The difficult, wet and muddy conditions have certainly taken their toll over the last few stages with first Declan Gallagher crashing his Subaru out of the rally on stage 5 while leading the National section. Then on the short stage 6 former Tarmac and National Rally Champion, Declan Boyle, got one corner wrong and the car finished up against a tree further down the road. Declan`s accident happened at a L 2 over a bridge narrow into a left 3 before a square right.
Boyle`s accident leaves Garry Jennings with an almost 2m lead and when we talked to Garry he said. `I will just keep pressing on. The car is not missing a beat, everything is fine after the fire and the rebuild`. Alistair Fisher keeps his nose in front in the R5 race ahead of Keith Cronin. Desi Henry is breathing down Cronin`s neck and his co driver Liam Moynihan said. `So far so good. We had a couple of small overshoots in stage 4. We have a lot of learning to do with this car`. Alastair Fisher said about his stage 4 - `We had a good clean run, not changing anything on the car`. Sam Moffett is just over a second behind Desi Henry and Sam reported he had a fairly lucky escape in stage 5 when he clipped the back of the car and lost a few seconds, but then of course the stage was stopped anyway. Sam said. `We are having a good cut, everything is going well`. Stephen Wright commented. `It is going a bit better, this is a very good bench mark today`.
Gus Kearney continues to lie 2nd in group N behind David Guest. Gus`s brother Pat has retired his Lancer because of a broken driveshaft sustained at a chicane. Tomas Davies describes his Fiesta 5 as `still skittish` and that was even after changing the suspension. Andrew Fanning in his 4wd Fiesta came into service with a flat tyre but otherwise everything going well. National Rally leader Eugene Meegan said. `It is one of those rallies – it is for finishers. I am just trying to watch the surfaces and keep tidy`. The reason for Chris Armstrong`s retirement was a broken driveshaft at a square left. Wesley Patterson is determined to have a good go at catching Eugene Meegan and is trying a few tweaks on his Escort.
Ray Cunningham continues to lead the Historics from David Goose with Luke McCarthy in his Porsche 3rd. Fellow Porsche crew of John Spiers/Susanne Niedrum have crashed their Porsche 911 and are out of the rally.
Clerk of the Course Kieran Donoghue informs us that the rally is now running 40 minutes late following the accidents.
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