At the end of the Badgers Hill stage Gareth MacHale reported. “Quite slippy, we were braking early”. Eugene Donnelly said. “No dramas”. Denis Cronin commented. “My usual slowish start”. Then there was real drama as Phil Collins arrived with the headlights blazing on his Escort and he told us. “Caught Alastair Fisher he’s going very slowly”. Phil reckoned it cost him no more than a couple of seconds and he was still fastest of the Modifieds. Barry Meade was 2nd fastest and said he was running out of top speed. Washington James reported that his Darrian had been in the ditch a couple of times and he was 21s down on Phil Collins. Daragh O’Riordan’s Clio S1600 had also been in a ditch and the rear right hand side suspension looked quite twisted so he could struggle a little through 11 and 12.
Then Alastair Fisher arrived, very slowly, his Lancer belching thick black smoke from the exhaust and the young Fermanagh man reported no power whatsoever and the car wouldn’t go up the hills. Although Alastair is shown in 5th place above we hear that in stage 11, the shortened Chimneyfield stage, Alastair is crawling very slowly and has dropped a mountain of time. This puts Owen Murphy into the lead of GpN.
Stage 11 has had to be shortened because of a funeral. The stage, Chimneyfield, will run to its original length as stage 14. Our deepest condolences go to the O’Regan family of Kilavullen.
On Le Touquet Rally in France Marty McCormack’s Citroen C2R2 Max had an electrical problem last night and there was quite a panic to get it fixed and Marty is back on course. He is lying 14th o/a and 2nd Citroen behind Frenchman Barral. Jason Pritchard has crashed his Citroen out this morning that means that Marty is the new Citroen Racing Trophy Champion for the UK. There are 4 stages and 2 Super Specials left to do on Le Touquet. On Rally Spain Loeb has taken the lead this morning from his Citroen team-mate Sordo and Craig Breen has re-joined under Super Rally rules. On the McRae Stages Rally David Higgins has reportedly won. New IRC Champion Kris Meeke was “OOing” in his Peugeot 207 S2000 and apparently he had an engine problem and withdrew. Latest news on Marty McCormack is that he is putting on a big push and has just set 6th fastest time o/a and is up to 11th o/a.
On a slightly different note, the Team Dakar Ireland has a stand at the service park and it is well worth a visit to see Phillip Noone’s fabulous Dakar bike and possibly lend some support to the team for their future exploits. Phillip is planning to do Dakar again in January 2010. The team is raising funds for the Midlands Simon Community as well. There is also an Enduro taking place at Mountrath on 8th November. Everyone is welcome to attend and support Phillip.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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