RALLY NEWS NO.4 Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Lissarda 2
1st (1) Daragh ORiordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 38.39.2
2nd (2) Darren Gass/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 38.44.2
3rd (5) Declan & Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC) 40.20.9
4th (11) Owen Murphy/James OBrien (Lancer N) 41.22.7
5th (8) Sam Moffett/James OReilly (Lancer N) 41.54.9
6th (4) Denis Cronin/Coleman Hurley (Impreza WRC) 43.05.8
7th Willie Mavitty 8th David Carney 9th Kieran Daly 10th Steve Wood
UNOFFICIAL NATIONAL L/BOARD AFTER SS4
1st (10) Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan (Escort) 42.55.6
2nd (31) Paul & Thomas Bruton (Civic) 44.32.5
3rd (16) Allen Treacy/Bob Fitzgerald (Corolla) 44.39.0
4th (32) Ian Chadwick/Stephen Quinn (Civic) 44.49.0
5th (18) Paraic Cummins/Graham Kelly (Escort) 44.54.3
6th (28) Ken ONeill/Ronald Riordan (Puma) 45.12.6
7th Eamonn OConnell 8th Denis Moynihan 9th Peter Desmond 10th James Fitzgerald
On the second running of the Lissarda stage Darren Gass was fractionally faster than Daragh O’Riordan. There is very little between the two cars and it really is quite a race at the front. Declan Boyle was 3rd fastest but still close to 20s down on the leaders. Declan said. “I feel I am going hard but I’ve a lot of learn in a world rally car. It’s my first day in the car in the wet”. (Although it is now a very sunny day here in Cork there are still a lot of wet patches in the stages). Daragh O’Riordan commented. “We’re getting settled now but it’s tricky enough. A good battle with Darren.” Darren Gass told us. “We’ve bled the brakes and it is fine now. Daragh is going hard, we haven’t much left”.
Owen Murphy was 7s slower than Sam Moffett in stage 4 in the race for Group N supremacy. Owen told us. “I thought I would play it safe on intermediate tyres but it was like rallying on jelly. I was as much off the road as on it”. His co-driver James O’Brien commented. “I had to pull him back”.
There was major drama when National Rally leader Frank Kelly came into service. His co driver Liam Brennan explained. “We only had 1st and 5th gear in stage 4. It was a real struggle and we have to try and change the gearbox now in service.” Last we heard the team was on course to get the box changed in 35m which is inside the allotted 45m service time.
Joe McGonigle’s Clio has broken something, possibly the steering, in stage 4 and caused a temporary blockage for about half a dozen cars including Denis Moynihan and some of the Citroens. The Historic Rally started on stage 3 and Wesley Patterson in his K class Bertie Fisher replica BDA Escort has over 1m of a lead after one stage on Ray Cunningham in his Mini Cooper S. John Reid (Escort) is 3rd. Alan Jardine (Escort) is 4th. John Spiers and Brendan McAree are 5th and 6th in their Porsches. More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
