UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Molls Gap 2
1st (6) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 33.21.8
2nd (1) Denis Cronin/Coleman Hurley (Impreza WRC) 34.15.4
3rd (8) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 35.03.8
4th (23) Thomas Fitzmaurice/Fionn Foley (Lancer N) 35.05.9
5th (28) Mark Sheahan/Mark Kane (Citroen C2R2) 36.54.7
6th (12) Jer O'Donovan/Sean Hayde (Impreza N) 36.55.4
7th (20) Eoin Doyle/Peter Brennan (Impreza WRC) 37.00.6
8th (30) Kieran Daly/Darragh Mullen (Citroen C2R2) 37.35.3
9th Kevin O’Connor/Andrew Purcell 10th Joe Shrimpton/Ciaran Geaney
UNOFFICIAL NATIONAL L/BOARD AFTER
1st (9) Barry Meade/Alan Whyte (Escort) 34.57.9
2nd (10) Fergus O'Meara/Liam Brennan (Escort) 35.32.4
3rd (15) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Escort) 35.35.8
4th (18) Vincent O'Shea/Brian Hickey (Esc.Cos) 35.44.5
5th (26) Geoffrey Dolan/Conor Murphy (Sunbeam) 37.14.7
6th (16) Charlie Hickey/Johnny Hickey (Escort) 37.15.7
7th David Guest/Liam Moynihan 8th John Riordan/Donal Falvey 9th Eugene Ferry/Derek Heena 10th Kevin O’Sullivan/Timothy Murphy
Daragh O’Riordan and his co driver Tony McDaid are really getting into their stride now and were fastest on the 2nd visit to Molls Gap, 13s up on Denis Cronin. Alan Ring was fastest Group N to get ahead of Thomas Fitzmaurice. Fastest of the Citroen Racing Trophy contenders was Kieran Daly, just over 2s quicker than Mark Sheahan who stays in the lead. Barry Meade’s Escort stopped the clock with a time of just over 9m while Fergus O’Meara’s Escort was 1s slower and Kevin O’Donoghue was a further 5s back. O’Meara is having some trouble with his Escort’s paddle gear change and the team reckons there is too much electrical interference that is disturbing the message between the shift and the gearbox.
Denis Hickey with Pat Cashman co-driving led the Historic Rally after the first 3 stages although their Escort needed a clutch change here at the Liebherr service park. Alan Courtney was 2nd in his Porsche and Jeremiah O’Flynn was 3rd in his Mk1 Escort.
Further stories include confirmation that Tim McNulty’s retirement was caused by an engine problem, a rod through the side of the block. Joe Connolly has retired his Escort, reportedly because of a low fuel pressure problem. David Carney’s retirement came about due to a wheel getting knocked off his Citroen. On the first stage David was 2nd fastest of the Citroen Racing Trophy contenders to Mark Sheahan. Peter Barrable has Dermot O’Gorman co-driving this weekend. Peter was slowed over the early stages with a recalcitrant intercom. When asked about co-driving in the Citroen the evergreen Dermot O’Gorman joked. “A mid life crisis. It seemed a good idea at the time when we were having a pint!” On the subject of the Citroens, Raymond Moore from the Charles Hurst group, who look after the series, is prepared to give €100 for footage from this rally that appears on you tube. It has to be entered under “crt Killarney”. Whoever submits the footage has to put their name in after Killarney. The footage that receives the most hits gets the €100.
News from the Pirelli Rally is that after SS3 Falstone, David Bogie leads from Elfyn Evans with Robert Barrable 3rd in his Skoda S2000, 19s off the lead. Finnish driver Korhonen leads the 2-wheel drive from Craig Breen. Marty McCormack is 3rd in his Citroen DS3 R3. Mark Donnelly was fighting for the lead but has dropped back.
Back here in Killarney news from Frank Curtin at the end of Ballaghbeama is that Daragh O’Riordan was fastest by 18s from Denis Cronin. Alan Ring was 5s up on Thomas Fitzmaurice. Barry Meade did not stop with Frank, possibly has some worry with the car.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *For SMS results text RALLY ITC to 53030 (Irl) or RALLY ITC to 60066 (UK). Cost 30c/25p. Text STOP to switch off. Provided by stagetimes.com
