RALLY NEWS NO.6                    Carrick-on-Suir/Sunday  5.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10  final stage
1st (3) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 49.02
2nd (4) Brian Murphy/Joe Downey (Impreza 555) 49.07
3rd (26) Pat Norris/Declan Tumilty (Impreza 555) 50.26
4th (6) Paul Barrett/Deermot Colgan (Lancer N) 51.15
5th (25) Brian Lawlor/Peter Kavanagh (Escort) 53.24
6th (12) Paul Mulcahy/Karl Baumawn (Starlet) 53.33
7th (45) Bob Scanlon/Peter Keohane (Lancer N) 53.55
8th (8) Patrick Elliott/Sean Moriarty (Lancer N) 54.07
9th (9) John Reid/Brendan Greene (Escort) 54.58
10th (22) Andy Mackarel/Richard Cassidy (Ascona) 55.08
11th (15) James Coleman/Eoin O'Neill (Escort) 55.10
12th (18) Lloyd Hutchinson/Lester Hutchinson (Mini Cooper) 56.27

There was certainly drama right at the end of this Willie Loughman Forestry Stages Rally with Kevin Lynch turning a 5s deficit to Brian Murphy into a 5s advantage, to take the closest, and at the same time, well deserved, victory.  Brian Murphy had led all day, but his Subaru developed 6th gear trouble with 4 stages to go, and although Kevin Lynch's Impreza WRC had rear differential trouble he kept pushing hard to the end to take the win.       Lynch's co driver Francis Regan said "We were pretty much up and on it on that last stage".  Kevin himself commented "It was the last stage that won it for us, we kept pushing, an enjoyable day, a great start to the championship".  Brian Murphy said "I felt we drove a good race, and there is no way I could have been 10s quicker over the last 2 stages. Certainly 6th gear cost a few seconds but I don't think that is what lost us the rally. It was a good event, first class."

Further drama at the end was that Kevin O'Kane crashed his newly acquired Subaru.  Kevin was 4th and pushing Pat Norris for 3rd, and although Pat crunched the front corner of his newly acquired Impreza he did more than enough to 3rd.  Norris felt that his car was very tail happy, but it was good, it was an uphill 4 right that caught him out towards the end and he felt he was maybe going just a little too fast.

For 29 year old Paul Barrett this was a special day as well, to win Group N in the Derrick Jobb hired Lancer and finish 4th overall.  Co.Tyrone man Paul has only ever driven a 4 wheel drive Jeep so this was a big step up from his Escort rally car.  He said at the end "Pushed quite hard at the start but otherwise kept it steady, enjoyed it, got to know the car".  Bob Scanlon had a good run to finish 2nd gpN. Patrick Elliott 3rd, Patrick still finding his feet on the forest stages.

Paul Mulcahy in the Starlet drove brilliantly to win his class and finish 6th overall, Paul commenting "We had a fairly clean run, it went well for us, found it a bit rough in patches and had to back off a small bit".  Lloyd Hutchinson survived all his punctures to win class 1. John Reid took class 5 from Andy Mackarel with James Coleman 3rd. 

Finally for now, well done to everyone at the Carrick-on-Suir Motor Club for a great day's rallying. Our thanks to all who helped and supported the RallyNews service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net