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| Ulster Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.12 - RALLYNEWS No.12 - Saturday @ 17:10:05 |
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UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 14 LANGFORD LODGE – FINAL STAGE
WRC
1st (W2) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 1.39.44.6
2nd (W1) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.39.45.7
3rd (W4) Aaron MacHale/Eugene O'Donnell (Focus WRC) 1.43.37.0
4th (W5) Arjen de Koning/Hein Verschuuren (Lancer WRC) 1.52.26.3
RALLYNI
1st (4) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) 1:42:09.5
2nd (2) Keith Cronin/Barry McNulty (Impreza N) 1:43:36.5
3rd (3) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 1:44:00.4
4th (9) Adam Gould/Craig Drew (Impreza N) 1:44:43.2
5th (7) Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri (Citroen DS3 R3) 1:45:12.7
6th (8) Jason Pritchard/Robbie Durant (Impreza N) 1:47:20.4
7th (5) Jonny Greer/Dai Roberts (Lancer N) 1:47:37.0
8th (18) Mark Donnelly/Stephen O'Hanlon (Lancer N) 1:48:19.3
9th (24) Marty McCormack/David Moynihan (Citroen C2R2 Max) 1:49:06.5
10th (16) Alan Carmichael/Ivor Lamont (Lancer N) 1:49:58.2
11th (23) Elfyn Evans/Andrew Edwards (Fiesta R2) 1:50:16.6
12th (27) Mark Sheahan/Anthony O'Conaill (Citroen C2R2 Max) 1:51:06.1
In the WRC part of this Ulster Rally, Derek McGarrity had the closest of victories, just 1.1s ahead of Gareth MacHale. In Rally NI, Craig Breen had a very clear victory from Keith Cronin, with Alastair Fisher 3rd. When Derek McGarrity brought his Subaru into the final service, he said, “I enjoyed it, it was a fantastic rally and a good race with Gareth. I nearly threw it all away in Tardree. Our boys had a sign up that said 5s up. I lost my concentration slightly, left my braking late at a cross roads into a hairpin left and went up a bank. Had a good push on the last stage.” For Gareth MacHale, to lose by a second having lost last year by the narrowest of margins was a bit of a bitter pill. Still, Gareth was philosophical and said, “The main thing is the Tarmac Championship lead. I enjoyed the rally. Derek deserved the win. I lost it on the first stage this morning. Now I will try to get him to come to the Cork 20!”
Winner of Rally NI, Craig Breen said at the end, “The car was fantastic and so was the rally. Last nights stages were the best tarmac stages I have ever done.” Twenty year old Craig continued, “I’d like to do the Trackrod and Cork 20 next, then Rally GB. Next year hopefully come back and string all the rallies together for the championship. Craig’s father Ray was standing quietly in the service area and was rightly very proud of his son and commented, “I’m delighted with him, he led from the front.”
The various rallies this weekend have been counters in many championships. Just some of them include the Dulux Trade British Championship and Keith Cronin’s 2nd place today means he goes to the final round only having to finish in the top eight even if Gwyndaf Evans finishes first. Keith will retain his title. In the Citroen Tarmac Championship Gareth goes to the Cork 20 with 56 points as against Alastair Fisher’s 52 but Alastair has to drop a score which makes Gareth the favourite. In the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge, Alastair Fisher scored a maximum today but Jonny Greer still leads and is favourite for the title. In the Irish Evo’s, Stanley Ballantyne retired when a bolt fell out of a wheel hub and only Brendan Comiskey finished. This means that Brendan and Neil McCance are level going to the Wexford Rally. In the UK Citroen Racing Trophy, Mark Donnelly’s result today will mean that he will tie with Robert Barrable going into the final round.
Further incidents include Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan crashing their Lancer out of 6th place on the penultimate stage. The car reportedly cut the grass on a crest jump into 5 left and slid of the road. Jonny Greer lost a couple of minutes with a gear linkage problem but managed to keep going. Daniel Sigurdarson was reportedly going very slowly towards the end his Lancer suffering from broken suspension. Marty McCormack had a lucky escape when his C2R2 Max bashed in and out of a hedge on the penultimate stage and despite some damage, managed to make the finish.
Earlier Molly Taylor who was doing the Super Rally crashed into the back of a Suzuki swift and retired again. Marty McCormack had a huge moment on the penultimate stage when he was in the hedge, but managed to keep going.
In category 1 of the Historic Rally, Ray Cunningham in his Mini Cooper S maintained his lead right to the end. Jonathon Gale in his Sunbeam Tiger was 2nd with Dessie Nutt (Porsche) in 3rd. In category 2, David Stokes went hard over the final two stages to get ahead of Keith McIvor in his Porsche to win. Jeremy Easson who like Stokes was in an Escort, was 3rd. In category 3, Connor Corkill kept his momentum going to the end to win from Will Onions, both in Escorts. Rob Smith (Chevette) was 3rd. Derek Boyd has retired his Escort due to clutch trouble. In the National Rally, John McLaughlin was leading but has retired on SS11 when he took a wheel of at a chicane, to leave Declan McNaughton in front from George Robinson with Fintan McGrady in 3rd with a couple of stages remaining.
More news later: BRIAN PATTERSON & THE ‘LIZETTES’ www.rallynews.net
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