RALLY NEWS No.8 - End of stage 9 - Sunday @ 12:28:29
RALLY NEWS NO.8 End of stage 9/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 9 GLANTANE
1st (1) Daragh ORiordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 1.26.10.6
2nd (5) Declan & Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC) 1.29.01.4
3rd (11) Owen Murphy/James OBrien (Lancer N) 1.31.12.9
4th (8) Sam Moffett/James OReilly (Lancer N) 1.31.52.3
5th (4) Denis Cronin/Coleman Hurley (Impreza WRC) 1.32.33.5
6th (25) Kieran Daly/Keith Moriarty (C2R2) 1.38.16.9
7th Steve Wood 8th David Carney 9th Adrian Levis 10th Kevin OConnor
First few times from stage 10 show ORiordan 8s up on Boyle and Owen Murphy 1s up on Sam Moffett. Denis Cronin set 3rd fastest time.
UNOFFICIAL NATIONAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 9
1st (10) Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan (Escort) 1.33.15.3
2nd (28) Ken ONeill/Ronald Riordan (Puma) 1.38.42.9
3rd (32) Ian Chadwick/Stephen Quinn (Civic) 1.39.28.9
4th (35) Eamonn OConnell/Mark Linehan (Civic) 1.39.47.8
5th (53) Daniel Lucey/Derry Healy (Escort) 1.41.57.2
6th (48) Peter Desmond/Wm Lynch (Nova) 1.42.04.0
7th Pat Barry 8th Steve Roberts 9th Paul OConnell 10th Mark Dalton
Rally leader Daragh O’Riordan covered the 16.9km of this morning’s opening Glantane stage 8m51s. Daragh was fastest by 16s from Declan Boyle and commented at the stage finish in the little village of Nad. “It was a nice stage, dry with no fog although the intercom was cutting in and out.” Declan Boyle said. “We were a bit cautious, going fairly hard but safe”. Third placed Owen Murphy who still leads group N, said. “Lovely stage, good and fast”. For his co-driver James O’Brien this is home territory as he is based in Kanturk and was revelling in the action.
Fourth placed Sam Moffett was 12s faster than Murphy through the stage which was a bit of a surprise. Denis Cronin had a good time, 3rd fastest. Denis was sweating hard at stage finish, first time on this rally we’ve seen him in the sort of rally winning form that he has shown over the years, and he said. “Yesterday was the hardest day for me. I had a lot of pain in my body. I’ve been told to give up the fags again”. The bottom line is though that not having driven competitively for a year Denis took all of yesterday to find his feet.
In the Citroen Racing Trophy Kieran Daly has a very comfortable lead. David Carney has re-joined under SuperRally rules and is lying 3rd of the Citroens behind Steve Wood. Kevin O’Connor was fastest of the Citroens this morning and is still in line to win the series as long as he gets to the finish today.
In the National Rally Frank Kelly & Liam Brennan in their famous blue Escort set a cracker of a time on that opening Sunday stage. Frank’s lead in the National on Ken O’Neill is now over 5m and Frank commented at stage finish. “This was the first time this weekend that we really felt like we were rallying”. Ken O’Neill who was 2nd fastest National felt he was a bit hesitant on the very fast stuff. Ian Chadwick in 3rd dropped 9s to the man behind him, Eamonn O’Connell, and Ian felt his Civic was running out of puff a little on the very fast roads.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
