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| Tour of the Sperrins |
| RALLY NEWS No.5 - After SS6 - Saturday @ 17:25:12 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.5 Walsh’s Hotel Maghera/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 – FINAL STAGE
1st (1) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 37.20.5
2nd (116) Sean Devine/Robert McDaid (Impreza WRC) 37.23.4
3rd (14) Derek McGeehan/Eugene Donnelly (Corolla WRC) 38.02.0
4th (4) Camillus Bradley/Danny O'Neill (Escort) 38.33.0
5th (8) Seamus O'Connell/Andrew Grennan (Escort) 38.59.4
6th (25) Mark Donnelly/Stephen O'Hanlon (Lancer N) 39.29.3
7th (7) Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort) 39.29.8
8th (23) Cyril Doherty/Graham Henderson (Impreza N) 39.34.0
9th (3) Declan McNaughton/Sean Hayde (Escort) 39.35.9
10th (6) George Robinson/Tommy Speers (Impreza WRC) 39.49.5
Derek McGarrity stormed through to win this Sperrins Rally on the very last stage. Derek and his co driver James McKee started the stage 13s in arrears of Sean Devine but recorded a time 16s faster than their Subaru rival. Current NI Rally Champion Derek said. “It was a suicidal run, a proper run. I was thoroughly depressed earlier in the day until we got the suspension sorted and then I really enjoyed it”. Sean Devine was making no excuses and said. “It was a good battle, he was just too fast for me at the end”. Third placed Derek McGeehan last did a pace note tarmac rally 19 years ago and that was with Eugene Donnelly co-driving. He enjoyed it then and he enjoyed it very much today as well. Derek said. “I’m extremely happy, I beat both Sean and Derek’s times on a couple of stages. I know I was a bit cautious on the fast stuff”.
Camillus Bradley finished best of the Escorts and he said. “We had no problems, it was good to get back into it.” Camillus’ co driver Danny O’Neill said. “Especially good since this is our first rally since bending the Escort round a tree on the Circuit. And this rally was very well run too”. Declan McNaughton commented. “This is my first event since last year’s Ulster and we got a wheen of wee problems sorted out with this new car. We had a good run at the end”.
Group N top finisher Raymond Johnston said. “Didn’t really get it together this morning and this afternoon I felt I was going harder but it didn’t show up in the times”. George Robinson finished in the top 10 but reported a small glitch in the electronics of his Subaru gearbox towards the end. Seamus O’Connell nearly spoiled a great run when his Escort’s throttle stuck open on the last stage. Stuart Biggerstaff set a good time on the penultimate stage and then his final stage was spoiled by a spin at the hairpin left. Kieran Graffin had new suspension in his Lancer and spent most of the day setting it up which took the edge of his run. Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon came storming through to win group N in their Lancer from a start number of 25.
Finally for now our thanks and congratulations to CoC James McKeefry and all the hard working and enthusiastic Magherafelt MC team for laying on such a good day’s rallying. Our thanks to everyone who supported and helped with the RallyNews service. Thanks as well to Dougie Hughes for distributing the RallyNews.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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