|
|
| |
| Tour of the Sperrins |
| RALLY NEWS No.5 - Service after last stage - Saturday @ 18:40:06 |
| |
|
RALLY NEWS NO.5 Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 – final stage
1st (4) Donagh Kelly/Kevin Flanagan (Impreza WRC) 40.39.1
2nd (3) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 40.47.9
3rd (1) Camillus Bradley/Charlie Beatty (Escort) 41.30.9
4th (6) Derek McGeehan/Michael Orr (Mini WRC) 41.45.6
5th (87) Desi Henry/Damien Duffin (DS3R3) 43.18.4
6th (95) Declan McNaughton/Sean Hayde (Escort) 43.54.4
7th (104) Mark Donnelly/Barry McNulty (DS3R) 44.20.9
8th (10) Keith White/Damien McCann (Escort) 44.37.8
9th (42) Paddy McToal/Connor O Loan (Escort) 44.34.8
10th (20) Frank Wray/Joe McNulty (Lancer) 44.40.3
Donegal man Donagh Kelly scored a memorable victory here today on the Tour of the Sperrins Rally, Donagh and his co-driver Kevin Flanagan brought their Subaru in 8s ahead of Derek McGarrity & James McKee, also in an Impreza WRC. One of the drives of the rally was definitely Camillus Bradley`s third place in his Ford Escort Mk2. Camillus was co-driven by Charlie Beatty who was grinning from ear to ear when the red Ford reached final service. Donagh Kelly commented at the finish. `I am delighted to have won what was a really good race with Derek. We had a clutch problem over the last 3 stages. The clutch was spinning up on the start line. We did go on to a soft slick tyre and made a big push on stage 5 although we had a few very bog moments`. This was Donagh`s first NI Championship win on tarmac as opposed to forest stages. He is not registered for the NI C/ship so Derek McGarrity still gets maximum points for his 2nd place and holds his position at the top of the table. Derek lost a few seconds to Donagh on stage 4 and then lost 13s in stage 5 where he also met a couple of quad bikes that he was not one bit pleased about. On stage 6 again Derek pushed but he was 0.4 of a second slower than Donagh.
Camillus Bradley said at the finish. `We had a great run. Although the weather improved in the afternoon the stages were greasy and I did not think there was as much grip as there was in the morning, but I really enjoyed it`. Derek McGeehan finish3ed 4th in his Mini WRC and reckoned he picked the wrong tyres for the 2nd loop. A stall at the start of the last stage meant he had no chance of catching the car in front. Peadar Hurson had been 5th but his Escort WRC was pulled in to the side of the road at the start of the final stage with smoke coming from the turbo. In Group N Kieron Graffin had led but his Lancer suffered a puncture in SS5. Liam McFall had been in the hunt for GpN but his Lancer suffered a broken drive shaft at the start of SS6.
Despite not having done a rally for almost 4 years Gary Cairns was also close to the front in GpN and surged through on the final few stages to take the category victory by 10s from Colm McFall. However, Cairns received a 1 Min penalty which handed the win to McFall. Young Paul Barrett was 21st o/a and 3rd in Cl.9 behind Frank Wray and Jonny Leonard.
Finally for now our thanks to everyone who helped and supported our RallyNews service. Congratulations to Clerk of the Course James McKeefry and all the fantastic Magherafelt MC team for organising another brilliant Tour of the Sperrins Rally. A very welcoming and hospitable lot they all are! Thanks as well to Paddy McCollum for official results.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
|
| |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
