|
|
RALLY
NEWS NO.12
Drumshanbo/Sunday/7pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 15 Yellow Rivers
1ST (2) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza WRC) 1.38.27.2
2nd (7) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.39.15.0
3rd (1) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 1.40.25.1
4th (3) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.40.32.2
5th (9) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Impreza WRC) 1.41.36.9
6th (11) Roy White/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 1.44.52.7
7th (12) Dickie Curran/Anthony Donnelly (Lancer N) 1.46.09.8
8th (18) Raymond Johnston/Richard Bell (Lancer N) 1.47.52.5
9th (17) Shaun Gallagher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 1.47.53.2
10th (16) Aaron MacHale/Damien Connolly (Lancer N) 1.48.20.9
Stage 14 Owenmore River was cancelled because of a gorse fire, so the drivers
have only tackled on stage since last service. Andrew Nesbitt was fastest on
that Yellow Rivers test, by almost 10s from Derek McGarrity with Austin
MacHale 3rd fastest. When Derek and co driver Chris Patterson guided the
fabulous yellow Pirelli Impreza WRC into service Derek told us "This
afternoon's stages got very gravelly, it was a tricky day, I'm looking forward
to tomorrow where the stages will suit me better. The car is fine, no
problems, just routine maintenance required at the moment". Andrew
Nesbitt said "Everything is basically OK but we had trouble with the gear
change coming down the mountain, I just kept the car in 6th gear".
At that, co driver James O'Brien rolled his eyes……it must be a very
exciting drive in there for the Kanturk accountant!
Austin MacHale in 3rd place reported that he had bedded in new brake pads on
the way up to the Yellow Rivers stage, but they had "gone off"
halfway through the stage, denying Austin a real cut. Eamonn Boland
dropped from 3rd to 4th when he lost 30s leaving last service, the Buckley
mechanics having a huge job to change the power steering rack on Eamonn's
Impreza. Maurice Gass in 5th is worried that there is a small transmission
noise in his Millview Fuels Impreza. Maurice tells us that it wasn't slowing
him down but always in the back of his head, and he was glad to get the day
over.
In Group N Roy White continues to lead. The Tipperary man set a good
time through that stage 15 but told us "The tyres were stone cold, we
were on an almost full fuel load, and I waited until the 2nd junction before I
really started to go flat out". Roy was really worried that Shaun
Gallagher would have taken some time out of him. The Letterkenny man did
indeed take 3s, while Dickie Curran was quite a few seconds further back.
Dickie said of the stage "There was a lot of gravel going up the
mountain, we had a good hard charge and I liked it".
Looking back slightly….Tim McNulty did reach service after stage 13, but he
had lost a lot of time, his Impreza needed a new radiator and it wasn't
possible to get it sorted. Martin Howley thumped the front of his Lancer
and much to his embarrassment arrived into service with the horn blasting all
on its own! BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON
|
|
