UNOFFICIAL NAT. L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Ballinascarthy
1st (16) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 55.22.0
2nd (14) Gary Kiernan/Ryan Moore (Proton) 55.28.7
3rd (22) Frank Kelly/Michael Coady (Escort) 57.21.2
4th (24) Jason McSweeney/Anthony OConnell (Lancer) 57.26.9
5th (28) Eugene Meegan/Darren Mullen (BMW) 57.33.0
6th (36) John Bonner/Emmet Sherry (Escort) 57.33.4
Although he was fastest through stages 5 and 6 Donagh Kelly still said that he was too cautious in his tyre choice. The rally leader felt that Ballinascarthy for example would have been quite muddy and gravelly, but it was not so bad.
Declan Boyle was 10s slower than Donagh through stage 6 and Declan said ‘The car is fantastic now, but it is my first time on West Cork Rally and I am concentrating on getting to know it.’ Interestingly, Robert Barrable set an equal 2nd fastest time with Sam Moffett through that stage 6, and Robert said. ‘Everything just clicked!’ Sam Moffett, as well as his brother Josh, both commented that they were going hard but taking no chances. Josh continued by telling us ‘If I was under pressure I would be going a bit harder, certainly faster into the corners’.
Robert Barrable is now just 3s behind Desi Henry in the overall standings, although Desi did lose a bit of momentum in SS6 when his Fiesta indulged in a couple of half spins. Surprisingly, another driver not familiar with the West Cork stages is Daniel Cronin. He told us that he has never really competed on the rally before. That makes his performance all the more interesting. He did say ‘I am really getting into it now’. Eugene Donnelly reported a good stage 5 but said stage 6 was a disaster for him as he made his notes too cautious. David Guest has lost the group N lead to William Mavitty. Guest’s problem was a broken drive shaft on his Lancer. Mavitty’s comment was ‘This is David’s backyard, group N is only on loan for now!’ William Creighton lost time in stage 2 when his Peugeot filled up with smoke that transpired to be from under body protection rubbing against the exhaust.
Kevin O’Driscoll has just told us that there are 107 cars still going at stage 6 from the 125 that started.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or Facebook @Real_Rallynews
