Declan Boyle pronounced himself well pleased with his run through the Carnhill stage and it certainly showed in the times as he was 7s faster than Darren Gass and 11s up on Sam Moffett. Moffett`s Fiesta had clattered into a pothole quite hard and he thought it may have punctured a tyre. Perhaps this affected his concentration as he then arrived into a chicane far too fast and hit a bale. He did manage to keep going without too much time loss. What followed though was bizarre, in that a marshal waved the yellow flag at both Darren Gass and Garry Jennings. They both slowed for the chicane but there was no hazard there, and both were hopping mad at losing a valuable second or two. Donagh Kelly`s Focus WRC stopped at a tight square right square left through a farmyard in the stage. Donagh caught the left-hand corner of the car against something and although there is no real damage the Focus WRC is stuck.
Josh Moffett was again the fastest of the group N contenders. Stephen McCann had his Lancer up into 8th place and 3rd in the category but he slowed towards stage finish, and it would appear there is a turbo boost problem with the car. Shane Maguire has eventually retired his GpN Impreza having broken a brake pipe on the Garrygort stage earlier today. Shane did rejoin the rally but reckoned he was too far back to do any good.
Daniel McKenna was fastest of the National contenders although his Escort tyres were going off towards stage finish. Gary McPhillips is still 20s behind the flying McKenna and although Gary is setting fastest times on some stages he is not really closing the gap. Frank Kelly reported that he could not get into the groove on that stage. Adrian Hetherington got the worst of the damage to his Escort fixed at service and he had a decent run through stage 11 to maintain his 7th position. Damien Gallagher had a spin and stalled his Escort at the Diamond. Daniel Doherty reported a vibration in his Escort that slowed him. The dash readout on Wesley Patterson`s Escort has failed which is causing him great difficulty. Vivian Hamill had a couple of overshoots in stage 11 and the brake pedal is going to the floor. Following his axle problem Michael Dunlop`s Escort then had a recalcitrant engine and we have had no recent times for Michael & James.
In the Historic Rally after stage 10 Seamus O`Connell leads Denis Moynihan by 1m21s with Andy Johnson still 3rd in his Chevette HSR. Seamus O`Connell`s Escort is leaking some oil from the half shafts but it does not seem to be slowing him down. Seamus` son Tommy is competing in a similar Escort but the car suffered a puncture on their opening stage then the engine put a leg out of bed on the next one.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael & Zoe Patterson) *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
