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RALLY
NEWS NO.5
Kilkenny Finish/Sunday 6pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 (final stage)
1st (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Impreza WRC) 57.47
2nd (3) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 58.22
3rd (8) Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell (Impreza WRC) 58.24
4th (6) Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 58.59
5th (152) Sean Gallagher/Paul Nagle (Esc.Cos) 59.56
6th (14) Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinall (Impreza WRC) 1.00.19
7th (17) Cahal Arthurs/L.Jones-Edwards (Celica) 1.00.54
8th (24) Phil Collins/Howard Davies (Escort) 1.00.54
9th (11) Ray Breen/Chris Finnegan (Metro 6R4) 1.01.34
10th (15) Nigel Hicklin/Sam McMullan (Impreza) 1.01.40
11th (25) Guy Woodcock/Dave Williams (Escort Maxi) 1.01.58
Eugene Donnelly and co driver Paddy Toner scored a magnificent win here
today on this Ravens Rock Rally, fastest times on the final 2 stages the
icing on the cake for the Northern Ireland crew. Michael Barrable recovered
brilliantly from an early puncture to take 2nd. Michael and co driver Dermot
O'Gorman retain their lead in the Dunlop National championship and also
score maximum points in the Get Connected series. Jim Harrison survived a
last minute road penalty scare to take 3rd, Jim really going for it at the
end and was 1s behind Donnelly on the last stage, 1 ahead of Barrable.
Eugene commented here at the finish "Really enjoyed the last 2 stages.
We stiffened the anti roll bars and really pushed. I know I didn't need to,
but I find that if I back off too much I make mistakes. As regards the
Dunlop championship its nice to have the win, but Michael Barrable is still
very much there. It was a great rally, very fast stages, but good".
Michael Barrable said "I'm pleased to be back on the pace, and to get
back into 2nd today after the puncture. There have been a couple of rallies
recently where my performance was a bit wishy washy. Eugene is very match
fit, can't touch him at the minute. The car never missed a beat and it keeps
the championship alive, although a non finish could change the whole
thing".
Jim Harrison said about his last 2 stages "We went hard, but lost some
seconds when I stalled the car at the start of stage 7. Forgot to switch on
the anti lag system as well. The story of my day really, silly
mistakes". Adrian McElvaney had a great run to 4th. While Sean
Gallagher in 5th was the best of the non world rally cars. Steve
Fleck had a bit of a push towards the end to catch Gallagher, but Sean was
12s faster than Fleck through stage 7, so Steve settled for 6th. Phil
Collins and Cahal Arthurs had a massive battle for 7th, swopping 1 and 2
seconds over the final stages. The two finished equal on time, Cahal getting
the tie break nod for fastest on the last stage.
Eoin Doyle more or less led gpN from the word go in his Impreza series 9. He
eased back a little towards the end and had a bit of a scare on the final
stage when he got caught behind Willie Fannin's engine blown Lancer, lost
quite a few seconds and was looking over his shoulder at Kieran Molloy, but
had done enough to win. 2nd in gpN was Molloy, just 20s behind Doyle
with Dominic Loughran 3rd. George Thaw had a great run to finish just
outside the leaderboard behind David McNulty. We mentioned earlier that Noel
Redmond we thought had retired with clutch trouble. He managed to get the
unit changed and get going, albeit well down the field with road penalties,
but he could possibly come into the top 10. David James we think has
won his class from John Tracey. In the Ford Focus Championship Oliver
Stanley had a good lead over Gerry Keyes with David Delaney 3rd - 2 stages
from the end. Finally for now, many thanks to all who helped and
supported the RallyNews service and well done to Ann-Marie Fitzgerald and
all her team for a magnificent effort in organising the rally.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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