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| Down Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.4 - Castlewellan Forest Park Service - Saturday @ 15:39:39 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.4 Castlewellan Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4
1st (7) Camillus Bradley/Crawford Henderson (Escort) 28.13.2
2nd (8) Damian Toner/Denver Rafferty (Escort) 28.15.6
3rd (2) Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O’Kane (Fiesta R5) 28.36.6
4th (3) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza S14) 28.49.0
5th (1) Derek McGarrity/James O’Reilly (Fiesta WRC) 28.53.2
6th (16) John Devlin/John McCarthy (Talbot Sunbeam) 29.03.5
7th (83) Alastair Cochrane/Gary McElhinney (Escort) 29.03.7
8th (14) Clive Kilpatrick/Jay Colville (Lancer Evo9) 29.16.6
9th (36) William Herron/Geoff Patterson (Lancer) 29.27.0
10th (24) Colm McFall/John McCafferty (Lancer Evo9) 29.32.2
11th (28) Kyle White/Sean Topping (Citroen C2R2) 29.33.6
With just 2 stages to go on this Down Rally, the final round of the McGrady Insurance NI Championship, the battle for the title could go down to the wire. Following a slow start to today’s rally as the windscreen of his Fiesta WRC completely misted over Derek McGarrity is on a charge to make up the lost time. If he keeps his present pace he should take the title but it could be a close run thing. Derek said as he left service ‘It is better when you can see where you are going’. When asked if he would keep the pressure on Camillus Bradley Derek said. ‘What do you think? He went on to say ‘Mind you, it is ridiculous with a car like this that the screen should mist up at all’. Camillus Bradley has had a great run so far although he did lose a few seconds when he hand-braked his Escort on a hairpin left and it skirted into the grass. Brendan Cumiskey in 3rd admits to losing a few seconds when his Fiesta R5 has been getting out of line braking hard for corners.
Currently Camillus is holding the No.1 slot but he is under pressure from Damian Toner who is only 2s behind in his similar Mk2 Escort. David Armstrong was also in the top 3 mix but he has crashed his Escort into a stage 4 hedge. Also out of the rally is top F2 contender Adam Bustard following an accident on the road section between stages 3 and 4. Interestingly, Adam’s co driver Aaron Johnston was nominated yesterday by the MSA to join the prestigious MSA Elite Academy.
On our last Rally News we wrote about Kenny McKinstry having big gear change difficulties with his Subaru through stages 3 and 4. Kenny was not going to continue but then changed his mind at service and is going out to tackle stages 5 and 6. When asked had he got the gear change fixed he told us ‘No but I will try the manual change. I need my lap top to diagnose the real problem with the electronics and my lap top is in the stage. Actually it is my workshop which is in the stage!’
Following his spin in stage 3 Clive Kilpatrick in his Lancer is on course for Group N Championship honours if he can complete the next 2 stages without incident. The reason for Jonny Greer’s retirement was a recalcitrant fuel pump on his Citroen. Andy Johnson has increased his lead in the Historic section today to 50s over Drew Wylie. Drew shrugged his shoulders at the news and commented. ‘Points make prizes. I am here for the Championship’.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
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