RALLY NEWS NO.6 Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 8 CARAGH LAKE 2: End of Day 1
1INTERNATIONAL
1st (1) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 1.03.22.1
2nd (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 1.03.54.6
3rd (4) Darren Gass/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 1.04.00.0
4th (6) Garry Jennings/Barry McNulty (Lancer N) 1.06.49.6
5th (9) Sam Moffett/James O'Reilly (Lancer N) 1.08.29.8
6th (12) JJ Fleming/Robbie Ward (Focus WRC) 1.09.55.8
7th (15) Vincent O'Shea/Brian Hickey (Lancer N) 1.10.10.4
8th (14) Jer O'Donovan/Sean Hayde (Impreza N) 1.10.44.0
9th Kieran Daly 10th David Carney 11th Kevin O’Connor
NATIONAL
1st (23) Barry Meade/Liam Moynihan (Escort) 1.06.55.3
2nd (10) Roy White/Liam Brennan (MG S2000) 1.07.09.1
3rd (18) Fergus O'Meara/Diarmuid Lynch (Escort) 1.07.58.1
4th (24) Ed Murphy/John McCarthy (Escort) 1.08.26.0
5th (33) Denis Moynihan/Eamonn Hayes (Escort) 1.09.45.6
6th (20) Charlie Hickey/Johnny Hickey (Escort) 1.09.51.6
7th (42) Ken O'Neill/Ronald Riordan (Puma) 1.10.20.8
8th (25) John Hickey/John McCarthy (Escort 4x4) 1.10.35.2
9th Cal McCarthy 10th Rob Duggan
Rally leader Daragh O’Riordan and his co driver Tony McDaid had a rather subdued run through the final Saturday stage. Heavy rain made the stage quite difficult although Daragh did not find that a particular problem. He said “We had not too bad a run, nothing too exciting, no pressure.” Daragh’s lead over Eugene Donnelly is just over 32s with Darren Gass a further 5s back, so it is all to play for through the tough Sunday leg. Eugene Donnelly remarked. “We were doing a good pace. I am driving the nuts off the car. Daragh has the legs of both of us.” Eugene went on to joke. “He’s got youth as well as a better car on his side!” Tarmac Championship points leader Darren Gass, a man of few words, commented. “We’re going as hard as we can go!”
Garry Jennings in 4th o/a and leading Group N is pacing himself to hold on to his GpN advantage over young Sam Moffett behind. For his part Moffett has had a good day apart from the 2nd run over Caragh Lake where his |Lancer started to misfire quite badly.
In the National Rally Roy White pulled 6s back from Barry Meade through Caragh Lake. Roy’s 4 wheel drive MG S2000 having the slight edg eon the wet surfaces. Meade commented here at service. “I’m enjoying the rally immensely, fabulous stages”. Fergus O’Meara in 3rd place stalled his Dairymaster Escort at the start of Caragh Lake and the on board computer showed a 9s time loss. Fergus also found the stage very slippy and difficult to get traction.
Further stories include – JJ Fleming still finding his new Focus WRC difficult to get used to and he is having real trouble sorting the launch control. Jer O’Donovan ‘s times have improved since the roads got wet and he was slightly faster than Vincent O’Shea who is 3rd in GpN. Charlie Hickey, 6th in the National, reckons he fell asleep in the middle of the day but is back up and running now. Ed Murphy, 4th in the National, said that for once he has had a clean run with no problems. John Hickey’s 4wd Escort is suffering from a slipping clutch. Denis Moynihan is having a great run in his Mk1 Escort and is on racing tyres for the first time. Denis commented. “This is fabulous really enjoying the day”. Ken O’Neill’s Puma suffered a front puncture and may have damaged a shock absorber in stage 8. Kieran Marshall fitted proper tyres to his Civic and parked his brain and moved into the class 1 lead over Ian Hynes.
In the HISTORIC RALLY Wesley Patterson has led from the start in his Escort RS1800 and has a 19s lead over Todd Falvey in his Porsche. Phillip Wylie (Mk1 Escort) is 3rd over 2m behind Falvey. James O’Mahony is 4th, Alan Courtney 5th Jeremiah O’Flynn 6th.
More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow RallyNews on Twitter @pacenotes
