After a long hard tough day Eugene Donnelly leads this Circuit of Ireland by 24s from Peadar Hurson with Eamonn Boland a further 25s back. Last year’s winner and current Tarmac Champion Eamonn Boland stepped up the pace as the day wore on but in reality has not been threatening the leaders. Gareth MacHale was fastest through stage 7 and Peadar Hurson was fastest through stage 8 but only a few seconds split the top drivers. Derek McGarrity was in 3rd place but his Subaru incurred a puncture on the final Saturday stage and spun backwards into a gateway. Derek got going but then unconfirmed reports suggest that he stopped to change a wheel and as yet we have no times for him. Eugene Donnelly seemed very subdued through the last few stages compared to the speed that he was going at earlier and he told us. “I did have a bit of a mishap in stage 7. Before the start of the stage I dropped my HANS device on to the back of the steering wheel and it clicked off the locating collar which I didn’t of course realise. When I started the stage the wheel came loose on the splines and I had to hold it down. It was quite scary. On the last stage we decided we wouldn’t go mad. I’m looking forward to tomorrow now”. Peadar Hurson encountered a fair of rain on the penultimate stage so he was being a bit cautious and then had a good run through the last one. Eamonn Boland in 3rd place said. “Not too bad towards the end, kept it nice and tidy”.
Gareth MacHale told us that the spoiler flew off his Focus on the final stage with about 3 miles to go and made the car “very lively”. Gareth went on to say. “Otherwise I kept it calm and relaxed, we had a few spits of rain, nothing much. There is a full day tomorrow and a rally is never over ‘til it’s over”. Tim McNulty was disappointed at the way his day went and concentrated on getting his car through the final couple of stages. We mentioned earlier that Darren Gass and his co driver Diarmuid Falvey had both hurt their backs on the Hamilton’s Folly stage. Now co driver Diarmuid is in absolute agony and can hardly get in and out of the car so he must be having a real struggle on the stages. Their 6th place is all the more noteworthy for that. Kevin Barrett got his Subaru clutch changed with any problems so he is looking forward to tomorrow. Daragh O’Riordan is still struggling a bit with brake troubles on his Clio. Alan Carmichael continues to lead GpN and Rory Byrne is into 2nd in the category with Stanley Ballantine 3rd. Craig Breen has had a great run over the few stages to hold on to 12th o/a and lead the Fiestas ahead of Mark Donnelly.
The National A and National B rallies have still a few stages to run. Kenny McKinstry leads the B from Adrian Hetherington with Denis Biggerstaff 3rd. Melvyn Evans leads the A. More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thank to Michael & Zoe Patterson & Bernard & Roe Lee from North East Results Service): *For SMS results text RALLY ITC to 53030 (Irl) or 60066 (UK): Text STOP to switch off. Cost 30c/25p
