Stage 5, the first run over the 16km Ring stage, could be pivotal to the overall outcome of the rally. Donagh Kelly absolutely flew through the stage and beat the bogey time by many seconds, while his closest pursuer Garry Jennings, overcooked it just past the pier and his Subaru did a 360 degree spin, losing 30s. In the race for top R5 honours and top Clonakilty Blackpudding Tarmac C/ship points, Keith Cronin turned in a stunning time. Keith also beat the bogey time and was several seconds faster than Alastair Fisher. Alastair said at stage finish `I have no answer to that`. Donagh Kelly said. `We had a great run`. Keith Cronin commented. `We did push hard`. Daragh O`Riordan saw the tail end of Jennings` drama and Daragh backed off ever so slightly just in case Garry`s Subaru had a puncture, otherwise Daragh went well. Josh Moffett got the hammer down and he was 4s faster than his brother, Sam, in the stage, to move ahead in the overall classification. In the Group N category David Guest has settled down after his earlier upset and leads with his Lancer from Brian O`Keefe (Subaru) and Sepam man Pat Kearney 3rd in his Lancer.
Owen Murphy has reportedly retired his Fabia S2000 following his earlier intercom troubles. Desi Henry has recovered from his 3m puncture in stage 3 but is not making any real impression on the leaderboard, Desi saying that there appears to be a differential problem in his Skoda, and although it is not very apparent, something is just not right. Kevin Kelleher is languishing down the leaderboard in 9th, but a couple of his stage times have been very impressive, so he could move up the order. Eugene Meegan has pulled his BMW out of the rally following his earlier time loss when the bonnet of his 1M blew open.
In the National Rally Brian Brogan continues to set super times to hold on to his lead with Adrian Hetherington 2nd and Alan Ring in his new Fiesta R5+ 3rd. Vincent McSweeney in his Civic is 4th. Andy Mahon 5th and Frank Kelly in his Escort 6th. The top 10 is completed by Wesley Patterson: Patrick McHugh: Vivian Hamill and John Bonner (John has a new 2l engine in his Escort)
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