When Derek McGarrity brought his Subaru into service after stage 5 having re-taken the lead he said. “We’re making adjustments all the time to the suspension and the car is getting better. It should be right by the end of the rally!” Kenny McKinstry could not really understand where he lost the time, and the lead, on stages 4 and 5 but feels that his S8 model Subaru just doesn’t have the same bite as McGarrity’s S11. Kevin Barrett is still having problems with his Subaru transmission, the car is still kicking under braking and Kevin told us that it looks like there is a break in the wiring loom that controls the sensors. The team may try to change the loom at first Sunday service and in the meantime Kevin is just going to have it get on with it.
Garry Jennings is just 9s behind Neil McCance in the battle for GpN supremacy. Garry told us that Keith Rainey in Fintona has built this new car for him and it was just delivered this morning, with no chance of a test, so he is quite pleased to be in the hunt. Alan Ring is 6th in GpN and the Castleisland man told us “The car is good. I’m driving hard but the times are not there”. Trevor Ferguson in his GpN Subaru has slipped down the order having gone off the road on a 6 left corner earlier today. Trevor joked that it was like Beechers Brook on the National, jumping the ditch, and the spectators opening the gate to let the car back out on to the road.
Phil Collins has managed to get his Mk2 Escort ahead of Wesley Patterson’s similar machine, these two have been involved in a massive battle. Wesley has changed to a softer compound tyre and it seems to be cutting through the dust better and giving good grip. John Dalton is 3rd in the Modified category in his Darrian. John has made several changes to the car’s set up since West Cork Rally and has been setting some good times, but he is disappointed that he lost momentum with a stage 2 spin. James Kennedy put his Escort through a farm gate into a field smashing the windscreen in the process. Monaghan man Michael Conlon is now leading class 7 by 1s from the similar Escort of Fintan McGrady with Alistair Cochrane 3rd. Alistair lost a few seconds when he overheated his tyres on the first stage and also had some fuel pump problems.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (Thanks to Michael Patterson)
