On stage 12 Mullentaura Gareth MacHale was again fastest by 3s from Eugene Donnelly to leave the gap between the two at 51s going into the final loop of 3 stages. Gareth is thoroughly enjoying his high speed run through the Cork countryside. The roads are dry and his Focus WRC is running absolutely perfectly. He did say. “This would be a totally different rally in the wet”. Eugene Donnelly said. “We’re on a very comfortable pace and I can see Gareth’s brake marks, I just brake about 10 feet earlier!” Denis Cronin is in a no-man’s land as regards the leaderboard and he is driving at his own pace. We reported earlier that Daragh O’Riordan in 4th had damaged the rear suspension of his Clio S1600 in stage 10. He struggled through stages 11 and 12 without losing any real time and that was despite a shock absorber breaking completely on a square left corner in stage 12.
Owen Murphy now leads Group N and is 5th o/a. He told us that he has changed to more of a forestry suspension in his Lancer. In the National/Modified section Washington James turned in a very fast time through stage 12 while Barry Meade has put Phil Collins under pressure for the lead, so these 3 are still having a major battle. Barry reckoned he has the upper hand over Collins on the tight stages but he’s running out of top speed on the quick stuff. Unfortunately John O’Donnell/Johnny Baird crashed their Escort in stage 12. They were 4th in the Nationals. Their accident was on a high speed piece of road and the emergency services were called in as a precaution. The following cars were re-routed. Kevin O’Donoghue will move up to 5th in the Nationals. Kevin had the canisters on his Escort front struts re-pressurised this morning but there were too many bars and Kevin said it gave him a very big moment or two. Brian & Carol O’Keefe were doing the Sunday run in their blue Subaru but they have pulled out with a broken drive shaft. Denis & Dan Moynihan continue to lead the Historic section from Ray Hilliard/Senan Raggett. David & Ruth Guest are leading the Junior Rally from the Cunninghams. Andrew Fanning retired from the main rally when a bolt broke in his Puma’s steering and today he leads the Sunday Run from Paul & Margaret Brown in their Civic. Kieran Marshall unfortunately retired his Civic in SS11 when the petrol bracket retaining bracket let go, possibly a result of yesterday’s small accident. That is Kieran out and bang goes his chances of a class win in the Tarmac C/ship.
Finally for now there is a competition running in the service park at the Phillip Noone Team Ireland Dakar stand. You need to estimate the total amount of fluid the bike carries on board. It is all for charity – the Midland Simon Community.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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