Through stage 7, Topped Mountain, dried roads greeted the drivers and Garry Jennings was once again fastest, this time by 13s over Donagh Kelly. Garry said at stage finish that he was trying out a new type of slick dry weather tyre and they worked really well. From being 8th o/a after stage 1 and over a minute behind the leader Garry is now just 1 second in arrears and has the bit between his teeth. Donagh Kelly reported all well with no problems.
Indeed, with the conditions being a lot easier compared to this morning`s slippy wet roads, top drivers such as Stephen Wright, Derek McGeehan, Desi Henry & Jonny Greer mostly had good clear runs. Greer did spin his Citroen at a junction and had a quick excursion up a bank, but luckily it only cost a few seconds.
One story of note from that Topped Mountain test was that Frank Kelly`s Escort is unfortunately parked up an escape road. The reason is as yet unknown. Derek McGarrity is certainly having a troublesome rally, his Subaru has now developed a launch mechanism problem and there is also an issue with the gear change from 5th to 4th.
Rob Duggan had a superb run through stage 7 and chopped 9s off Jon Armstrong`s advantage. However, Rob really lost out on the 2 wet stages this morning and has an almost impossible task trying to close the gap on Jon. Callum Devine picked too soft a compound tyre for stage 7 and he dropped a lot of time. Daniel McKenna also dropped a few seconds when his Toyota GT86 stalled at a tight square left and would not restart for quite a few seconds. Daniel said that the throttle response seemed a little problematic. Brendan Cumiskey managed to get his Subaru back on the road after all the accident damage to the rear quarter in stage 4, but the car is far from right.
Marc Johnston, with Richard Bell co driving, has now taken the Group N lead. Marc has had no problems so far and his Lancer is going strong. His father Raymond continues to lead the Historic Rally in his Escort. In the race for points in the Tarmac C/ship Historic category, again sponsored by Clonakilty Blackpudding, Ernie Graham is going strong and his main rival Gareth Lloyd is approximately 30s in arrears, both in Escorts. Richard Tannahill is having a good run in his Peugeot 208 R2 and he is up to 20th o/a. Alistair Cochrane managed to fix the alternator on his Escort and was 18th after SS7. John Devlin is 23rd o/a and 2nd in Class B6 in his Sunbeam just 5s behind Ross Marshall (Escort).
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter/Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
