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| Circuit of Kerry |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - Service - Sunday @ 15:34:32 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Service/Tralee/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 SCOTIAS GRAVE
1st (1) Thomas Fitzmaurice/Fionn Foley (Impreza WRC) 48.28
2nd (4) Brian O'Mahony/John Higgins (Impreza WRC) 48.37
3rd (3) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 48.40
4th (9) Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan (Escort) 50.00
5th (10) Declan Boyle/Gary McNern (Escort) 50.04
6th (8) Mike Quinn/Grainne McEnery (Escort) 50.50
7th (131) Eugene Meegan/Brian Sharkey (Lancer N) 50.56
8th (127) Mark Donnelly/Andrew Purcell (Lancer N) 51.12
9th (19) Tommy Mason/Podge Doody (Escort) 52.01
10th (22) Frank Sweeney/Jane Cogan (Escort) 52.36
With just 2 stages remaining on this Circuit of Kerry Rally the position at the top of the leaderboard is getting very tight. Just 12s cover the leading 3 crews. Niall Maguire was equal fastest through stage 5 and fastest through stage 6. It’s just a second here and a second there but it could all count at the end of the day. Rally leader Thomas Fitzmaurice confessed here at service. “That stage 6 was one of my worst ever. I drove very poorly, then I got more upset, it just didn’t click”. Brian O’Mahony told us. “We had a steady run but there is no room for error on those stages. The car is handling well and the tyres are coping well.” Niall Maguire explained that he really got to grips with the 2 stages and drove hard but there is little left.
Drivers not so fortunate on that loop included Kevin Barrett and Colm Murphy. Kevin was lying 4th o/a after stage 5 (Bothiar Na Gloch – the Rocky Road) but the Triton Showers man had some problems with the launch control of his Subaru in that stage, then on the road section to SS6 the car overheated and he switched it off immediately. Colm Murphy, who had been leading group N, got caught out on a square corner in stage 6 and pulled a front wheel off his Impreza.
As well as the tight battle for overall honours there is also a huge tussle for the title of Best Mk 2 Escort here. Declan Boyle was 1s faster than Frank Kelly through stage 6 to leave Frank in front by just 4s. Frank told us. “I did slow momentarily at Colm Murphy’s accident to make sure he was OK but otherwise I was flat out. It is times like these you know how old you are getting!” As for Declan Boyle, the Donegal man is revelling in this competition, but also said. “I’ve not done these stages before whereas Frank has. That run over should make it easier for me on these last 2 stages”. Mike Quinn has now dropped a small bit behind the battling Kelly and Boyle and Mike said. “The brakes are not great but we’re pushing harder. We’re certainly going a lot faster than last year here but we’re not getting near these two boys in front this time”.
In GpN Eugene Meegan regained the lead following Colm Murphy’s accident but Mark Donnelly took time out of Eugene through stages 5 and 6, so just 16s separate these two. Third in GpN is Josh Moffett and Andrew Slattery is 4th in his Impreza but a fair bit back. The reason for Roy White’s retirement was a dropped valve in his Ford engined MG S2000. Aidan Walsh decided to retire his rwd Peugeot because of the overheating problem we reported earlier. Enda McCormack has made the trip from the US to compete here and his Lancer, co driven by Martin Brady, has had some differential trouble, but managed to keep going. More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow RallyNews on Twitter @ pacenotes
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