The big news from stage 2 is that Eamonn Boland was again fastest and outgoing Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly has not finished the stage, his Skoda reportedly stopped 3 miles into the 18km test. Other drivers to hit trouble in there included Owen Murphy whose Lancer is also parked at the side of the road. James Stafford’s Darrian is also marooned.
Gareth MacHale’s co driver Brian Murphy said they had a good run but Gareth needs to be just a little bit more aggressive. Eamonn Boland said all was well and the new car was fine, but didn’t feel all that much different from the old one! Aaron MacHale told us he lost maybe a second or two when he caught up with Eugene Donnelly’s struggling Skoda, but Eugene was very quick to pull over. A bigger problem for Aaron was that his Focus was filling up with some sort of fumes as a heat shield was missing from the back of his Focus engine.
Niall McShea moved to the lead of group N on that 2nd stage and he said that the new N14 Impreza is really good but he needs to make a few adjustments. Damien Tourish was being cautious enough, now realising that if Brendan Cumiskey is in trouble that he could take the Evo Challenge when dropped scores are taken into account. Alan Carmichael is leading in the points but Alan is being a bit cautious here today, his total after 2 stages, 21.41.2, and we are still waiting for times from Brendan Cumiskey who crashed his Lancer on the first stage but managed to keep going. Kevin Kelleher kept it all very neat and tidy and he had a good run through stage 2, Kevin 8s faster than his rival fro Group N in the Tarmac series, John McGlaughlin. Anthony O’Halloran was a little slow on the first stage but then when he figured out how much grip there was set a good time in stage 2.
Munster Joinery man Alan Ring is still having some intercom difficulties, co driver Adrian Deasy told us that he is getting the occasional whiff of a tune from 2FM through his headsets!! Stanley Ballantine said he was in a farmyard halfway through the stage checking out the stock, Stanley struggling a little in the visibility department, what with the dust and the fog. Seems a strange combination, but there we are! Guy Woodcock had a big moment on a right 4 which was covered in gravel but otherwise a good run so far for the UK visitor, his Escort Maxi on a total of 21.06.3. The Roche brothers are having fuel pressure problems with his their Clio.
Further stories include: Terence O’Shaughnessy lost a few seconds when he stalled at a junction. James Stafford spun his Darrian up a bank and out of the rally. Tommy Doyle in the Clio is suffering a little from a lack of outright top speed. Kevin O’Donoghue has power steering and gear change troubles with his Escort. Sean Flanagan and Brian Duggan were having some clutch pedal troubles in their Impreza. Andrew Bushe had an overshoot in his Saxo, but still going well.
On Rally Yorkshire Guy Wilks/David Moynihan are leading from Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy by 10s and Gwyndaf Evans/Paul Nagle are tying with Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors for 3rd.
