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RALLY NEWS NO.4 Loughguile/Saturday 2pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 SLIEVEANORRA 2
1st (65) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Impreza WRC) 21.07
2nd (6) Richard Hogg/Mark Hanna 9Octavia WRC) 21.52
3rd (1) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 22.06
4th (3) Raymond Johnston/Richard Bell (Impreza WRC) 22.10
5th (30) Martin McCormack/Noel Downey (Escort) 22.17
6th (8) Kevin O'Kane/Martin Brady (Impreza WRC) 22.23
7th (11) Andrew Purcell/Mick Courtney (Impreza) 22.27
8th (4) John & Mandy McKeown (Esc.Cos) 22.29
9th (5) James Murphy/Tommy Speers (Escort WRC) 22.37
10th (67) Paul Britton/Martin McGarrity (Impreza N) 22.46
11th (7) Colm McFall/Malachy McAuley (Esc.Cos) 22.54
On the second run over the Slieveanorra stage it was again Sean Devine who was fastest, by 4s from Richard Hogg with Raymond Johnston 3rd quickest. Glenn Allen was just a few seconds further back through that stage, Glenn having no spare time at the moment to celebrate the fact that he is about to become the new NI Rally Champion after many years of trying. The Cookstown man commented. “I’m having a bit of peace now to settle down. I know I was braking far too early, it must have been the wreck a couple of weeks ago, in my head and I didn’t realise it”.
Rally leader Sean Devine said. “We had a nice clean tidy run, quick enough but not pushing too hard, it was a nice stage”. Sean also reported that his Subaru is going well now no troubles. Richard Hogg in 2nd said. “Its great fun, the car is really nice to drive”. Raymond Johnston in 4th place survived a slow puncture on his Subaru in Ballypatrick. He said he is just hanging in there and he is still having problems with the gears going from 3rd down into 2nd. Some times it goes back into 3rd on its own. His co driver Richard Bell rolled his eyes skywards at this and muttered something along the lines of. “Just like an oul Massey Ferguson!”
Marty McCormack has come into a stunning 5th place in his Mk2 Escort and that is despite the brakes jamming on in stage 3 Beaghs. He had to stop on a road section and work at them himself.
Kevin O’Kane in 6th is really enjoying the stages, says they are great. Andrew Purcell is still not pushing, Andrew only having driven his new Subaru from his B&B to the start this morning and has yet to switch on the anti lag. John McKeown and James Murphy are having a great battle in 8th and 9th. John is settling down now, Murphy finding a lack of grip in Ballypatrick but otherwise OK.
Paul Britton has got ahead in the race for best group N honours and said he had a real good run on the 2nd visit to Slieveanorra, his time not that far away from the best of the world rally cars. Eoin McErlean had a very big moment at the downhill hairpins just past the transmitter on Slieveanorra, got quite a fright. Martin Cairns is finding his Impreza still very wandery on the high speed stuff, his Impreza differentials just not right. Ian Cochrane has had a good run to get up into 2nd group N. PJ Gillespie is still having big gear box problems, his co driver Mary O’Kane joking. “At least we’ve still got reverse gear!” Alan Carmichael is back the order a little, reckons that his Lancer perhaps suffered some front suspension damage on the first stage jumps and he’s getting no grip at the front end. Jonny Greer still leads class 1 in his Fiesta from his brother Barry and the pair are surprisingly up the overall classification. Oran Donnelly is leading class 3 in his rear wheel drive Fiesta. Alistair Cochrane is fighting for 2nd Mk2 Escort honours, Alistair admitting that he feels a it rusty. Seamus O’Connell retired his Escort not a 6 left in Slieveanorra, just got caught out. Bob Riddles is also out, his Mk2 Escort breaking the oil pump belt. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON (with thanks to Michael Patterson) www.rallynews.net |
