Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 3

1^st (3) Michael Barrable/Dermot O’Gorman (WRC) 25.52

2^nd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Celica) 26.01

3^rd (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (WRC) 26.08

4^th (5) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Escort WRC) 26.23

5^th (8) Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (WRC) 26.28

6^th (17) Alan Nesbitt/Enda Sherry (Celica) 27.00

7^th (10) Kieran Shaw/Crawford Henderson (WRC) 27.16

8^th (11) Sean Gallagher/Liam Costello (Escort) 27.18

9^th (9) Glen Allen/John Gallagher (Escort WRC) 27.25

10^th (25) David McNulty/Keefe Kilcoyne (Escort COS) 27.28

11^th (12) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot) 27.30

12^th (16) George Robinson/Francis Regan (Escort COS) 27.39

It is all change at the front of this years Monaghan stages as the slippy conditions take their toll on the leaderboard. Early rally leader James Harrison has thrown it all away after putting his Impreza off the road in stage 3. Also off in stage 3 is Patrick Elliott and co driver Martin Cahill who have also crashed their Impreza WRC. Elliott’s accident has caused some confusion with some of the following drivers reporting an okay board and then an SOS board. Adrian McElvaney stopped at the scene only to be told to go on, but Kieran Shaw then stopped and called for the ambulance as Patrick was feeling unwell. All drivers have been awarded a time of 8.05 for the stage, which is in effect both Niall Maguire and David Armstrong’s time.

Local star Niall Maguire arrived here at service with his previously immaculate Impreza looking somewhat second hand. Niall running first on the road was caught out at a SqR SqL junction and has damaged both the front and back of the car though they should be able to get it sorted in service. New rally leader Michael Barrable was also off on the same junction as Maguire, Barrable only suffering a small time loss and no damage. Eugene Donnelly in the Envirocare Celica reports no problems in second place, just that he is finding the car hard work compared to his Impreza.

David Armstrong continues to go well in his recently acquired Escort WRC, and although he escaped the Maguire junction, he suffered a couple of half spins in the stage and was surprised to have not lost more time. Glen Allen in another Escort WRC had no wipers for either stage two or three loosing some time in stage two, but having the stage interrupted time for SS3.

In the 2wd battle Philip Shaw has reportedly rolled on stage two, leaving Mac McKenna just outside the top ten. Adrian McElvaney stopped at the Elliott accident, but was also lucky on stage two having lost a large chunk of a front rim. More News Later Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd