Rally News No.4 End Of Stage 6 Cam Forest Sat 2.30pm

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 6

1^st (10) Kevin Lynch/Martin McNicholl (Impreza WRC) 31.57

2^nd (4) Glenn Allen/John Gallagher (Escort WRC) 32.13

3^rd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Celica) 32.21

4^th (11) Kieran Shaw/Crawford Henderson (Escort WRC) 32.58

5^th (5) Richard Hogg/Mark Hanna (Lancer N) 33.01

6^th (7) Dermott Kelly/John Brennan (Escort WRC) 33.04

7^th (18) Raymond Johnson/Richard Bell (Lancer N) 33.08

8^th (17) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Impreza N) 33.19

9^th (6) Kevin O’Kane/Francis Regan (Impreza) 33.23

10^th (1) Denis Biggerstaff/Derek Brannigan (Metro 6R4) 33.34

11^th (24) Keith White/David Lyness (Escort) 33.45

12^th (16) Raymond Mason/Peter Martin (Impreza N) 34.02

Once again Kevin Lynch has extended his lead after joint fastest time in stage five and was two seconds quicker than Glenn Allen on the second run through Cam, stage 6. Lynch admitted to driving hard while co driver Martin McNicholl said, "I wouldn’t want to be going much quicker than that". Glenn Allen although pushing very hard is struggling without proper anti-lag, Glenn reckons it is getting worse, telling us the problem is in the car’s brain and there is nothing they can do to fix it. Eugene Donnelly was very pleased with his run through Cam, equal fastest through stage five with Lynch, the Maghera driver over the moon with the handling of the Celica now. Interestingly COC Michael Carlin was able to tell us that the PSNI had set a speed trap on the first run through Cam, Eugene Donnelly was quickest at 97 mph with Kevin Lynch on 94 mph.

Denis Biggerstaff was 21 seconds quicker second time through Cam but the current N.I Championship points leader is still not happy with his 6R4, though they did make a lot of improvements at last service. George Robinson has retired his hired Escort WRC at the start of SS6, the car braking a rear bottom arm off the start line. Also out is Brian McCloskey, the Woodland’s Furniture man putting his Escort off the road on a tightening right hander in Cam Forest.

Kieran Shaw is much happier having got the brakes sorted on his Escort, Shaw saying "better now we’ve got a brake pedal". In GpN Richard Hogg has moved into the lead by seven seconds from Raymond Johnston. Raymond Mason dropped a load of time in stage six when his Impreza started cutting out, Raymond reckoning that the high air temperature is affecting the engine’s brain. Latest from The Rally of Finland is Marko Martin leads by 13.1 secs from Richard Burns, Sainz 3^rd, Solberg 4^th and McRae 5^th. More News Later ….. Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd