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RALLY
NEWS NO.7
Ballingurteen/Sunday 12.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 Cahermore
1ST (3) Ken McKinstry/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC)
1.11.06.6
2nd (2) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC)
1.11.29.7
3rd (1) Melvyn Evans/Marc Jones (Impreza WRC)
1.11.47.7
4th (8) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Corolla WRC)
1.11.56.7
5th (7) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza
WRC) 1.12.11.0
6th (6) Steve Fleck/Andy Card (Impreza WRc)
1.12.46.7
7th (15) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Impreza WRC)
1.12.56.5
8th (11) Phil Collins/Howard Davies (Escort)
1.14.23.6
9th (17) Tony Davies/Wyn Thomas (Metro 6R4)
1.14.45.6
10th (23) Cathal Arthurs/Llinos J-Edwards (Celica)
1.15.14.4
The drama started early on this 2nd day of the West
Cork Rally when Michael Barrable's Subaru WRC
refused to fire up at the Clonakilty Model Railway
Parc Ferme. The minutes ticked agonisingly by
for the Dubliner as the engine churned over
uselessly, Michael on a high for one of his biggest
ever rally battles. He was just 6s behind McKinstry
in the fight for the lead. The car fired eventually
but the road penalties came to 45s and from being a
close 2nd he was a distant 5th. The heart has gone
out of him, and co driver Dermot O'Gorman jokingly
remarked "We could be for the high stool, the
pints of Guinness".
Rally leader Kenny McKinstry completed the first 2
stages without mishap although his tyres, the ones
he used yesterday afternoon, went completely to
pieces and Eamonn Boland was fastest through stage
10. Third placed Melvyn Evans had a spin in the
Rathbarry stage which got him off on the wrong foot.
Liam McCarthy in 4th continues to set sufperb times,
3rd fastest through Cahermore. Liam was not too
happy about the Rathbarry test however, a bit of a
mix up at the start, getting him off on the wrong
foot. There is still a huge battle going on
between Steve Fleck and Maurice Gass in their
respective WRCs for 6th place. Gass took 7s
off the English driver in stage 9 but dropped 3 in
stage 10. Steve Fleck's co driver is his
mechanic, Andy Card, not Mark Aspinall as we said
yesterday. Mark's wife went into labour just before
the start of the rally, and he thought it best o
head home. Interestingly, Andy is not only co
driving he is working at the car in service as well.
As we predicted, Donal O'Donovan did not restart
this morning, nor did Denis Cronin. Over the
first 2 stages today further retirements include
Richie Curran, whose Escort Cosworth has not
appeared here. Nor has Tom Holton's Celica, which
was reported going slowly through stage 9. Phil
Collins has lost some of his momentum this
morning, his Escort developing a water leak.
Damian Cole in the Class 14 Darrian has set 2 really
good times, much quicker than Collins, so the Get
Connected man should be moving up the order.
GpN leader Kieran O'Callaghan had intercom problems
through stage 9 and 10, and spent a large part of
stage 9 looking in his mirrors as Michael Barrable
started behind him. This has opened the door for Bob
Fowden, 1m42s behind in the gpN race, to make a
charge. More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON
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