RALLY NEWS NO.6 Service/Sunday 3pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Corran Lake
1st (3) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 58.20
2nd (2) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 58.29
3rd (7) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 59.53
4th (5) Patrick Elliott/Martin Cahill (Impreza WRC) 1.00.09
5th (11) Michael Curran/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 1.01.18
6th (10) Nigel Hicklin/Damien Connolly (Impreza WRC) 1.01.47
7th (15) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 1.02.32
8th (153) Dickie Curran/Killian Duffy (Lancer N) 1.02.33
9th (6) Kevin Barrett/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.02.45
10th (34) Cyril McCullagh/Kevin McGovern (Octavia WRC) 1.02.48

Number 1 seed Jim Harrison has unfortunately parked his Subaru Impreza WRC in the middle of stage 6, the car minus a front wheel. That streaming wet stage, appropriately called Corran Lake, also saw a change to the overall leaderboard with Denis Cronin getting ahead of Ray Breen. Breen had led by 14s going into the stage but Cronin was in a league of his own over the saturated roads while Breen struggled with his Focus WRC gearbox which, in his own words, “took a mind of its own, was up and down the gears, didn’t know what it was going to do next”. Breen went on to say that they were going to try and change it at service. The sun is out, there is a possibility the roads may dry a little which will suit Breen, so all in all it could be a big race to the finish.

We mentioned on the last RallyNews that Denis Cronin’s co driver Helen O’Sullivan wasn’t happy with the time she was given for stage 5. This will have to be all checked against the master sheets and could have a very significant influence on the final results.

Melvyn Evans got his gearbox problem from stage 5 sorted and set a good time through stage 6. Patrick Elliott also had a good time and was 3s up on Evans. Patrick saying that he found it very hard to judge what pace to drive at in these very difficult conditions. Kevin Barrett lost time because one of his Subaru wipers was missing. Nigel Hicklin had a good run and said he was enjoying the wet roads. Cyril McCullagh just managed to hold on to a top 10 position, his Skoda WRC slowed dramatically over the wet roads, his windscreen completely misted over at one point. New York visitor Liam Egan also ran into fogged up windscreen difficulties, co driver Sean Moriarty having to wipe the screen with his notes in the middle of stages. Sean reckoning that they were just inside the top 10 until the screen got really bad and they’ve been going backwards over the last couple of stages.

Young Michael Curran continues to dazzle with his Group N times, but even he admitted that the conditions were seriously dangerous on the stages. Willie Fannin is still hampered with his jury rigged gear lever. James O’Sullivan set a decent time through stage 6 and he is now well ahead of Tadgh Linehan and Kevin O’Donoghue in group N. Kevin Kelleher went well through stage 6 to hold on to 2nd group N. Dickie Curran has however closed to within a second of Kelleher with 2 stages to go.

Keith Power now leads class 6 in his Puma. Ken O’Neill has dropped back with 4th gear troubles. Bob Moran leads class 11 in his Escort and also is heading for a class win in the 023 Tiles championship. Wesley Patterson was best 2 wheel drive but his Escort has stopped in stage 6.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
Associate Rally sponsor – Irish Yogurts