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(www.rallynews.net)
RALLY NEWS NO.5 End of SS8 - Saturday
6.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 (end of day 1)
1st (1) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Subaru WRC)51.46
2nd (9) Jon Mercer/Lyn Jenkins (Metro 6R4) 54.15
3rd (8) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Escort) 54.32
4th (16) Steve Fleck/Tim Neal (Subaru) 54.36
5th (155) Steve Hendy/Vanessa Cann (Escort Cos) 55.17
6th (11) Johnny O'Sullivan/Pat Cashman (Escort WRC) 55.48
7th (12) Phil Henderson/Aled Davies (Metro 6R4) 55.49
8th (102) Trevor Culbert/James Glynn (Escort) 56.21
The above times are from the early cars only - the last Saturday
stage (8) was interrupted.
Eamonn Boland steered his NVD backed Subaru WRC off the final
Saturday stage, Newbaun, and remarked "Not a bother, car's
going well now, the mechanics found a small problem with the
throttle body. That is sorted and the car is good."
Eamonn was 20s faster than his closest pursuer, David Armstrong,
through stage 8, and 15s faster through stage 7. Some measure
of Eamonn who has won the rally for the last 3 years and of the
potential of his Subaru World Rally Car Armagh man Armstrong
had a bit of difficulty earlier on today when his gearshift got
a bit wonky. He was given some wire by Derek Smith's crew and
sorted the trouble out at the side of the road. Although
we say that David Armstrong is Eamonn's closest pursuer, he is
in fact 3rd overall, but making up time on Mercer as well.
Jon Mercer, driving a John Price prepared and run Metro 6R4,
has had a fine run today. He was swopping seconds with
Steve Fleck earlier, but Fleck blotted his copybook on stage
6, when he put his Subaru off the road for a very valuable 20s
or so. Steve Hendy in 5th has had a smooth run, no dramas,
in the hunt all the way. While Johnny O'Sullivan in 6th has been
playing it safe, but still going pretty quickly. Killarney
Mazda dealer Johnny is concentrating very much on gathering points
in the Southern 4 Championship. The last round in that series
is the Cork 20 next month. Eamonn Boland could figure highly
in the Southern 4 points after this weekend, but Eamonn is due
to be in the USA at Cork 20 time.
In the Triton Showers South East Championship, James Travers
could be the man. James has already won the Ford Ka Championship,
and after 5 stages today he was leading cl.5 in his superb little
Ford. Other class leaders after stage 5 included Jon Tainton
who was leading the gpN category from Nigel Hickland with John
Sheehan 3rd. Jon Stangle was leading cl.11A, but we did not see
him at the end of stage 8. Jimmy Lambert is certainly the fastest
man in cl.11A but he has a bundle of road penalties to sort out.
Trevor Culbert leads class 11 despite his Escort mysteriously
losing water. Car 85, Wyn Hughes from Wales in the Starlet is
running with a cracked gearbox, the mechanics were topping the
box up with oil at every opportunity, and hoping to change the
unit tonight. Drivers outside the above leaderboard include Derek
Smith on a total of 56.31 and that includes a 15s road penalty.
David James has also been flying over the last few
stages and his total is 57.32, but his G3 is suffering dropping
oil pressure. Dave Turnbull has had a good run with 57.03. Kieran
O'Neill 58.24.
More news to follow: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON |
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