With just 3 stages remaining Donagh Kelly/Kevin Flanagan in their Focus WRC have a 30s lead over Denis Cronin/Coleman in their Subaru. Daragh O`Riordan/Tony McDaid are a further 24s in arrears. It has been a case of nip and tuck between these top 3 crews this morning with Donagh Kelly fastest on two of the stages and Denis Cronin the best over Sam`s Cross. Donagh Kelly was very impressive this morning over the Ardfield test. His plan at the moment is to give that one a real go on this next loop and then try and get his Focus WRC safely back to Clonakilty through the final 2 stages, Glandore and Sam`s Cross.
Denis Cronin put a big push on over the Glandore stage, but a spin at the end of the 17.5km test meant he had to be content with 2nd fastest, 0.2 of a second down in Kelly. Denis told us that he was not going quite flat out but in some places pushing very hard, and reckons that on dry roads he just cannot catch Donagh in the Focus. Daragh O`Riordan feels that the nature of the roads are just too fast for his Fiesta WRC. Declan Gallagher continues to lead the Modified section with Wesley Patterson up into 2nd in the Modifieds.
Phil Collins is shown as 3rd but that may change as Phil and his co driver Derek Brannigan stopped to make sure Frank Kelly and his co driver Liam Brennan were OK after they crashed their Escort into a chicane on stage 9. It is most unlike Frank to make a mistake like that, but he did not get a recce and it was very shiny tar into the chicane that was in a slight dip. Another major retirement is that of Martin Donnelly/Brian Doherty. They were up to 8th o/a but their Corolla WRC is reportedly in the hedge on stage 9. Another crew gone from the leaderboard is Vincent McSweeney/Michael Kearney who were lying 10th in their Civic but were stopped near the end of SS9 with the bonnet up.
Stephen Carey seemed to be slightly off colour yesterday, and also had some intercom problems. He is in better form today and with Breda O`Driscoll calling the notes loud and clear Stephen has sliced up the leaderboard to 7th o/a, they lead class 3 and the GpN category. Cal McCarthy has softened the suspension on his Civic and is up 8th o/a and leads class 11F. Andrew Mahon reports no problems and is now leading class 11R and is 10th o/a. Gary Kiernan/Niall Tierney are 9th o/a but having differential problems with their Escort and dropped some time in SS10. Stephen & Susanne Wright continue to lead class 6 in their Killyhevlin Hotel backed Peugeot 208. They survived a spin this morning, they could not find reverse and had to be pushed back on to the stage. Damien McCarthy is competing in Rally 2 in his Puma and had a major heart stopping moment this morning when the throttle stuck full open in 6th gear and they had to take to the escape road.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to John Harrington: Dougie Hughes: Alan & Ray Verso: Daphne & Mossie: *Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
