RALLY NEWS NO.2                     Killhefferan Service - Sunday  10.30am

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Anner
1st (4) Brian Murphy/Joe Downey (Impreza 555) 4.57
2nd (3) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 5.05
3rd (26) Pat Norris/Declan Tumilty (Impreza 555) 5.06
4th (2) Kevin O'Kane/Martin Hanna (Impreza WRC) 5.07
5th (5) James Murphy/Con Mulcahy (Esc.Cos) 5.10
6th (73) Stephen Moore/Stephen Griffiths (Impreza N) 5.13
7th (6) Paul Barrett/Sean Ferris (Lancer N) 5.15
8th (7) John Shanahan/Liam McLoughlin (Impreza N) 5.18
     (12) Paul Mulcahy/Karl Baumawn (Starlet) 5.18

The above times are from the first few cars only, there are still some quick men to come to the leaderboard could well alter.

Early disappointment on this opening round of the McCauley Trailers Forestry Championship was that No.1 seed John McCarthy put his Corolla WRC into a ditch and stopped on the first stage.  Dermot Kelly also parked his Escort WRC in a ditch, not the same one.

Brian Murphy was fastest, the Carrick-on-Suir SuperValu man laughing his head off when the came to stage finish and said "We had a wild wild moment in there on a left hander, but sure it was great fun". 

First on the road now, Kevin O'Kane, reported that he was being "cautious".  While Kevin Lynch said "Not bad".  James Murphy in the Escort Cosworth reported that he had got slightly bogged down twice at hairpins. Paul Barrett had a brilliant run in his GpN Lancer, particularly considering "I never put my foot into the car before the start".

Pat Norris having his first run in his Subaru and he joked at stage finish "I think there's 23 gears in this box and I seem to be in everything bar the right one!"

Young Stephen Moore had a tremendous run to lead Group N, just a couple of seconds up on Paul Barrett and surprisingly John Shanahan a further 3s back.  John is the current GpN Forestry Champion, but just didn't seem his usual buoyant self.  But there is still a long way to go today.

Paul Mulcahy was the fastest of the Mk2 Escorts and he was in stitches at stage finish, saying "Some great jumps, one of them it was a hundred yards before we landed, Colin McRae couldn't have done better!"

John Shanahan - latest news - engine gone after stage 2 - perhaps that's why he wasn't on great form in stage 1.

Some further times: Patrick Elliott 5.48. John Reid 5.33. Ray Benskin 5.41. Michael Tynan 5.34. Alan Mulcahy 5.22. James Coleman 5.41.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON  www.rallynews.net