UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 Black Road
1st (1) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.22.10.7
2nd (9) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) 1.23.25.5
3rd (2) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.23.49.3
4th (4) Aaron MacHale/Eugene O'Donnell (Focus WRC) 1.24.24.6
5th (7) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 1.24.29.9
6th (6) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.25.35.2
7th (14) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 1.28.06.6
8th (29) Sean Flanagan/Brian Duggan (Impreza N) 1.28.16.0
9th (15) Jer O'Donovan/Sean Hayde (Impreza N) 1.28.30.8
10th (10) Mike Bird/Kevin Keane (Impreza WRC) 1.29.14.0
NATIONALS: 1st Daniel McKenna 1.26.09.1: 2nd Barry Meade 1.28.34.7: 3rd Pat Kelly 1.31.23.3
The daunting Black Road was the opening stage for today and all the top drivers reported the roads extremely slippery. At the same time the leading competitors reported no problems. Tim McNulty was fastest by just over half a second from Gareth MacHale and Craig Breen was a further 7s back. Keith Cronin has of course retired from the main rally but is doing the “Sunday Run” and his time was just half a second slower than Gareth MacHale.
Alastair Fisher had 2 spins in the stage and dropped a place on the leaderboard to Aaron MacHale. Alan Ring had a very good group N time and he commented at stage finish. “Very pleased with that. Its all coming together, we’re on the case”. Daniel McKenna continues to lead the National category and indeed would by 7th o/a in the main rally. Daniel reported wheel spin in virtually every gear over the top of the Black Road and said it was a real struggle.
Marty McCormack was in 11th o/a overnight and leading the Citroen Racing Trophy but his C2R2 Max sustained a front wheel puncture on the Black Road. Marty has certainly dropped a bit of time and indeed he’s now behind fellow Citroen runner Robert Barrable in the classification. Marty finished the stage on the flat tyre and unfortunately held up Conor Harvey in his Civic and Tommy Doyle in his Clio. Conor is now 11th o/a. Tommy Doyle is 12th: Eamonn Daly 13th: Sam Moffett 14th and Daragh O’Riordan in his Clio 15th. Daragh has softened the suspension of the Clio to try and get more grip. David Quigley/Des Sherlock are still doing a brilliant job in their Civic and continue to lead their class. Stephen Wright clinched the Fiesta Sporting Trophy category yesterday from Daragh Leonard with Desi Henry 3rd.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL www.rallynews.net (Our thanks to Michael Patterson: Dougie Hughes: Senan Raggett: Aidan Harper: Angus Sealy: Mike Smith: Carmel Leonard)
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