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| Monaghan Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.1 - After SS1 - Sunday @ 10:58:26 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.1 End of S1/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Sheetrim
1st (1) Sam Moffett/James O`Reilly (Fiesta WRC) 7.40
2nd (8) Gary McPhillips/Paul Sheridan (Escort) 7.50
3rd (5) Peadar Hurson/Damien Connolly (Escort WRC) 7.51
4th (3) Paddy McVeigh/Garry McElhinney (Impreza WRC) 7.52
5th (7) Daniel McKenna/Stephen Hagan (Escort) 7.53
6th (9) Rodney Wilson/Conor McMahon (Escort) 8.07
7th (19) Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort) 8.09
8th (6) Josh Moffett/John Rowan (Lancer N) 8.11
9th (4) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 8.13
10th (16) Richard Moffett/Martin Connolly (Starlet) 8.17
Last year`s winner Sam Moffett was very impressive through the opening 14.7km Sheetrim test to score fastest time. Interestingly Sam commented at the finish of the stage near Ballybay that he had no great confidence and he found the gravel patches a bit disconcerting. Paddy McVeigh was 2nd on the road and he said that he felt his Subaru tyres were a bit soft in the compound and moving about. Another driver worried about tyres was Peadar Hurson; his co driver Damien Connolly jumped straight out of their Escort WRC at stage finish and starting letting air out of the tyres.
Missing from the top line up is long term Monaghan Rally stalwart who was to have started at No.2 but has hurt his foot jumping off one of his lorries. Another driver missing from the top end of the entry list is Dessie Keenan. Dessie was to drive Phillip Greenlees` Escort but could not get the car set up to his own style in time. There are still plenty of Escorts to do battle though, and the driver they all want to beat is Daniel McKenna. Garry McPhillips did just that on the opening test, 3s up on Daniel. However, Daniel said he was a little hesitant as he got back into the way of the Escort having driven the Pirelli backed Citroen to such a good result on the Circuit of Ireland. Adrian Hetherington was well pleased with his run through that first stage, just a few seconds down on Rodney Wilton who was 3rd best Escort.
Richard Moffett was fastest of the Class 13 contenders in his Starlet and that was despite admitting to scaring the life out of himself on a big jump at the start of the stage. He told us that his Starlet was up both banks. Josh Moffett was fastest in Group N while Shane Maguire also had a good run but was back in 18th o/a. Trevor Bustard seemed to lose a bit of time, his Gp N Lancer was suffering from a slight misfire. Enda McNulty has recently made the switch from his Subaru to an Escort and he felt the stage was quite slippy and had his Escort sideways most of the time. John McQuaid and his co driver Tralee`s Seamus O`Connor, were lying just outside the top 10 following that first stage with a time of 8.13. Also on 8.13 was Michael Curran in his Escort with Sean Hayde co-driving. Pat Kirk recorded a time of 8.34 in his Lancer. Pat finished 4th o/a on the Lark in the Park yesterday, the rally having been won by Wm McFadden in his G3 Escort.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
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