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| West Cork Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.7 - Service - Sunday @ 12:26:56 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.7 Service/Clonakilty/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10
1st (1) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 1.09.01.6
2nd (5) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 1.11.23.7
3rd (7) Damien McCarthy/Eamonn Hayes (Civic) 1.13.05.2
4th (4) Alan Ring/James O'Brien (Lancer N) 1.13.43.9
5th (9) John Cope/Alastair Wylie (Impreza) 1.13.45.9
6th (12) Kevin O'Donoghue/Johnny Hickey (Escort) 1.14.17.7
7th (15) John Hendy/Alan Whyte (Corolla) 1.14.22.2
8th (17) Wesley Patterson/Martin McGarrity (Escort) 1.14.58.5
9th (10) Leonard Downey/Mark Murphy (Escort) 1.15.10.1
10th (20) Gwyn Thomas/Anthony O'Conaill (Puma) 1.15.11.1
The big news from stage 10, the 19.8km Clogagh test, is that rally leader Daragh O’Riordan is reporting a problem with his Subaru gearbox., Also Fergus O’Meara/Diarmuid Lynch who were 6th o/a starting the stage in their Escort, have stopped in the stage with reported mechanical problems. Peter Lloyd stopped on the previous stage when lying 10th o/a, his problem reportedly down to fuel pressure problems with his Subaru.
When Daragh O’Riordan brought his Impreza S12C into service his engineers immediately drained the oil from the gearbox to see if there is any indication of a broken tooth or part. Daragh stood anxiously by, saying “We will see what the boys can find but I don’t really know what to do. With no 6th gear I will be revving the car out for long distances in 5th which could damage the engine. I don’t want to but it might be better to retire from the rally”.
John Dalton is still charging hard in 2nd place and as he sat quietly in his service bay having a cup of tea the Welshman told us. “Perhaps I was a little cautious in that stage 10. But there was a lot going on and I don’t want to be the one sitting on the ditch watching the other cars go by. I just concentrated to listening to Gwynfor on the notes. The tyres did go off slightly towards the finish of the stage. The first stage this morning was unbelievably quick. We were on the limiter for long periods in 6th gear”.
Also commenting on the speed of the stages is young Damien McCarthy and he said. “We’re going well but I don’t reckon I can hold off the 4 wheel drives on these stages”. Alan Ring/James O’Brien have moved their Lancer up into 4th o/a. Former GpN Tarmac Champion Alan said. “It’s starting to flow, the car is going well, it is steady over the jumps. I am keeping my head down. I just don’t know what was wrong yesterday”.
John Cope/Alastair Wylie are staying very steady in 5th o/a. Co driver Alastair told us that there was a real panic through the traffic to get to the start of the Ballinascarthy stage and John forgot to switch the Subaru diffs on. Otherwise it is going well for them. Kevin O’Donoghue continues to charge in his Escort and he is up to 6th o/a, getting ahead of John Hendy in his Corolla. Hendy reckons he picked too soft a compound tyre this morning.
Wesley Patterson has jumped from an overnight 12th place to 8th in his RS1800 Escort but said here at service. “The car felt a bit down on power through that stage 10 and the oil light flashed at the stage start, but the pressure gauge read good oil pressure, so I just pushed on. It’s a newly built car and there has to be teething troubles.
In the Citroen Racing Trophy continues to lead from David Carney but Kevin O’Connor, who was hampered through the Saturday stages with a misfire which transpired to be a faulty crankshaft sensor, is on a charge today setting fastest Citroen times.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow RallyNews on Twitter @ pacenotes
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