UNOFFICIAL NAT/ L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 11
1st (12) Declan Gallagher/Ryan Moore (Starlet rwd) 1.28.32.4
2nd (28) Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan (BMW M1) – Time to follow
3rd (29) Enda O`Brien/John Butler (Escort) 1.30.56.1
4th (15) Phil Collins/Adrian Deasy (Escort) 1.31.15.2
5th (46) Donal O`Brien/Stephen Quinn (Escort) 1.32.03.5
6th (22) Vincent McSweeney/Damien Fleming (Civic) 1.32.57.8
Denis Cronin 1.33.52.4: Ross Marshall 1.33.58.5: J. Fitzgerald 1.36.15.9
Following an exciting battle for the lead of this Cork 20 over the last day and a half, the news is that Daragh O`Riordan has put his Fiesta WRC off the road on a stage 11 gravelly square left. In a bizarre coincidence Roy White put his Fiesta WRC off the road, also on a square gravel covered corner near the start of the same stage. Daragh O`Riordan and his co driver Tony McDaid who were 13s behind rally leader Donagh Kelly starting the stage, are both OK. Roy White and his co driver James O`Brien are also OK. When Donagh Kelly brought his Focus WRC in here to service Donagh reported his car to have a long brake pedal, but otherwise he had no problems. There are just 3 stages left to go and Donagh`s lead is almost 2m, so theoretically he should be able to play a conservative game between now and finish.
Keith Cronin`s Citroen DS3 R5 had a new pop off valve fitted as a precaution after stage 6 yesterday but Keith feels the car was down on power through stage 11, and the engineers will need to have a check on the new pop off valve. Melvyn Evans was working at his Subaru along with his engineer, to fix an oil leak. That was sorted and he has gone well through the last 3 stages. Stephen Wright reported a good enough morning, he had a good run through stage 9, the first one this morning, Stephen now has his eye on the finish ramp. Joe McGonigle has moved into the top 6 following the retirement of O`Riordan and White and Joe pushed hard this morning and reports all well.
In Group N David Guest continues to lead despite having a big moment when his Lancer clipped a bridge just after the place where Roy White`s Fiesta went off the road. Brendan Cumiskey is 2nd in Group N and reports his car going 100 per cent. Aaron MacHale is 3rd in GpN and stroking his Lancer to the finish intent on clinching the GpN Tarmac Champion award. Gus Kearney is 4th in GpN and he had a moment in stage 11 when his Lancer clipped a wall. Gus was slowed earlier when his Lancer clutch gave trouble. His brother Pat was also competing but his Lancer was sidelined with transfer box problems.
In the National Rally Declan Gallagher in his Starlet had a real good cut on the 2nd stage this morning but otherwise is content to not push too hard as he has a big lead over Eugene Meegan in 2nd. Eugene`s BMW had a soft brake pedal at the end of SS11 but in overall terms is going well. Following a slow stage 9 Enda O`Brien dropped to 4th but was quick through 11 to regain 3rd from Phil Collins. Gareth Lloyd extended his lead in the Historic Rally over Ernie Graham on this morning`s 3 stages. Frank Cunningham in his Escort retains 3rd. Ernie Graham only has to get to the finish and he takes the Tarmac Championship Historic title. The Junior Rally started this morning and Rob Duggan in his Peugeot 208 R2 leads from John O`Sullivan (Civic).
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
