Bright sunshine bathed the service area at St Angelo as the competitors set out for the penultimate loop of 2 stages. By the time the cars got to Sloughan Glen the heavens had opened, the roads were wet and many of the cars were on the wrong tyres. Garry Jennings was still fastest, 14s up on Donagh Kelly, who in turn was 13s up on Desi Henry. Garry`s leading margin is now 24s with 3 stages to go. Garry commented about stage 9. `The last 2 miles were an absolute skating rink, the back of the car was trying to pass the front`. Donagh Kelly said. `Very tricky, much more slippy than this morning`. Desi Henry, doing a marvellous job on this rally, said. `Over the last 2 miles there was a lot of standing water and we just backed off`.
One driver who seems reasonably happy, the Draperstown man reckoning that for once he made the right decision on tyres having picked an intermediate. Jonny Greer said that his Citroen was aquaplaning quite a bit in the stage but he still set a good time, 0.2 of a second faster than McGeehan. Derek McGarrity is trying everything he knows to keep his Subaru going in his effort to score some NI Championship points. He said. `I am just nursing the car, I could wreck the gearbox in about 30s it is so difficult`.
Jon Armstrong and Rob Duggan continue to battle it out over every stage. Duggan was 3s faster than Jon through that 9th stage, but Jon is happy enough to maintain his advantage, while Rob Duggan knows that unless there is an upset he is not going to catch the flying Fermanagh man. Callum Devine had an overshoot in stage 9 and dropped a few more seconds, allowing Daniel McKenna to get ahead in the classification. Callum admitted. `All these wee mistakes add up`. Daniel McKenna commented. `That stage suits our car better than some`. Camillus Bradley made a very conservative start to this rally but he has gradually upped his pace so that now he is the highest placed Escort in 11th o/a and he commented after stage 9. `It is so slippy I thought there was oil on the road`. Brendan Cumiskey`s Subaru is not looking at all pretty, but the wheels are pointing approximately in the right direction now, and he has re-taken the group N lead. Marc Johnston is 2nd GpN in his Lancer. His father Raymond leads Historics and is 18th o/a in his Escort. Rob Smith 2nd 13s back.
Further positions outside the top 10 include Damien Toner into 12th with Alan Atcheson 13th, both in Escorts. Joe McGonigle has worked his way up to 13th in his Skoda. Jonny Leonard is into 15th. Jonny made a shaky start, both himself and his Lancer off form, but he is going a lot better today.
NEWS FROM SS10: Jennings fastest by 11s from Kelly. No change in top 4.
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