Rally News No 1. End of Stage One (Shanlaragh) Sat 10.30am

1^st (5) Tim McNulty/Eugene O’Donnell (Subaru WRC) 10.14

2^nd (3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O’Gorman (Impreza WRC) 10.20

3^rd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 10.26

4^th (6) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Corolla WRC) 10.27

5^th (4) Donie O’Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 10.29

6^th (9) Ollie O’Donovan/David Moynihan (Subaru WRC) 10.39

7^th (8) Denis Cronin/Helen Sullivan (Celica) 10.50

8^th (20) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 10.52

9^th (10) Tony Davies/Jakes Kelly (Impreza WRC) 11.01

= (11) Johnny O’Sullivan/Pat Cashman (Escort WRC) 11.01

The gloves are off and it is down to business here on the final round of the Pirelli Tarmac Championship, and it is Tim McNulty who has stolen the show over the opening eleven mile first stage. McNulty was a full six seconds faster than Derek McGarrity in his Pierse backed Impreza WRC, Tim saying "that went very well, but we worked very hard". Pirelli Tarmac Championship contenders Derek McGarrity and Eugene Donnelly are only separated by six seconds after the first stage, both drivers seemed very cool at the end of the stage. Eugene Donnelly described his run as steady while Derek McGarrity voiced pretty much the same sentiment.

Last years winner Eamonn Boland had to stop and change a puncture in the stage, his time a disastrous 16 minutes 55 seconds compared the McNulty’s time of 10.14, but as usual Eamonn was completely calm and relaxed about the incident. Donie O’Sullivan found his Ford Focus all over the road in places, the Killarney crew finding the roads very slippy. Ollie O’Donovan fresh from his morale boosting win in Clare a couple of weeks ago, stalled his Impreza WRC on a square right corner dropping a handful of seconds. Tony Davies with Jakes Kelly along side for the first time, was just settling himself in and admitted to being a bit cautious on the stage.

Phil Collins had a big spin in his Mk2 Escort and is just off the leaderboard on 11.05 but John Dalton put his Darrian into a ditch dropping 30 seconds to Collins in the modified battle. Colm Murphy leads GpN but James O’Sullivan ran on three wheels for most of the stage and set an impressive time 11.06. Others times include Alan Ring 11.13 and Willie Fanin 11.03.

Some notable non starters and changes to the entry list include Maurice Gass and newly crowned GpN champion Dessie Keenan who both have back problems. Aaron McHale is suffering from a bad flu and has decided not to start. Jakes Kelly has stepped in to co drive for English visitor Tony Davies in his Impreza WRC. Interestingly with Dessie Keenan non starting, local man Gordon Coleman is driving Keenan’s GpN Lancer with Damien Connolly co-driving. Other non starters include Wesley Patterson, Tom Holton and GpN front runner James Foley.

More News Later …… Michael Patterson & Zoë Todd