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| Circuit of Kerry |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - After stage 7 - Sunday @ 17:19:04 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Carlton Hotel/Finish/Sunday 17.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 7 – FINAL STAGE
1st (4) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 1.04.40
2nd (2) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.04.40
3rd (3) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 1.05.11
4th (12) Barry Meade/Johnny Hickey (Escort) 1.07.12
5th (10) Alan Ring/Brian Duggan (Lancer N) 1.08.46
6th (7) Mark Jasper/Don Wyatt (Accent WRC) 1.08.50
7th (138) Paul Purtill/Kaye Shanahan (Escort) 1.08.52
8th (20) Ed Synan/Denis O'Connell (Escort) 1.08.55
9th (40) Lloyd Hutchinson/Kevin Flanagan (Mini) 1.10.09
10th (56) Richard Whelan/Colin Fitzgerald (Civic) 1.10.17
Four times in almost as many years there has been a tiebreak to decide the winner of this Circuit of Kerry Rally. Here we go again! Kevin Barrett led the rally by 7s going into the final stage, Desmond’s Grave. McGarrity was 7s faster on the 17km stage. The tiebreak rule states: “Fastest on the last stage wins”. So Derek McGarrity and his co-driver James McKee follow up their Circuit of Ireland victory last weekend with the win here in Tralee. It was a massive disappointment for Kevin Barrett and his co driver Sean Mullally who led from the first stage to the start of the final one. In Dunlop Championship terms Niall Maguire goes into the lead with 44 points. Melvyn Evans who retired his Subaru earlier today is 2nd on 40. Derek McGarrity is now third on 38 with Kevin Barrett just behind on 36. Niall Maguire who had a difficult start to the rally pulled through very well on the 2nd half to take 3rd place and increase his lead in the Top Park West Coast Championship of which this is Round 2. The battle for 4th place was another cliffhanger between the cl.14 Escorts of Declan Boyle and Barry Meade. Just 1s separated the two at the start of that final stage. Barry Meade damaged the front and rear of his Escort in an accident but managed to keep going with no time loss. Declan Boyle’s Escort went off the road and he dropped 5m. Barry said at the finish. “It was either going to be him or me. This class 14 is mental. I’m happy to have won”.
Overall winner Derek McGarrity said at the finish. “I had the car sorted for that last stage and had a good run. I made my own job hard during the day with silly things. I was surprised at the pace that Kevin put up. It really was an excellent rally and it was great to do an event with no rain”. Ironically the tiebreak rule was changed from last year when the decider was fastest on the first stage. This made it all the more disappointing for Kevin Barrett having driven such a brilliant rally to lose it at the last gasp. The Maynooth man said. “We had a real cut on that stage, took 10s off our last time through it. Yes, I am really disappointed.” Kevin’s co driver Sean Mullally was looking at the electronic timing device in the Subaru and he said. “You know I think we only lost it by a tenth or two of a second”. Alan Ring/Brian Duggan had a great run on the 2nd half of the rally to win GpN. Mark Jasper staged a great recovery to bring his Accent up to 6th o/a. Paul Purtill did very well to win cl.13 and Lloyd Hutchinson Cl.9 in his Mini.
There was last minute heartbreak for Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan who had battled their way into the top 10 only for their green Escort to stop on the last stage with a broken drive shaft.
Finally for now our thanks to all who supported and helped with the Rally News service: Thanks also to: The management and staff of the Carlton Hotel: Senan Raggett: Richard & Anne Talbot: Angus Sealy: Dougie Hughes and Aidan Harper. The rally provided a day of thrills and spills, a very memorable event brilliantly organised due to all the hard work of a great number of people. Many congratulations to CoC Senan Raggett, Richard Talbot and all the enthusiastic and hard working team from Kerry MC. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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