UNOFFICIAL NAT. L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 9 Ardfied
1st (14) Gary Kiernan/Ryan Moore (Proton) 1.17.40.5
(16) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 1.17.40.5
3rd (22) Frank Kelly/Michael Coady (Escort) 1.20.24.3
4th (12) Kevin Eves/Chris Melly (Corolla) 1.20.27.0
5th (36) John Bonner/Emmet Sherry (Escort) 1.20.27.6
6th (24) Jason McSweeney/Anthony O Conaill (Lancer) 1.20.32.6
Following the St. Patrick’s night partying in Clonakilty, plus celebrating Ireland’s Grand Slam Twickenham victory, it was back to the stages for the rally crews this morning. Overnight rally leader Donagh Kelly in his Focus WRC was first on the road through the classic Ardfield stage. Donagh took up where he left off yesterday by setting a fastest time even though he said he was hampered by dust. This seems quite amazing on such a bitterly cold morning, but he probably means along the coastal stretch where sand often blows on to the road. Next through the stage was Josh Moffett. He was not a happy man, the throttle of his Fiesta sticking wide open, meaning that even when he stood on the brakes, and shifted down the box the car was reluctant to slow down. Because of this Josh had big moment near the start of the stage and folded the exhaust flat. His brother Sam was also struggling a little in his case with tyres that did not heat up. However Sam lost very little, if any, time. He said he had not used this particular tyre before.
Declan Boyle had a really good run, and although he was slower than Donagh he was much quicker than Josh Moffett and looks to be closing the gap on 2nd place. Desi Henry was fastest R5 car through the stage with Robert Barrable less than a second slower. These two are having a great battle and Barrable was pleased that he is at last showing some speed on the faster stages. Stephen Wright finished the stage with tape draped over the roof of his Fiesta. He has no idea where it came from. He did drop 2 places on the leaderboard. Daniel Cronin had a good time to move up one place. Eugene Donnelly in the new Hyundai is well pleased to be getting ever closer to the pace of the R5 cars in front. Callum Devine held on to his 11th place o/a and best R2 despite indulging in 2 silly mistakes on junctions.
In the National category John Dalton shrugged off an overshoot and spin in his Darrian to set fastest time and draw level with Gary Kiernan for the lead. Kiernan said it was just as he expected, he has no answer to the Darrian on the very fast sections. Frank Kelly’s 3rd place in the Nationals is under threat as his Escort has suffered a broken exhaust manifold and is down on power. Frank has 2 long stages before service and indeed Josh Moffett is in the same boat. Kevin Eves is keeping the pressure on although he did cook the brakes on his Corolla. Ed O Callaghan started the day 4th National but his Escort has not reached the stage finish and is reportedly parked up. We heard from Kevin O Driscoll that O Callaghan had a lurid spin in the stage perhaps the stoppage is related to that.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or Facebook @Real_RallyNews
