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NEWS NO.4
Service - Sunday 4.15pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Maurices Mills
1st (4) Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell (Impreza WRC) 38.41
2nd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Impreza WRC) 38.52
3rd (3) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 39.39
4th (5) Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 40.14
(6) Patrick Elliott/Martin Cahill (Impreza
WRC) 40.14
6th (14) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (BMW M3) 41.15
7th (24)Mike Moloney/Nigel Shanahan (Escort) 41.26
8th (16) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot rwd) 41.48
9th (23) Sean Lyons/John Devine (Escort) 42.03
10th (18) Paddy Boyle/Marty Sherlock (Escort) 42.06
Persistent rain has made the stages slippy, but at least now its not
patchy and the drivers know where they stand. Leaving service after
stage 3 Jim Harrison had a 6s advantage. In stage 4 Eugene Donnelly was
fastest by 5s which cut Harrison's lead to just 1s. Harrison was
fastest on stage 5 by 1s and then fastest on stage 6 by 9s. So the
gap between the two going into the final 3 stages is 11s. Donnelly
commented here at service "All going well, but as soon as you hit 6th
gear the wipers start lifting off the windscreen and its very hard to see.
Its happened before and I'm disappointed that it hasn't been fixed".
Jim Harrison said simply "No worries". Third placed
Michael Barrable observed "I'm finding it very slippy, but my
confidence is coming back".
There is a big battle going on between Adrian McElvaney and Patrick
Elliott. Adrian said at last service that his car was moving about a lot
at the back, he said this time "It is a bit better but the tail is
still jumping out to the right". Patrick Elliott reported no
problems. Ollie O'Donovan is lying just outside the leaderboard in his
Impreza WRC, Ollie's total 42.08, and he told us "The car is perfect,
I'm only driving at six tenths, not even leaning on the tyres".
Other stories include - Richard Casey retiring his Escort with a blown
engine. David McNulty went a bit better on the 2nd loop of stages, earlier
on he was running without an anti lag system on his Escort Cosworth.
Paddy Boyle reports a severe vibration in his Escort, he thinks he damaged
something at the same jump that caught out Niall Maguire this morning.
Aidan Walsh lost a lot of time on stage 5 when his Escort suffered a
puncture.
Peter Clifford has dropped out of the gpN picture, his Impreza suffering
fuel pump problems. Adrian Quinn leads gpN on a total of 42.35,
Derrick Jobb is on 43.01. Willie Fannin in his new Impreza is starting to
find some pace, and he is on 43.51. Aidan Burke in the Civic was 2nd
fastest overall in gpN on the first stage of the day, but he reckons he
had a bad loop through stages 4, 5 and 6, caught a slower car and dropped
some time. Eamonn Hughes has lost some time, his newly acquired
Escort slowed by a damaged exhaust. Ed O'Callaghan is retiring his Manta,
damaged engine mountings.
More news after stage 9. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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