Fastest through stages 14 and 15 was Gareth MacHale and he has edged ahead of Hurson for 2nd place. Eugene Donnelly has a good lead now and can afford to play a percentage game, although his Skoda suffered a little brake fade over the last couple of stages. Hurson said that he has changed the set up of his tyres and he’s going a lot better. Aaron MacHale said that he is still braking a little early for the corners but is very happy with his progress in the 06 Focus. Gareth MacHale and his co driver Brian Murphy admitted that they were now pushing fairly hard but not having any major moments.
Damian Tourish has lost the group N lead and could well be out of the rally having slid wide on a 5R corner just before the finish of stage 15 and has damaged a front wheel on his Lancer. This leaves Sean Flanagan & Brian Duggan leading the group N category. Sean lost a bit of time on the opening stage today getting past Rautenbach but otherwise has gone well. Mike Bird is now the highest place Galway man and co driven by Kevin Keane has gone well over the last few stages to hold 7th just ahead of Tommy Doyle in his Clio. Doyle leads his class and has changed the spring settings in his little Clio. Ger O’Donovan is now 3rd in group N and is just ahead of Craig Breen in the Fiesta. Craig’s attitude now is just to get the car home.
We did a story last night regarding Kevin Kelleher’s retirement. Kevin and his co driver Alastair Wylie were leading group N in their Lancer but then the car was reported crashed on a square right corner in stage 8. It transpires that the problem was a broken throttle cable and the car was stranded on the road. Following Paul Gallagher’s accident Wesley Patterson led the National Rally in his Escort with Tom Flatherty and Eugene Ferry, also in Escorts, 2nd & 3rd. Ferry’s car had a gear box change this morning which kept it going. Interesting, Monaghan man Daniel McKenna was fastest of the Nationals over stage 10, but then dropped 4m on the next stage which has knocked him back to 16th. In the Historic Rally Ray Cunningham is beating all the odds to overcome the flooded roads to lead by 23s from Derek Boyd in his Porsche after stage 12. Tim Lenihan was 3rd in his Escort. Paul Fitzgerald led the Juniors from Peter Wilson.
Latest news on the National Rally is that Wesley Patterson has over 4m of a lead on Tom Flatherty. Wesley said he is sticking to the middle of the road, having had troubles on this rally last year when he was also leading the Nationals. Eugene Ferry holds 3rd but has cracked the rear of his Escort against a wall. Donegal man Eugene reported that he got a bit enthusiastic as the grip level increased, but was then caught out on the muddy stretch at the end of Ballybuck. Young Daniel McKenna told us that his 4m time loss this morning was when he got caught behind someone’s accident and he may get a “scratch time”. He went on to tell us that he lost 5m yesterday when he skidded backwards up a bank and his Escort exhaust got squashed. Latest news on the Juniors after S15 is that Peter Wilson has moved into the lead from Paul Fitzgerald. In the “Sunday Run” Martin McGee in his Escort leads from Aaron Burkart in his Swift. In the Historic Rally Ray Cunningham continues to lead from Derek & Roisin Boyd.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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