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| Circuit of Kerry |
| RALLY NEWS No.2 - After stage 1 - Sunday @ 10:31:04 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.2 End of stage 1/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Desmond’s Grave
1st (2) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 9.56
2nd (4) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 10.01
3rd (1) Melvyn Evans/Patrick Walsh ((Impreza WRC) 10.05
4th (3) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 10.12
5th (5) Kevin Kelleher/Donnacha O'Callaghan (Lancer N) 10.13
6th (14) Manus Kelly/Donal Barrett (Escort) 10.19
7th (12) Barry Meade/Johnny Hickey (Escort) 10.24
(11)Declan & Brian Boyle (Escort) 10.24
9th (9) Mike Quinn/Grainne McEnery (Escort) 10.26
10th (131) Eamonn Daly/Anthony O'Conaill (Lancer N) 10.28
Fabulous dry sunny weather greeted the drivers for the classic Desmond’s Grave stage starting this Circuit of Kerry Rally. Kevin Barrett in his Triton Showers Subaru was fastest over the 17km of tortuous mountain road, Kevin sweating hard at stage finish evidence of how hard the Maynooth man was trying. Championship leader Melvyn Evans who is running No.1 seed today lost a few seconds at an early junction when he spun his Impreza WRC. Niall Maguire thought he had a puncture on his Impreza and that cost him a few seconds. While Circuit of Ireland winner Derek McGarrity reported a little bit of dust in the air, obviously from Maguire’s car, and that cost Derek a few seconds.
Kevin Kelleher was 5th fastest and the best of the GpN cars. Kevin has a new man in the co-driver’s seat today, Donnacha O’Callaghan. This perhaps cost Kevin a couple of seconds initially but they quickly settled down and Kevin said. “He did well on the notes, it’s a quick way to start the morning”. Next to the finish of the stage should have been John Stone/Lee Carter, but their Fabia WRC was reportedly stopped in the stage. Mark Jasper then came through in his Accent WRC, Mark a few seconds off the pace. Hugh Hunter was next up but his Focus WRC could be heard long before it came into view as a front tyre was flapping about all over the place. Hugh confirmed that he had a bit of a moment at a hairpin and then the car cut out momentarily.
Further stores from the opening stage included: Declan Boyle, winner of the Midland Rally, told us. “We changed the crown wheel before the rally and it has left the car very dead. It’s a disaster”. Barry Meade had a massive moment over some jumps and managed to stall his Escort in the process. Manus Kelly’s Escort suffered some brake fade. Eamonn Daly lost a few seconds squeezing past the struggling Thomas Fitzmaurice. Thomas’ TLI Lancer had not arrived at stage finish when we had to move on. Des Moore crashed his Escort and has retired from the rally. It is believed damage to Des’ Escort is very light. Vincent O’Shea suffered some fuel starvation problems with his Escort Cosworth before stage finish.
Some late entries that have not appeared in the programme include: 134 Darren Young/Kenneth Quirke (Civic): 135 Alan Fair/John Conneely (Civic): 136 John Hickey/Colm Dromey (Escort): 137 Alan Meaney/Pat Meaney (Swift): 138 Paul Purtill/Kaye Shanahan (Escort): J21 Kieran Feeney/Stephen Greaney (Civic): H7 Joe O’Sullivan/David Leslie (Escort). More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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