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| Mourne Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - After SS7 - Saturday @ 16:54:03 |
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RallyNews No.6 Slieve Gullion Saturday 4.45pm
Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 7
1st (2) John McGlaughlin/Crawford Henderson (Lancer N) 52.30
2nd (1) Darren Gass/Sean Mullaly (Impreza WRC) 52.33
3rd (17) Stuart Biggerstaff/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 53.34
4th (18) Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon (Lancer N) 53.45
5th (12) David Armstrong/John Roland (Escort MK2) 54.06
6th (92) Alastair Cochrane/Gary McElhinney (Escort MK2) 54.11
7th (9) Drew Stuart/Steven Park (Escort Mk2) 54.17
8th (5) Raymond Johnston/Rodney Hicks (Lancer N) 54.18
9th (8) Damien Toner/Paddy McCague (Escort Mk2) 54.19
10th (89) Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O’Kane (Lancer Evo 9) 54.23
11th (10) Michael Conlon/Aiden Boyle (Escort Mk2) 54.27
12th (24) Brian Armstrong/Matthew McKenna (Escort Mk2) 54.28
Stage seven the third run through Slieve Gullion looks like it could be a dramatic turning point in the rally. Darren Gass had held a comfortable 45 second lead going into the stage, limped out with the Superbites backed Impreza suffering two punctures on the left hand side of the car. Darren was at a loss as to how it happened and reckons he didn’t hit anything but the truth and reality is that he lost 48 seconds and the rally lead to John McGlaughlin. Whether are not Gass can continue – we can only wait and see. John McGlaughlin is the new rally leader and he admitted to having a good clean run through the stage, the car is also performing a little better but John told us that he is now on his fifth fuel pump for the rally. Stuart Biggerstaff has moved back up to third and once again set another impressive stage time.
The big disappointment for the Mk2 fans is the retirement of Camillus Bradley and co driver Danny O’Neill in Slieve Gullion. Unconfirmed reports are that Bradley’s engine had dropped onto three cylinders at the stage start and maybe the crew took the move to just switch it off and giving up an almost certain third place.
Finton McGrady is still having intercom problems in his Escort while Drew Stuart reckons he can go no quicker. Davy Armstong reckoned he had a good run at the stage as did Damien Toner while Vivien Hamill reckoned he wasn’t just as good as before and dropped a couple of seconds and is just off the Leaderboard on 54.52.
In GpN Mark Donnelly set another cracking time over Slieve Gullion and is now under no real pressure and has a 33 second advantage over Raymond Johnston. Brendan Cumiskey is now only five seconds behind Raymond Johnston but with his continued centre diff problems he thinks it may be too much. Just off the Leaderboard is Trevor Ferguson on a total of 54.34 while Cyril Doherty is just behind on 54.41. If there was an award for consistency it would go to modern tyres man Rory Byrne who has set a time of 8.33 on every Gullion stage.
News from Sardinia is that Chris Meeke leads in his Peugeot but his team mate Sebetian Ogier has retired.
More News Later Michael & Zoë Patterson
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