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| West Cork Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.9 - Clonakilty - Sunday @ 15:38:59 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.9 Sunday/Service
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 15
1st (4) Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly (Skoda S2000) 1.53.05.0
2nd (2) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 1.53.17.3
3rd (145) Colm Murphy/Don Montgomery (Impreza N) 1.53.41.0
4th (152) Danny Barry/Brian Duggan (Lancer N) 1.56.44.4
5th (8) Damien McCarthy/Eamonn Hayes (Civic) 1.56.45.3
6th (6) Peter Lloyd/Martin Brady (Impreza WRC) 2.01.08.3
7th (11) Leonard Downey/Mark Murphy (Escort) 2.01.17.2
8th (12) Tomas Davies/Eurig Davies (Escort) 2.01.33.0
9th (15) Fergus O'Meara/Liam Brennan (Escort) 2.02.16.5
10th (30) Jason & Ruth McSweeney (Civic) 2.02.34.6
This Quality Hotels West Cork Rally is shaping up to having a very exciting finish. Just 12s separate the top 2 cars and there is only a handful of seconds between the top Citroen contenders, Kieran Daly, Scott McElhinney and Joe McGonigle.
In the race for the top spot Daragh O’Riordan was .3 of a second faster than Robert Barrable through SS14 and then just over 2s faster through SS15. The cars are going out to do the same two stages again and then the climax to the rally is the spectator stage through the streets of Clonakilty.
As he prepared for those final stages Robert Barrable said. “We’re on the rev limiter in the Skoda in 6th gear on the long straights. The only way I can see of making a bit of time is under braking”. Daragh O’Riordan admitted to a very big moment on the Ardfield stage when he left his braking a bit late on the downhill section into a 6 right at the beach. Although most of the stage was really sunny there was a sea mist had rolled in on that section and Daragh was momentarily disorientated. He certainly hasn’t given up in the battle for the lead and the mechanics were stiffening the dampers and stepping up the suspension rebound for these last stages. Daragh said. “I’m going to have a real cut”.
Colm Murphy, who led the rally for many stages, is now losing time as his group N Subaru is still suffering from a cracked manifold. Colm said he is down a gear on every junction compared to yesterday and most of the time he’s fishtailing the car into the tight corners. Danny Barry lost time in stage 14 when he spun his Lancer and had an overshoot. Danny fell behind the hard charging Damien McCarthy’s Civic, but then had a good run through stage 15 to get ahead of the Honda again. For his part Damien and his co driver Eamonn Hayes, have vowed to take it a lot easier over the last 3 stages, particularly as their Civic’s clutch is starting to slip. Trevor Mulligan had been 6th o/a but his Escort suffered a puncture in stage 15. Trevor’s co driver Sean Hayde reckoned they had a long way to go to the finish of the stage and best thing to do was stop and change the flat tyre. This cost over 3m and dropped them back to 13th. Gwyn Thomas/Colin Fitzgerald have had a great ruin today and moved from 18th up to 12th. The only problem with their 4wd Puma being a split CV joint rubber.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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