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RALLY NEWS NO.5 Banna Beach/Finish/Sunday 3.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 – LAST STAGE
1st (4) Keith Cronin/Anthony O'Conaill (Lancer N) 32.24
2nd (2) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 32.34
3rd (1) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Lancer) 33.02
4th (9) Thomas Fitzmaurice/Fionn Foley (Lancer N) 33.15
5th (8) Eamonn Daly/David Horan (Lancer N) 33.47
6th (10) John Kearney/Denis O'Connell (Escort) 34.02
7th (3) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Impreza N) 34.04
8th (17) Fintan Canty/Denis O'Mahony (Escort) 34.11
9th (164) Mick Moloney/Marie Casey (Escort) 34.14
10th (22) Fergus O’Meara/Liam Brennan (Escort) 34.23
Keith Cronin pulled out all the stops through stage 4, Kilflynn, to be fastest over the 14.2km stage by 4s from Kevin Kelleher to make his winning margin 10s. Kevin O’Donoghue set another very respectable time to reinforce his 3rd place ahead of Thomas Fitzmaurice. When Keith Cronin and his co driver Anthony O’Conaill reached the finish here at the Banna Beach Hotel the normally very quiet and reserved 21 year old Keith afforded a smile and commented. “We couldn’t have gone much harder on the last stage. I discovered after stage 3 that we had punctured a rear tyre. I remember cutting a corner but didn’t think it was too tight but the car was all over the place. I was cautious enough early on. I’m very pleased to have won”. Interestingly it was here at Banna Beach 16 years ago that Denis Cronin won his first rally so for Keith, Denis’ nephew, to win here is quite significant. An added factor is that the Billy Coleman Award is up for consideration at the minute so it is an important time to win a rally!
Kevin Kelleher reported that he “drove the donkeys out of her” on the final stage but he couldn’t pull out enough to take victory. Kevin O’Donoghue, last year’s winner, was disappointed to finish 3rd but he had no chance of pulling back the time lost this morning when his Lancer suffered a broken steering column. Thomas Fitzmaurice wasn’t saying much but he also looked pretty disappointed at his 4th place. He went off the boil a little through the afternoon stages having been 3rd at the halfway halt and setting some cracking times this morning. Eamonn Daly came on the pace well through the afternoon to take 5th. John Kearney was delighted to be 6th o/a and win the best 2 wheel drive category. Anthony O’Halloran looked to be taking the honours but his Manta stopped on the final stage in Kilflynn village. Kearney said at the finish. “”The car never missed a beat I loved the day”.
Mick McQuaid has finished just outside the top 10 and he now wins class 14. John Kearney has won class 13. Mark Sheahan and his co driver Frank Curtin brought their Clio into 13th o/a which should be enough to win class 6 ahead of Ian Roche, but this has still to be confirmed.
Finally for now many thanks to all who helped and supported the Rally News and very well done to Noel O’Connor, Diarmuid Falvey and all the Kerry MC team for such a brilliant day’s rallying.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
