Through the twists and turns of Cod’s Head and Ardgroom there were just seconds covering the top 4 drivers. Gareth MacHale had the edge over Cod’s Head, 1s up on Tim McNulty and then on stage 5, Ardgroom, it was Tim McNulty who was quickest. On the run over the Tim Healy and on down here to Castletownbere it was Gareth MacHale who was 1s quicker than McNulty. Through the 3 stages Eamonn Boland was just a couple of seconds down. Donie O’Sullivan was making no real impression as he encountered some car troubles. Derek McGarrity looked pretty fed up when he arrived into service, and admitted that he had messed up with tyre choice. Com Murphy surged to the front of the group N category and Owen Murphy retired. Kris Meeke dropped out of the leaderboard when his Clio suffered a puncture in Ardgroom.
Mike O’Leary/Mike Moriarty, one of the OO crews in their Focus, came down off Tim Healy and reported. “Wild slippy, you’d want all the four paws pulling”. Most of the top drivers would agree with that sentiment, showers and changeable conditions making the roads unpredictable but always slippery. Gareth MacHale reckoned he had the right tyres on for Cod’s Head but then maybe they were not so good for Ardgroom. Eamonn Boland told us that he was having no troubles but unfortunately the times were just not quick enough. Tim McNulty said. “Tricky conditions, we are trying hard”. As we said above Derek McGarrity kept making a mess of his tyre choices. Donie O’Sullivan had the fuel pump go on his Subaru at the start of Cod’s Head and then the Impreza lost 3rd gear through Ardgroom. All in all Donie reckoned the day has been a little bit of a disaster.
Aaron MacHale tackled Tim Healy on dry weather tyres and then of course the rain came pouring down. Dessie Keenan is enjoying the rally, but is possibly taken aback a little by the pace of the guys in front. Kris Meeke recounted his puncture saga on Ardgroom. “I thought I felt something not quite right towards the end of Cod’s Head. When I got up to the start of Ardgroom I had a look round the tyres and they seemed OK. We were on the countdown, the last 10s to start the stage, when a boy standing at the side of the road pointed at the front right hand tyre. Sure enough on the next corner the tyre rolled off the rim. We dropped 3 minutes”.
Colm Murphy reckons he picked a really good choice of rubber for that loop and although Kevin Kelleher turned in some quick times Colm is looking fairly solid at the front of the group N category. Owen Murphy did lead group N and was top Evo Challenge contender after stage 3, but then his mechanics welded up his damaged Lancer manifold and when Owen went to re-start the car the ECU went pop. End of rally for the Cork man. Kevin Kelleher felt his car was a lot better through that loop of stages and he had a good run. Kevin is 2nd in GjpN. Alan Ring is 3rd despite feeling unwell due to this trapped nerve in his neck. Mark Nangle is 4th in GpN and Sean Flanagan 5th, both in Imprezas. Stanley Ballantine is 6th and lying 2nd Evo Challenge, just ahead of Brendan Cumiskey. John McGlaughlin is a place back, the latter 2 also in the Evo Challenge
Johnny O’Sullivan/Pat Cashman have some gearbox trouble in their Impreza WRC. JJ Fleming in the Focus WRC had a spin and also was delayed on a road section behind a tractor and trailer. IN the National Rally after 4 stages James Stafford in his Darrian led from Martin McGee with Wesley Patterson 3rd and Phil Collins 4th, all in Escorts. Fergus O’Meara was 5th and Dave Slattery 6th.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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