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| Stonethrowers |
| RALLY NEWS No.4 - Service After SS6 - Monday @ 15:23:25 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.4 Service/Sunday 3.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Red City
1st (2) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 48.43.4
2nd (1) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 48.48.8
3rd (4) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 49.41.5
4th (5) PJ McGrath/Billy Collins (Impreza WRC) 50.42.1
5th (12) Terence O'Shaughnessy/Eugene McGrath (Corolla) 51.30.0
6th (10) Trevor Mulligan/Lisa Roe (Escort) 51.31.7
7th (11) Maurice Moffett/Jason McKenna (Starlet) 51.38.3
8th (8) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 52.06.3
9th (3) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 52.13.4
10th (17) Russell Woods/Martin Byrne (Escort) 52.33.0
11th (21) Danny Barry/Mark Bowens (Lancer N) 52.46.6
The mighty battle between Niall Maguire and Patrick Elliott continued through stages 5 and 6 with Patrick 8s faster through stage 5 and then Niall 5s to the advantage through stage 6. With just 2 stages to go it is all to play for on this Stonethrowers Rally and of course the upper hand in the Dunlop National Championship. Niall Maguire reckoned that he had a few too many notes denoting slippy through stages 5 and 6 and when he got there the corners concerned were not really slippy at all. With just 5s separating the two cars Niall also said “I’m getting too old for this!” As for Patrick Elliott he was kicking himself for having stalled his Subaru on a hairpin right in stage 6 which probably accounted for dropping most of the 5s. Kevin Barrett had a good run to maintain his 3rd place while PJ McGrath had a spin in stage 6 at a 5 left into a turn 6 left past the bales. PJ went for the handbrake and just overdid it.
Big news coming in from stage 6 is that Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors have put their Lancer into a ditch on a square left corner just after a chicane. It must have been a relatively slow speed accident, but the car is stuck. Keith and Greg were a very solid 5th overall and leading group N. this means Alan Ring now moves into the lead of the production category, Alan really flying through the last couple of stages. Another group N retirement is Eamonn Daly, his Lancer succumbing to turbo failure in stage 5. This puts Alan Ring into a stronger position for the Patterson Rally News Award on the Dunlop National series, but of course there are still a lot of miles to travel before that is decided. Danny Barry is now 2nd in group N with Anthony O’Halloran 3rd, Sean Flanagan just a few seconds back in 4th and the Bustard brothers in 5th.
Terence O’Shaughnessy has moved into the lead in the race for best 2 wheel drive honours. He is ahead of Trevor Mulligan and Maurice Moffett. There is very little between these three so anything could happen over the final 2 stages. Trevor Mulligan probably lost a few seconds in stage 6 when he stopped to check that Keith Cronin & Greg Shinnors were ok. This will almost certainly mean that they will get a nominal time for that stage. Maurice Moffett was having some problems with the Starlet’s alternator on stage 6.
Aaron MacHale has come back into the leaderboard following his earlier delay when the hydraulic transmission system on his Focus gave trouble. Aaron also then lost approximately 20s in stage 5 when the launch control on his Ford wouldn’t work.
In the Citroen C2R2s Marty McCormack, despite having some wiper troubles, was ahead of Adrian McElhinney after 4 stages. McElhinney had some intercom troubles over the first 3 stages. Martin Tynan was 3rd and Paul Manton, despite being in a ditch for 40s in stage 4, was 4th. Dan Mulcahy in the ex Malcolm Wilson Escort Cosworth is running down at 80 and losing time passing slower cars, but at least his wife Mary is doing a splendid job with the tea and sandwiches back here in service.
Many thanks! More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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