RALLY NEWS NO.5 Punchestown paddock..Sunday 3.45

(updated..4.30)

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 - last stage

1st (2) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Subaru WRC) 9.20

2nd (7) Kenny McKinstry/Mark Geraghy (Subaru WRC) 9.24

3rd (5) Frank Meagher/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 9.36

4th (3) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Celica) 9.39

5th (78) Derek McGarrity/Gary Lyons (Subaru WRC) 9.45

6th (75) Ollie O'Donovan/David Moynihan (Legacy) 9.47

7th (9) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza) 9.51

8th (17) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Subaru WRC) 9.53

9th (12) Tim McNulty/Pat Lordan (Impreza) 9.56

10th (10) Niall Maguire/Paul McLoughlin (Impreza) 10.07

There was certainly a grandstand finish to this Punchestown Rally Masters event - Andrew Nesbitt went into the last stage just 1s ahead of Kenny McKinstry and it was going to be tight all the way. Nesbitt stood on the accelerator the whole way through the stage and recorded the fastest time of the day with 3m04s, McKinstry was 3s slower on 3.07. Nesbitt said at the end "Brilliant, really good fun, but I thought honestly I had blown it on the last stage. I clipped a post at the start of the stage and thought I had punctured, but kept going really hard. We took the jump very fast and she stood on her nose, but we got away with it. It was a good day's outing, fair play to the organisers". McKinstry was naturally disappointed, but said "Sure it was a day's fun anyway". Testimony to how hard Meagher was trying was the amount of straw sticking out of a front mudguard after contact with a bale. Maurice Gass also clipped a chicane and dropped from 6th to 8th place. Derek McGarrity had a half spin at the end of the stage to drop just a few seconds.

The reason for some earlier retirements - Billy Coleman's Metro 6R4 broke its front differential and Daniel Doherty's Subaru damaged a piston. Frank O'Mahony hit a straw bale and broke a track control arm with the RS2000 Maxi.

Looking back to stage 2 - Max McKillen led class 2 from Rory Galligan with James Foley 3rd - no sign of Garry Jennings. Liam Denning continued to lead class 1 in his Ford Ka with John Carroll now up into 2nd also in a Ford Ka and Declan Magee 3rd to make it a Ka threesome.

As further times come in from stage 3 they show Tommy Graham 11th, Raymond Johnston/Ivan Fisher 12th. If there had been a gpN award it would have gone to Raymond with George Tracey and Brendan Kelly tying for 2nd, but quite a few overall places back. Max McKillen finished 13th and has won class 2 in the Asquith Autosport Citroen Saxo. Rory Galligan is 2nd cl.2, Adrian McElvaney 3rd, James Foley 4th. Garry Jennings had been leading cl.2 after stage 1 but clipped a post and damaged a wheel on his Peugeot in stage 2. Class 3 has been won by Paul Staunton in his Mk2 Escort from John Tracey in a similar Ford with Douglas Richardson 3rd despite a couple of dramatic spins. Jimmy Lambert slipped to 4th in class. As expected Liam Denning did win cl.1 in his Ford Ka but only by 2s from the similar Ford Ka of John Carroll with Trevor Harding 3rd. Interestingly, Harding's Ka was only 3s ahead of the Mini Cooper S of Con Ward, with Mervyn Johnston one place further back. Well done to Ronan Morgan & Tom Nolan and all involved in the promotion of this showpiece rally today..

BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON

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