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| Mayo Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.3 - After SS4 - Sunday @ 14:33:24 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.3 End of SS4 Big Maum/Sunday 2.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 – BIG MAUM
1st (2) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 22.36
2nd (3) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 22.55
3rd (1) Gareth MacHale/Barry Goodman (Corsa S2000) 23.42
4th (4) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 23.48
5th (5) Garry Jennings/Martin Brady (Lancer N) 24.05
6th (17) Tom Muldoon/Tommy Nugent (Lancer N) 24.47
7th (9) Danny McBride/Jonathan Gallagher (Lancer N) 25.01
8th (23) Anthony Hand/Emmet Sherry (Escort) 25.02
9th (8) Brian O'Mahony/John Higgins (Clio S1600) 25.05
10th (19) Jack & Paul Maguire (Esc.Cos) 25.07
The Big Maum stage could not be run first time over because of the ice and snow but it went ahead for this second loop and Patrick Elliott was fastest by 3s from Niall Maguire with Kevin Barrett 3rd fastest, a further 20s back. Gareth MacHale was 4th quickest, 3s down on Barrett and Garry Jennings was 5th fastest, 2s down on the Corsa. Elliott, Maguire and Barrett reported no problems through the undulations of that Big Maum stage along the side of the Sheeffry mountain, but the conditions were far from easy. As we type the cars are in the Barnaderg stage and there are high winds and driving sleet, snow and hailstones. Gareth MacHale, more used to his powerful Ford Focus WRC, found the Opel Corsa a little out of breath on the uphill section past Sheeffry but then the car flew once it got on to the top over the crests and down into the village of Drummin.
Garry Jennings was slightly disappointed to be a couple of seconds down on Gareth but Garry reckoned that his Lancer seemed to be flooding and fluffing at the start of the stage and out of slow junctions. Brian O’Mahony felt he was being a bit cautious but his Clio seemed to be running a lot better on that stage and he has now moved into the top 10. Anthony O’Halloran had a slow start to the rally, he didn’t seem to be very well, but he went a bit better through that 4th stage. Sean Flanagan lost time when his Impreza overshot the first junction and arrived at the stage finish with bits of tape sticking out of various bits of the car. Thomas Fitzmaurice dropped quite a few seconds when he spun his Lancer. Eamonn Daly was another to make a slowish start and he said that his Lancer wasn’t handling at all well. He has softened the suspension and had a better run through SS4. Similarly Trevor Bustard improved, he tried more cuts in his tyres to get more heat into the rubber. Trevor Mulligan has got the handling of his Escort sorted out and he had a good run through stage 4 but he is a long way back on the flying Anthony Hand.
Daniel Conaghan is trying a sequential gear shift on his Escort and he went well on the first stages but didn’t have a great time through 4. There is a special award today from the Border Championship sponsors, HASS, for the quickest class 12 time through stage 3 and it looks as if Donegal man Noel O’Donnell in his Peugeot was fastest. Ciaran McKay has crashed his blue Mk2 Escort out of the rally on the Barnaderg stage and Paddy O’Reilly has also crashed his Escort on the same stage. Both retired. Andrew Bushe set a good time through 4, having got the handling of his Saxo sorted. Andrew decided to try different tyres on the front and that seemed to work. Last year’s winner of this rally, Aaron MacHale, was at the finish of that Big Maum stage to make sure his brother Gareth was ok. Austin MacHale was there as well. Austin whose home place is of course Louisburgh gave us a lesson on all the local geography. Last year Aaron did a sponsored walk up Croagh Patrick in aid of the Irish Autism Action Group and plans to do the same again this year on St. Patrick’s Day. Gareth and Brian Murphy are also giving it a go. Seamus Coffey who is going to walk it every day for a week, as he did last year, is the co-ordinator and he can be contacted on 086 3809527 for further information on taking part.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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