RALLY NEWS NO.6 Bill Adair Tyre Truck/Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL INT. L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 9 – END OF DAY 1
1st (1) Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 54.15.7
2nd (8) Keith Cronin/Mikey Galvin (Citroen DS3 R5) 56.43.4
3rd (10) Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble (Fiesta R5) 56.45.8
4th (16) Desi Henry/Liam Moynihan (Fabia R5) 56.59.9
5th (11) Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson (Fiesta R5) 57.12.5
6th (4) Roy White/James O`Brien (Fiesta WRC) 57.30.9
7th (9) Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna (Fiesta R5) 57.48.8
8th (15) Jonny Greer/Kirsty Riddick (Citroen DS3 R5) 58.01.1
9th (12) Stephen Wright/James Fulton (Fiesta R5) 58.07.0
10th (14) Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney (Fabia S2000) 58.23.3
UNOFFICIAL NAT/ L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 9 – END OF DAY 1
1st (22) Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan (BMW 1M) 58.39.9
2nd (20) Wesley Patterson/Johnny Baird (Escort Mk2) 58.41.7
3rd (25) Tom Flaherty/Patrick Curley (Escort Mk2) 59.36.0
4th (37) Jason McSweeney/Stephen Quinn (Lancer) 59.54.7
5th (26) Patrick McHugh/Pauric O`Donnell (Escort Mk2) 59.59.0
When Garry Jennings and his co driver Rory Kennedy came into service they had a 2m27s lead over 2nd placed Keith Cronin with Alastair Fisher just a couple of seconds down on Keith. Garry said. `Surely we have done enough now, can I go home?` He went on to say. `It is an awful pity that Declan Boyle has gone, the race has gone out of it`. Garry reports all well with his Subaru and his mechanics were just giving it a check over in preparation to the 6 special stages tomorrow. Keith Cronin was upbeat about the last few stages and said. `We had a good run through stage 7 then it was a bit hard to make time on the middle stage and on the 3rd one we backed off as the sun was in our eyes`. When quizzed about the middle loop of stages where he lost time to Alastair Fisher, Keith said he was just being a bit cautious and trying to judge the pace of everyone else. Alastair reckoned he was a bit untidy through stages 7 and 8 where he lost time to Keith but then he managed to pull a few seconds back in stage 9, so there is still a massive tussle in store for the Sunday leg.
Desi Henry in 4th is certainly not out of the picture either. One interesting thing that Desi`s co driver Liam mentioned was that they had marked a lot of standing water in their notes through the middle loop of stages, but most of that had gone for the 3rd loop, so they were just a wee bit safe. Sam Moffett reckoned he was braking a wee bit too early on that last loop so did not really improve on his position. Roy White thought that his performance was a little better towards the end but was still struggling, he felt as well that his brave early tyre choice knocked his confidence. Declan Gallagher and his co driver Ryan Moore were in Garry`s motor home and Declan told us that his crash on stage 5 happened at a tightening corner and the car under-steered into a hedge and then tumbled. Early reports suggested that co-driver had been hurt, but he was fine.
David Guest continues to lead group N but is finding it very difficult to judge the pace. Gus Kearney was 2nd in group N but has dropped quite a few seconds when he cut a 2 right 2 left corner and punctured a tyre. He also caught a car in an earlier stage and that cost a bit of time.
Wesley Patterson`s charge after Eugene Meegan for the lead of the National Rally took a slight wobble when Wesley discovered his Escort alternator had stopped working at the start of SS9. He switched everything electrical off and managed to get through the stage at a decent speed, and commented. `That was not good for my nerves`. Callum Devine continues to lead cl.2 in his Opel Adam but feels his new engine lacks a little power. William Creighton is 2nd in the class in his Peugeot and survived 1 puncture at the end of the short stage, Fairfield.
John Mulholland is doing the rally in his new Skoda S2000 and told us that he nearly demolished a wall on stage 8, full of the rack from left to right. He said that he came here to get used to the new car on tarmc, but did not know it was a forest rally – such are the conditions! Mark Nangle in the Subaru told us he has had a horrible day, he has changed the braking system to servo-assist because of a big knee problem and has been going so slowly he is embarrassed!
More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
