| RALLY NEWS NO.5 Orra Lodge Bridge/Saturday 4pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Slieveanorra 3
1st (65) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Impreza WRC) 27.47
2nd (6) Richard Hogg/Mark Hanna 9Octavia WRC) 28.53
3rd (1) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 28.55
4th (8) Kevin O'Kane/Martin Brady (Impreza WRC) 29.21
5th (4) John & Mandy McKeown (Esc.Cos) 29.27
6th (11) Andrew Purcell/Mick Courtney (Impreza) 29.29
7th (30) Martin McCormack/Noel Downey (Escort) 29.30
8th (5) James Murphy/Tommy Speers (Escort WRC) 29.40
9th (67) Paul Britton/Martin McGarrity (Impreza N) 29.52
10th (7) Colm McFall/Malachy McAuley (Esc.Cos) 30.05
BREAKING NEWS: Eoin McErlean’s Lancer may have stopped with a broken rear diff, Hogg’s Skoda may have broken engine mounting and is slowing allowing Allen into 2nd.
The leading drivers emerged from the Slieveanorra stage second time through and reported that it was getting fairly cut up and muddy in places. Sean Devine was 11s slower than his first run through and also told of a hydraulic problem in the gear selection which may have cost a little time. Glenn Allen had a good run but related to his engineer Derek McGeehan that the car was wandering a bit on the flat out stuff and also crashing out a bit on the jumps. But then Slieveanorra has always been a bit like that.
The leaderboard changed a little when Raymond Johnston’s Subaru ground to a halt approximately one third of the way through the stage. Raymond had been lying 4th. This promoted Kevin O’Kane up to 4th and he’s had a really good run today. John McKeown in 5th finished the stage in his red Escort Cosworth, the front left hand mud guard showing battle scars of having hit the chicane. John is having a great battle with James Murphy and Colm McFaul for Escort Cosworth supremacy. McKeown was 5s up on Murphy through that stage although the Cork man was slowed slightly as a packet of Maltesers had fallen on to the floor of the car and slid under the pedals.
Richard Hogg overshot a junction and had to reverse his Skoda which cost a few seconds and allowed Allen to close the gap in the race for 2nd. Andrew Purcell was another to have an overshoot, the Waterford man saying that he picked an open pattern wet forest tyre and it didn’t get a great grip under braking. Colm McFaul was 13s down on John McKeown on the stage Colm’s Escort Cosworth suffering a soft brake pedal.
Alistair Cochrane/Pam Irwin stopped in stage 6. Their Escort had been lying 2nd in the Mk2 Escorts behind Marty McCormack but are now reportedly in a ditch with the “OK” board up. Marty McCormack is now running without rear brakes on his Mk2 having blocked off the brake lines to the rear. Shaun Reid is still going well, said of his co driver Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly, “I wish I could drive the way Eugene can call the notes!” Alan Carmichael is still going but slipping down the order, the front of the car pushed up on some of the earlier jumps and not handling well at all. PJ Gillespie is also still going despite gearbox troubles and his total after stage 6 was 30.41. Martin Cairns was on 30.18 just outside the leaderboard but still suffering handling problems with his GpA Impreza. Ian Cochrane was on a total of 30.07 and John Walker in his similar Lancer 30.54. Martin Doherty has switched from his former world rally cars to a group n Lancer this time and his total is 31.14. After stage 5 young Jonny Greer was still leading his class from his brother Barry. While Oran Donnelly was leading cl.3 in his rear wheel drive Fiesta.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON (with thanks to Michael Patterson) www.rallynews.net |
