UNOFFICIAL NAT. L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 11
1st (18) Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan (BMW) 1.31.00.6
2nd (19) Jack Newman/Donal Lennon (Escort) 1.31.31.3
3rd (20) Ed Murphy/John McCarthy (Escort) 1.33.24.0
4th (29) Liam Howlett/Enda Kennedy (Escort) 1.34.10.4
5th (24) Charlie Hickey/Johnny Hickey (Escort) 1.34.38.8
6th (50) John O’Sullivan/Eoghan McCarthy (Civic) 1.36.46.4
News from stage 10 Ballyaghbeama is that rally leader Garry Jennings has crashed his Subaru off the road at a fast left hander over a bump. The Impreza is well down into the scenery on the right hand side. Garry had lost 16s to Donagh Kelly on the previous stage, Molls Gap, and perhaps was trying to make up for lost time. Donagh Kelly told us here at service. ‘It was about time we started to drive. The plan was always to push on Molls Gap. In the fog we just followed the white line. We had a real good run then on Basllyaghbeama but were a bit timid on the 3rd one this morning, Shanera.’ Indeed on that Shanera test Alastair Fisher set equal fastest time with Donagh, but the Focus WRC man has a 13s lead on Alastair in his R5. Alastair did say. ‘We had a good run on Molls despite the fog although after Garry’s accident on Ballaghbeama we were a little bit cautious’.
Not so happy was Sam Moffett. His Fiesta ran over a stone approximately 7km from the end of the Shanera test. The tyre deflated almost right away and in fact flew off the rim 2km later, and Sam did well to only lose 38s. Still, he is very disappointed, having been within a dozen seconds or so of Alastair Fisher, he is now a minute back. There is still a long way to go of course and anything can happen. Fourth placed Stephen Wright is now in a virtual no man’s land as regards the leaderboard, a very solid 5th. Stephen is though keeping an eye on Alan Ring who is absolutely flying. Alan softened the suspension of his R5 this morning and he is very much on home territory here.
Harking back to yesterday we did a story about Alan landing in a lady’s garden yesterday and losing the front spoiler of his Fiesta. Our early information was that the lady of the house Jean Sparling was a bit annoyed at this intrusion into her garden. However, it transpired that Jean is a real rally person and he is not at all upset, and indeed arranged for 2 of Dave Slattery’s boys to bring the spoiler back to Alan at service. Dave himself is driving a very nice OO Escort this weekend. Owen Murphy holds 6th o/a and is on a sharp learning curve as it is the first time he has driven his Skoda S2000 on wet roads.
Young Callum Devine continues to lead the R2 category with Marty Gallagher going well in 2nd R2 position despite a broken gearbox mounting on his Fiesta hampering progress late Saturday afternoon.
Some more news from the National Rally is that Scottish driver Ross Marshall has crashed his Escort on the Shanera stage. Ed Murphy is having a new clutch fitted to his Escort and still holds 3rd behind Jack Newman in 2nd and leader Eugene Meegan in his BMW.
More news in morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow Rally News on Twitter and Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
