| RALLY NEWS NO.4 ( Fossa/Service/Saturday 7.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Rockfield 2
1st (7) Ed Murphy/Shane Devane (Escort Mk1) 31.53
2nd (6) Denis Moynihan/Dan Moynihan (Escort Mk1) 32.04
3rd (5) Steve Smith/Phil Spurge (Porsche 911) 32.16
4th (8) Tom Randles/Sean Duggan (Escort Mk2) 32.54
5th (9) Russell Brookes/Sean Mullally (Sunbeam) 32.58
6th (56) Tommy Mason/Joe Dunne 9Escort) 33.08
7th (63) Sean Lockyear/Chris Wood (Porsche 911) 33.11
8th (47) Ray Hilliard/Senan Raggett (Escort) 33.14
9th (1) Ray Cunningham/Richard Hyland (Cooper S) 33.19
10th (16) Mike Doody/Keith Moriarty (Mini) 33.35
(3) Gareth Lloyd/Ian Oakey (Escort RS2000) 33.35
Fastest car through the stages tonight was Ed Murphy in his Escort, Ed very much on local ground but still drove brilliantly to dominate the time sheets. Ed’s Escort runs in the Post Historic category while fastest Historic was Ray Cunningham in his Mini Cooper S. Ray was pretty frustrated that his Mini was losing power between 4 and 5 thousand revs and he said. “Its lacking huge oomph”. Gareth Lloyd in the West Wales Rally Spares Escort felt it went much better over the second loop of stages, but in overall terms he was “glad just to get through”. Denis Moynihan had a great run to finish the night 2nd o/a and 2nd Post Historic and he said. “We had a nice smooth run it was very good, and this is a dinger of a car”. Steve Smith in the Porsche dropped a place, he had a poor run through stage 3 when the pace notes just got away from the co driver for the first couple of miles and they struggled in the darkness. Tom Randles in overall terms has had a good run tonight and his Escort is showing signs of clutch trouble.
Russell Brookes dropped a bit of time when he knocked off the fuel pump switch which is positioned just beside the spotlight switch, but the two go in opposite directions! Joe Connolly finished the evening well back on a total of 34.17 and found he had no confidence. Sean Treacy was another who lost time, his BMW window jammed open some way and the rain came pouring into the car and on to the inside of the windscreen. Elir Morris/Sion Jones were up into the top 10 on the first loop but then the engine cut out on stage 3 and they lost several minutes. They also had a spin. Mike Doody was worried about his Mini overheating earlier on, it turned out there wasn’t enough air getting into the radiator because of the way the spotlights were fitted. Martin Ward in the Manta had a spin and an overshoot but in overall terms he’s going quite well and is on a total of 44.14.
Derek & Roisin Boyd are reportedly stopped in stage 3, their Porsche parked at a hairpin a couple of miles from the end. The reason for John Keatley’s retirement earlier was that his Porsche broke a drive shaft. Kevin Flanagan lost time when his Mini Cooper heated front screen switched off at the flood in stage 1. Philip Wylie’s MGB spun into straw bales and burst the spotlights. Barry Duggan is lying just off the leaderboard on 34.07, Barry slowed earlier when his Escort temperature gauge was giving him all the wrong messages.
More news on Modifieds to follow shortly: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
