RALLY NEWS NO.7                          Rose Green/Service/Sunday 5.15pm
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UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 Lavally
1st (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Impreza WRC)  1.04.27
2nd (4) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.04.45
3rd (7) Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell (Impreza WRC) 1.05.39
4th (8) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 1.06.19
5th (11) Maurice Gass/Andrew Cullen (Impreza WRC) 1.06.23
6th (15) Ray Breen/John Purceell (6R4) 1.07.41
7th (12) Patrick Elliott/Martin Cahill (Impreza WRC) 1.08.01
8th (6) Sean Gallagher/Sean Moriarty (Esc.Cos) 1.08.55
9th (24) Tommy Kiely/Michael Cuddihy (Escort) 1.10.01
10th (16) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.10.10
11th (19) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot rwd) 1.10.56
12th (25)  David James/Jim Crowe (Escort) 1.11.00

On stage 7, Lisnamuck, it was Jim Harrison by just a second from Eugene Donnelly with Michael Barrable a further 2s back. On stage 8 Donnelly shattered the bogey time for the stage, stopping the clocks on 9m12s, but had to be content with the official time of 9.21. Barrable had 9.23 and Jim Harrison 9.25.  "Frustrating" was how Eugene Donnelly described stage 8, and went on to say that he thought the clutch which by then was squealing like mad, would hold out for the last stage. Barrable was equally frustrated and said "We're going well, but I just don't understand where Eugene gets the speed from on that long stage". Jim Harrison commented "We're in the middle of nowhere now as regards the times. Well behind Barrable well ahead of Maguire, it's a matter of holding station".  Maguire got ahead of Maurice Gass to hold 4th place. Niall saying "The rust is starting to wear off a bit, I'm tuning the differentials and going a bit better".  Maurice Gass reported his tyres going off in the heat of stages 7 and 8.    Ray Breen turned the wick up to get ahead of Patrick Elliott and take 6th place.

Other stories include Sean Gallagher dropping back slightly, his Escort Cosworth throttle sticking on, Sean having to slow down well before junctions.  Noel Redmond was 12th, but has dropped back with another broken drive shaft. Mac McKenna has been going well although he had a shaky moment through stage 8 when he touched a bank with the front left corner, that was at a tightened junction, the wheel rim filled up with mud and vibrated to stage finish.

In Group N Eoin Doyle has an over 20s advantage on Willie Fannin with James Coleman now up to 3rd in the category. Derrick Jobb is 4th. We mentioned earlier about James Coleman, and mistakenly said he was in an Escort when in fact he has bought Eoin Doyle's last model Subaru.  Tommy Kiely continues to lead class 13 with Mac McKenna 2nd David James 3rd and Gwyndaf Evans 4th.

In the Ford Ireland Ka Championship Kenneth Mulvaney still led after stage 6 by 40s from Keith Lyons with Kieran Daly 3rd and Ian Chadwick 4th.    More news after final stage. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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