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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Near Newtown
Cunningham/Saturday 1.15pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Ardnaditian
1st (3) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC)
5.50.8
2nd (5) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Impreza WRC) 5.52.7
3rd (2) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC)
5.54.4
4th (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC)
5.55.5
5th (6) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC)
6.00.8
6th (7) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC)
6.07.6
The opening stage of this Shell Donegal International Rally
proved to be slippery and greasy following light drizzle throughout
the morning. At least one of the top drivers, Sean Devine, was
caught out when his Impreza WRC overturned not long after the start.
Top cross channel visitor Steve Perez spun his Vodka Kick Focus WRC
at the farmyard, no damage but dropped about 20s. Otherwise the lead
drivers got through the stage fairly unscathed. Last year’s winner
Eugene Donnelly just commented that it was slippy. Derek McGarrity
didn’t really say much at stage finish, but the body language was
100 per cent positive, Derek bursting to get at it! Andrew Nesbitt
looked as if he had given the stage just about everything, and as
the flames licked out of his Impreza front brakes, he kept edging
the car forward at the control to try to dissipate some of the
heat.
Austin MacHale did not have a good run and dropped some time to
the other front runners, Austin’s Focus appearing to have some sort
of problem, the nature of which is still not clear. Certainly
Austin held up Kevin Lynch a little, Lynch eventually getting past
the Focus. Otherwise Kevin seemed to good form and the car sound ed
absolutely brilliant. Eamonn Boland and Tim McNulty also reported a
good run. Paul Harris said that he overshot one of the junctions.
Paul is at a bit of a disadvantage here, hasn’t been in a rally car
for quite some time, he has hired a McKinstry Impreza WRC for the
event. When he went to test the Impreza it blew an engine and the
unit was taken out of Jim Harrison’s car to get Paul mobile on his
home International. Scottish visitor Neil McKinnon finished the
stage with a front tyre slashed, otherwise OK. Kevin Barrett lost a
fair bit of time when he stopped to make sure that Sean Devine and
co driver James McKee were OK following their accident. Maurice
Gass had a clean run in his Fabia.
In Group N Shaun Gallagher is the early pace setter from Roy
White (both in Lancers). Colm Murphy seemed to make a hesitant start
and was a few seconds off the top gpN pace. We are still awaiting
times for James Cullen, but he has been held up behind an accident,
Paul Gallagher having crashed his Corolla and blocked the stage.
Phil Collins was the fastest so far in the 2 wheel drive
category, Phil setting a time of 6.37.8 in his Mk2 Escort. John
Dalton in the Darrian did 6.53.9 and Guy Woodcock really struggled
for grip in his front wheel drive RS2000 and his time was 7.03.
Some changes to the published entry list include: Car 8 Peadar
Hurson non starting. Car 19 JJ Fleming non starting. Car 27, 30, 34
and 39 non starting. Noel Harvey’s Peugeot blew up on the way to
the start line so he is also non starting. Damien Connolly is
co-driving for Tour of Mull expert Neil McKinnon. Stephen Casey is
now co-driving for Pat Kirk. James Cullen/Reba Graham have switched
from the Porsche to a GpN Lancer and they have registered for Group
N on the Pirelli Tarmac C/Ship. Another non starter is Gary Cooney.
He broke his wrist when doing a demon on a kart/buggy for Micro-Cam!
Gary used to co-drive for the late Clifford Agnew and stage 2 is now
called “Clifford’s” in his honour. The stage is sponsored by PJ
McDermott who is competing in his BMW M3 at No.80. More news later.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
LIVE SMS RESULTS: Text RALLY ITC to 53503 for Irish mobiles.
RALLY ITC to 60066 for UK mobiles. (30 cents Irl./25p UK).
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