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| Fastnet Stages |
| RALLY NEWS No.3 - Skibbereen - Tuesday @ 12:57:58 |
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UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 MIZEN HEAD
1st (2) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Corolla WRC) 28.05
2nd (8) Shaun Gallagher/MJ Morrissey (Citroen C2) 28.43
3rd (6) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 28.47
4th (5) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 29.05
5th (11) James Washington/Eurig Davies (Darrian) 29.07
6th (28) Tommy Doyle/Colin Fitzgerald (Clio) 29.52
7th (17) Fergus O'Meara/Liam Brennan (Escort) 29.53
8th (4) Aaron Burkart/Jom Limbach (Citroen C2) 30.00
9th (3) Bob Fowden/Jerry Hynes (Subaru) 30.06
10th (10) Sean Flanagan/Brian Duggan (Impreza N) 30.15
Liam McCarthy and his co driver Kieran Murphy had a great run through this morning’s stages and have set a string of fastest times in their Derek McGeehan prepared Corolla WRC. Liam, who has won this rally twice before, first time 20 years ago in a 1600 Escort, commented. “It is a mixed bag of tricks out there, all sorts of conditions and road surfaces, but we have kept it all together and the car is working really well”. Shaun Gallagher has been setting some scorching times in his Citroen C2 S1600 and indeed Letterkenny man Shaun could have been even faster except that the wheel gun that he keeps by the side of his seat for quick tyre changing broke loose on the classic Mizen Head stage, and rattled around his feet for a couple of miles.
Alan Ring in 3rd place decided to go for slick dry weather racing tyres for the Mizen Head stage which was a very brave decision and he had a couple of big moments on the damp roads early in the stage. Then towards the end as the roads dried out the slick tyres really paid off. Kevin Kelleher on the other hand had a fairly miserable Mizen stage. He said that he got a bit of a fright at the start of the stage and felt the suspension, rightly or wrongly, wasn’t working very well and he admitted to “backing off where I should have been attacking”. Washington James has had a great run so far to hold 5th and best in the 2 wd category. Tommy Doyle had a big moment in stage 3 and he crunched his Clio up a bank and dropped quite a few seconds, but he still leads class 7 and is 6th o/a. Fergus O’Meara/Liam Brennan are the best of the Escorts so far although Fergus reckoned he could have been a little bit quicker in places.
The visiting German crew of Aaron Burkart & Jom Limbach are down in 8th place and being a small bit cautious of the roads on this their first rally in Ireland. Bob Fowden still has a slight handling problems with his Subaru and co driver Gerry Hynes admitted that he was a bit rusty at the start but joked that a couple of jags of WD40 has got him going! Sean Flanagan rounds off the top 10 and is lying 3rd in group N.
Just outside the top 10 Leonard Downey is 11th and Eugene Donnelly 12th. Eugene commented here at service. “I have to admire Shaun Gallagher and the times he’s putting up, The commitment needed for these S1600 cars is mighty. But it is also great fun”. Eugene said as well that he had clipped a stone or something on the 2nd stage and the tracking on the Excel Citroen was knocked out quite badly which cost him quite a few seconds. On our last Rally News we had a time for young Daragh O’Riordan, but his Corsa has not yet arrived here at service so hopefully we will have some news on him soon. Ger O’Donovan was in the top 10 after the first stage but he has lost a few seconds in stage 3 when the power steering on his Impreza broke.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
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