Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 3

1^st (5) John McCarthy/Dan Maguire (Impreza) 19.47

2^nd (6) Eddie Kinirons/ Greg Shinnors (Celica) 20.21

3^rd (4) Garry Jennings/Gordon Noble (106 MAXI) 20.29

4^th (7) Paul Staunton/Bruce Burgess (Escort) 20.39

5^th (2) Kevin O’Kane/Steven Griffith (Impreza) 20.40

6^th (3) John Donnelly/Greg McCarthy (Escort WRC) 21.00

7^th (9) John McGaffin/Tom Graham (Legacy) 21.08

8^th (104) Gareth McHale/Joe Downey (Peugeot 206) 21.46

9^th (14) Ray Benskin/Peadar Walsh (Escort) 22.11

10^th (8) James Murphy/Con Mulcahy (Escort COS) 22.19

11^th (19) Alan Mulcahy/Dermot Harrington (Starlet) 22.25

= (20) Noel Driver/Joe Shinnors (Escort) 22.25

13^th (1) Dermot Kelly/John Brennan (Escort WRC) 22.29

John McCarthy extended his lead over stages 2 and 3, fastest overall on stage 3 but loosing out to Kevin O’Kane on the 2^nd stage. The Impreza driver reporting no problems, John saying "we are steady enough, this is a long rally and it has only just started".

Eddie Kinirons has moved into second place despite having no handbrake in his Celica. Garry Jennings reckons he drove a bit to cautiously through stage 2, and the little 106 is struggling for traction out of the uphill hairpins. Paul Staunton is still flying in his Mk2 Escort, Paul still having battery problems over the second and third stages and thinks he has lost a mountain of time, but hope to rectify the problem here in service.

John Shananan dropped almost three minutes in stage three when he had to stop with a turbo problem, dropping him off the leaderboard – his total is now 24.39. Dermot Kelly is continuing despite his electrical maladies, another driver hoping to get his problems fixed in service.

James Foley has retired his new left hand drive Civic in stage three, while another retirement is local man Kieran Molloy whose gearbox failed in stage two.

Ray Benskin punctured towards the end of stage three but still holds a place in the top ten, while Noel Driver lost time on the second stage with an off. Alan Treacey has no second gear, but moving strongly into the top ten is late entry Gareth McHale. Gareth is running with 104 on the side of his Peugeot felt the car to be down on power through stages 1 and 2, but a bit of fiddling seems to have solved the problem, Gareth now holding 8^th overall.

More News Later ….. Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd