The major story overnight was the withdrawal from the rally by Peadar Hurson. Peadar and his co driver Damien Connolly were lying 2nd o/a at the end of the Saturday leg. However, following a major jump over a crossroads in stage 5, The Hard Hill, the car developed an oil leak. There was some damage reportedly to the sump and indeed on the way down from Banbridge to Dundalk HQ there was a small fire. Peadar thought it best not to continue in case there was further damage. This left Eugene Donnelly with an overnight advantage of 50s over Eamonn Boland with Gareth MacHale a further 27s back. It was Gareth who set the pace over the opening 2 stages this morning his Focus WRC quickest on both Slieve Gullion tests. He commented here at service. “We woke up early. Had a good run. Going to give it a push, anything can happen and really I’ve nothing to lose. In terms of the Tarmac C/ship only 1st or 2nd will do”. Rally leader Eugene Donnelly said. “We were very cautious this morning. The stage was slippy in places and first on the road in a place like that is difficult. We have a good buffer. I was sorry to see Peadar going out he gave us a good run yesterday and I was looking forward to the battle today. The next 2 stages will suit our car, we’ll see how we go”. Eamonn Boland had a good run on the 2nd of the Slieve Gullion tests but dropped a few seconds on the first one when his Focus got away from him on one of the hairpins and spun right round.
Tim McNulty turned in 2 good times this morning to hold on to 4th place. Darren Gass lost a few seconds with a spin in stage 10. Co driver Diarmuid Falvey is on the pain killers this morning to help his injured back which was damaged after a jump on Hamilton’s Folly. Kevin Barrett was cautious this morning but he has such a big time gap in front and behind his 6th place is under no threat.
Alan Carmichael moved ahead of Daragh O’Riordan over the Slieve Gullion stages and is now 7th o/a and leading GpN. O’Riordan struggled fro grip in the front wheel drive Clio. Rory Byrne set a couple of cracker times over Slieve Gullion which is sort of local territory for him. Rory’s company Modern Tyres also sponsor those 2 stages. Paddy White got a puncture on each of them, one front and one back on his Focus and he joked afterwards. “Must support the tyre companies!” Paddy has now slipped back to 11th, just ahead of Eugene Meegan in his Civic.
Young Craig Breen was lying just outside the top 10 starting this morning but he has crashed out on the first run over Slieve Gullion. Craig who won the FST yesterday was caught out on a 2 left over a jump and the back of the car stepped out, caught the grass which launched it into a major roll. Fortunately Craig and co driver Gareth Roberts were unhurt. Mark Donnelly was 2nd in the FST yesterday and he was 15th o/a but he decided not to restart this morning.
The Mitsubishi Evo Challenge is on a double header this weekend with contenders running in all the different categories of the rally so it is quite hard to work out the Saturday results. It would appear that Neil McCance took maximum points for the Saturday leg with Alan Carmichael 2nd and Stanley Ballantine 3rd. Because the National B competitors are not getting a run at Slieve Gullion today’s Evo Challenge times will start from stage 11.
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