the 2 litre car, the Subaru. But we will keep plugging away and also hope to do a few more rallies than previous years`. John Joe Fleming has completely lost his grip on 4th place and had a bad time through stage 8 with a couple of overshoots and a spin. His Focus WRC was on the wrong tyres and getting no grip.
The news we have on Pat O`Connell`s accident is that he rolled his Lancer at a high speed place in stage 8, fortunately with no injuries. As regards the Adrian Hetherington accident there was a small delay at the start of SS9 and his Escort tyres probably went a bit cold and the car got away from him on the first long corner. The Escort went into a spin and clipped the scenery damaging a rear wheel. Frank Kelly stopped with Adrian to make sure both crew members were OK. Frank himself has been going better today. He has discovered that the shock absorber hangers are too high leaving no compression in the shocks. He has raised the ride height of the car as a temporary measure. He said. `I should have sussed it, coming out of junctions the car was not squatting, it was sitting on the bump stops.` Heatherington`s following his very fine run brings Stephen Carey/Brid O`Driscoll into the top 10. They have been putting on a very smooth accomplished performance to lead cl.3 in their Civic. Four crews have made the trip from Dungloe this year to compete and one of them is Vincent Bonner`s son John who is lying 30th o/a in his Escort. John said. `We are being very well treated here in West Cork. The stages are brilliant and my car is faultless so far`.
Finally for now, a quick G`Day to Mr.Bones and his family in Australia. Hope you like the photographs on our new Blog page. The Inchydoney picture was just for you! Some great memories…
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net We would like to thank John Harrington for all his assistance with official Results and also thanks to Daphne & Mossie. Much appreciated. *Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
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