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RALLY NEWS NO.4 End of stage 3/Saturday 2.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 CROSSKEYS
1st (1) Charlie Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 17.27.0
2nd (2) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 17.35.3
3rd (3) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Corolla WRC) 17.45.8
4th (7) Seamus Heron/Elaine Doherty (Focus WRC) 18.09.5
5th (10) Neil McCance/Sean Ferris (Lancer N) 18.12.0
6th (4) Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Focus WRC) 18.20.2
7th (14) Errol Clarke/Martin McGarrity Lancer N) 18.29.3
8th (31) Cathal Rogers/John McCafferty (Lancer N) 18.33.8
9th (11) Johnny McKenna/Noreen McShea (Lancer N) 18.34.4
10th (5) Raymond Johnston/Richard Bell (Impreza WRC) 18.35.8
There was a regroup after service and before stage 3 which nearly caught
out rally leader Charlie Donnelly. The regroup meant there was quite a
time lapse between leaving service and starting the stage and Charlie
found himself on not quite the right tyres for the conditions. The fast
roads through the Crosskeys stage were bone dry and he was on an intermediate
wet weather tyre. Somehow he managed to still set fastest time, but it
was just by 0.2 of a second from Glenn Allen with Sean Devine 0.4 of a
second slower. Whether Charlie can get anything done about the tyres for
the later stages remains to be seen. Indeed it was rubber was the main
topic of conversation amongst the top drivers. Glenn Allen said it was
perfect for him while Sean Devine said “We got the tyres right that
time”.
Raymond Johnston commented at stage finish. “Wrong tyres”
and he was 11s off the leader. Stephen Moore finished the stage with his
Focus WRC brakes smoking but otherwise OK and his time in comparison to
earlier was pretty good. Richard Hogg also improved on his earlier performance
and was a lot closer to the leaders. Seamus Heron dropped a few seconds,
wasn’t able to hear Sligo lady Elaine Doherty on the notes, Seamus
saying that he had bought new helmets and the integral intercom system
didn’t seem to be working correctly. Seamus and Elaine had swapped
helmets for that stage but it did not seem to make any difference. Richard
Hogg in the Skoda seemed happier with his pace through stage 3 and said.
“We’re getting there” Richard’s total now is 19.18.4.
In Group N Neil McCance was fastest through stage 3 and leads the category,
Neil said. “I enjoyed that, lovely stage, we were on a cut slick
tyre and it was perfect”. Johnny McKenna was also on a cut slick
but seemed to think that a pure slick would have been better. Errol Clarke
was disappointed to lose a few seconds when his Lancer stalled at a 3
right over crest into dip. Still Errol is putting up a good performance
and was 6th after stage 2, although for some reason he was missed out
on our last RallyNews! We mentioned on the last RallyNews that Eoin McErlean
was planning to change the gearbox on his Lancer – it looks as if
that wasn’t successful as the car is now on a trailer.
Frank Kelly had a great blast at stage 3 and despite being off the road
set a time of 5.09.2 which we thought was fastest 2 wd until Declan McNaughton
turned in a 5.08.9 and Adrian Hetherington was so very close with a 5.09.4.
In overall terms Aidan Toner is still the 2 wd man to beat, his total
18.47.9. Frank Kelly is 18.59.0. Adrian Hetherington 18.59.2.
Looking back to stage 2 – Aidan Toner led cl.6 in his Escort: Adrian
Hetherington cl.7 in his Escort: Declan McNaughton, also in an Escort,
led cl.7A: Oran Donnelly led cl.3 in his Fiesta: Ian Millar cl.5 in his
Escort: Peter O’Kane (Civic) class 1. We mentioned on the last RallyNews
that Gareth MacHale had crashed on stage 8 on Rally Sardinia and that
Loeb still led. We have also heard that Letterkenny’s Shaun Gallagher
has had a 3m puncture on his Citroen C2 and is lying 2nd in category.
On the subject of WRC – the Production World Champion co-driver
Chris Patterson and his lovely lady Christel were manning the time control
at regroup before stage 3. It’s a fair long way from Monte Carlo
to Gulladuff!!!
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON (with thanks to Michael Patterson)
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