|
|
| |
| Tour Of The Sperrins 2008 |
| RALLY NEWS No.5 - After SS5 - Wednesday @ 11:38:35 |
| |
|
RALLY NEWS NO.5 Service/Saturday 3.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 Broughderg
1st (122) Peadar Hurson/Allan Harryman (Impreza WRC) 32.40.2
2nd (1) Charlie Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 32.52.3
3rd (3) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Impreza WRC) 32.54.8
4th (2) Connor McCloskey/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 32.58.7
5th (8) David Bogie/David Paterson (Corolla WRC) 33.25.0
6th (14) Cathal Rogers/Eoighan Rogers (Lancer N) 35.19.3
7th (15) Wesley Patterson/Nigel Fraser (Escort) 35.31.9
8th (19) Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort) 35.40.7
9th (18) Declan McNaughton/Sean Hyde (Escort) 36.02.0
10th (21) Rodney McKnight/Seamus Donnelly (Lancer N) 36.24.1
With just one stage remaining, as can be seen above, Peadar Hurson has a 12s advantage over Charlie Donnelly who in turn is 2s up on Sean Devine with Connor McCloskey a further 4s back. The two major issues are firstly, who is going to win the rally, and secondly who is going to lead the NI Championship at the end of the day. Unless Peadar Hurson has a major problem he is on course for victory, but the battle between McCloskey and Devine in the race for championship points is very tight indeed. This last stage, Roddy’s Dipper, is Connor McCloskey’s home patch so Devine knows that if he is to maintain his advantage over Connor he is going to have to drive like the wind. Sean did set a fastest time through stage 4, Churchtown, so it is certainly not beyond his capability.
When Peadar Hurson brought his Subaru in here to service he said. “We’re getting into the groove now, the car is awesome.” Charlie Donnelly admitted to stalling his Corolla in stage 4 and having an overshoot in stage 5, and it is all those wee bits and pieces that make the difference between winning and losing at this level. Connor McCloskey reckoned he had a good tidy run through stage 5 and was a bit disappointed to be 5s down on Donnelly. Sean Devine said. “The car is going very well, but we’re going to have to be very committed on this last stage. I know where I lost time the first time through, I wasn’t going into the corners deep enough”.
David Bogie was another to be slightly disappointed at the end of stage 5, that he wasn’t closer to the quickest times. Cathal Rogers continues to lead the Group N category and he said about stage 5. “It is a real driver’s stage, lots of places where you can make time”. Rodney McKnight is now up into 2nd group N, just ahead of Eoin McErlean.
In the race of the Mk2 Escorts Adrian Hetherington seemed pretty annoyed when he came in after stage 5 having just lost 10s to Wesley Patterson. Adrian reported that a wire had come adrift on his Escort and it wouldn’t rev over 5000. Aidan Toner is lying just outside the top 10 on a total of 36.39.2. John Waring in car No.36 and Alastair Cochrane in his Escort not far away from the leaderboard. Seamus Heron has retired his Subaru from 5th place on stage 4 and Raymond Johnson pulled out after stage 2, that was following his Subaru cabin filling up with smoke.
In the Citroen C2R2 Cup there was huge disappointment for Marty McCormack and Liam Moynihan when they were forced to pull out at the end of stage 3. Their C2R2 started to overheat and rather than risk any damage before next week’s Jim Clark Rally they decided to retire. Marty was up to 12th overall. Martin Tynan now leads from Barry Evans with Graham Kelly 3rd. Paul Manton was 4th and Charlie Beattie 5th.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
|
| |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
|
