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| Clare Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - After last stage - Sunday @ 17:16:59 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Finish/Ennis/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 – FINAL STAGE
1st (3) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 59.27
2nd (4) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 59.34
3rd (2) Melvyn Evans/Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) 1.00.38
4th (1) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 1.00.58
5th (5) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 1.01.46
6th (140) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.02.24
7TH (136) Wesley Patterson/Martin McGarrity (Escort) 1.02.29
8th (8) Anthony O'Halloran/Charlie McEnery (Lancer N) 1.03.21
9th (30) Pat Kirk/Peter Ward (Lancer N) 1.04.13
10th (10) Shane Maguire/Paul Kelly (Impreza N) 1.04.16
It was a real cliffhanger of a finish on this Clare Stages Rally with Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely surging to the front on the penultimate stage to finish 7s ahead of Derek McGarrity/James McKee at the finish. For 3rd placed Melvyn Evans and his co driver Patrick Walsh this was the culmination of a brilliant season and they have won the Dunlop National Champion’s title. Anthony O’Halloran/Charlie McEnery have won group N today in their Lancer and Wesley Patterson/Martin McGarrity had a terrific run to take the top 2 wheel drive honours.
When Tim McNulty brought his Subaru into the finish he said. “I enjoyed it as I generally do. I always had a bit left today. It was a good warm up for Cork.” Derek McGarrity admitted to a half spin at a junction on the penult9imate stage and although he didn’t lose a lot of time he did lose his momentum a little. As his co driver James McKee said. “We went hard then on the final stage but Tim went harder”. Welshman Melvyn Evans told us. “We had a few little moments on the opening stage and after that we played it safe all day right down to the tyre choice. The car was sliding about a bit on the wet weather tyres as the roads dried, but we got away with it. It was a good rally today and it has been a good championship.” First man to congratulate Melvyn was 4 times former champion Niall Maguire who finished 4th o/a today. Some consolation for Niall was that he has scored maximum points in the Top Part West Coast C/ship and his son Shane who was 3rd GpN today moves into a strong position in the Top Part.
Top 2-wheel drive man Wesley Patterson said. “We had no problems today which was good after a couple of not so good runs. We enjoyed the day it was a good rally”. Daragh O’Riordan who finished 5th put his Subaru off the road briefly at a chicane in stage 7 and then just concentrated on getting the car home. Kevin Barrett finished the rally with a flourish and had a good time on the final stage to move into 6th o/a. Anthony O’Halloran had a trouble free today to win the GpN category. Lloyd Hutchinson in his Mini finished 12th o/a just behind Mike Quinn. Quinn was 2nd best Escort and Lloyd Hutchinson won Cl.9.
Finally for now our thanks to all who supported and helped with the RallyNews service. Well done to CoC Dermot Kelleher and his excellent Clare MC team for laying on such a good event.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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