NEWS COMING IN….So far Eugene Donnelly absent on stage 2…more to follow.
At the finish of the opening 19.3km stage near Dungourney the weather was absolutely beautiful, an exceptional autumnal morning, the Co. Cork countryside bathed in sunshine. Ironically at the start of the stage the driers aid it was quite foggy and a little difficult. However, the first 4 drivers through, Gareth MacHale, Eamonn Boland, Eugene Donnelly and Aaron MacHale, reported no real problems. As can be seen above, Eamonn Boland got off to a tremendous start, over 9s quicker than Donnelly, Eamonn’s new Subaru seemingly really sharp.
Niall McShea was 5th through the stage and the former Production World Champion reported a very big moment at almost the first corner of the stage. Niall said. “I thought it was all over right there”. Liam McCarthy in the Corolla WRC was slowed slightly with intercom troubles.
Damien Tourish was fastest group N but he felt that he was a wee bit off the pace. Kevin Kelleher found it a bit hard to settle in the foggy conditions early on. Alan Ring told of a small intercom problem with his co driver Adrian’s helmet. Owen Murphy said his Lancer was moving about a bit but otherwise OK. Alan Carmichael reported a couple of spins and dropped a fair bit of time but at least he got through the stage unscathed whereas his big rival for the Evo Challenge, Brendan Cumiskey, eventually emerged from the stage with the front of his Lancer well smashed in, and quite a bit of muck and grass sticking out of various bits. The car was still going and looked as if it was driving straight, but at best Brendan has given himself a very big handicap if he is to overhaul Carmichael in the race for Evo Challenge top honours.
Some further times from that opening stage included Guy Woodcock on 10.13.9 in his Escort Maxi. Terence O’Shaughnessy 10.12 in his Corolla twin cam. Anthony O’Halloran 10.20 in his Lancer.
Some early from Rally Yorkshire is that Danny Barry has crashed his Lancer heavily and has been taken to hospital with a suspected broken hand. Co driver Martin Brady is unhurt and told us that Brian O’Mahony was their saviour in helping them to get out of the car.
