With just a handful of seconds covering the top 4 drivers on this Rally of the Lakes it is all to play for. The cars are being serviced here at Castletownbere Harbour, the sun glinting off the calm waters in the bay and the roads rapidly drying after heavy overnight rain. Gareth MacHale leads by just 1s from Eamonn Boland with Eugene Donnelly a further 7s back. Gareth said. “We could have been a little better on Molls Gap and we had a good run over Tim Healy, but I thought I might lose a second or two because we can’t turn the turbo up on this car. They are real power stages and the Subarus can produce a little bit extra boost”. Eugene Donnelly said. “I’m happy with those 2 stages. They are power stages and I made a couple of wee mistakes, nothing much, but the plan is to get points in the Tarmac Championship. I’m taking no chances. They are very different stages here compared to the last 2 rallies, the roads are drying and I’m learning more about the car”. Eamonn Boland reported a good run as did Tim McNulty. Aaron MacHale told of losing the 2 minutes on Molls Gap. He just nipped a front tyre on a very fast 4 left 4 right kink just 3 miles into the stage, before the old church. Denis Cronin lost a few seconds getting past Aaron. Alan Ring also lost a few seconds getting past Aaron who was really struggling to get his Focus to the end of the stage.
Fastest time over Molls Gap was Eamonn Boland with 8m18.8s which will be the new record for the stage. Tim McNulty was fastest on Saturday morning with 8.20.3. We presume that Eamonn will receive the highly prized Bertie Fisher Award for fastest on Molls Gap.
Alan Ring was fastest GpN runner over the Tim Healy stage 0.7s up on Colm Murphy while Murphy was fastest GpN over Molls Gap and Colm said. “I’m keeping it tidy, keeping Alan under pressure. But its great to have somebody to race, Alan Ring is my new Seamus Leonard!” Alastair Fisher said his tyres were a bit soft for this morning’s conditions and considering this is his first time in this very challenging territory he is going very well. He is under no real pressure from Shaun Gallagher who is 4th GpN, 2m behind. Indeed the gaps are now building up and Sean Flanagan is playing a percentage game now to get the car home as he has a cap behind and a gap in front as regards GpN. Sean’s co driver Brian Duggan was well pleased to get over Tim Healy as that is his home stage and what a beautiful morning for driving one of the nicest roads in Europe as well.
Young Craig Breen continues to lead his class in the Fiesta and he said of this morning’s run. “That was jaw dropping”. Craig is well in the top 20 and is leading Cl.3 having won the Fiesta category yesterday. Joe McGonigle is still going well in his Civic and he leads Cl.2. Daragh O’Riordan in the Clio leads cl.6. Kieran Marshall has slipped to 3rd in class 3 in his Civic having survived a few small problems including going from 4th gear to 1st at very high speed going into Fivemilebridge instead of going into 3rd. The rear of the car virtually lifted in the air and he’s been avoiding 1st gear ever since! The rear bumper of the SPS Honda is tied on with cable wraps but otherwise he’s having a good rally. Donegal man James McNulty dropped 3m yesterday when his Lancer suffered a puncture and he had another puncture this morning on Molls Gap. Leonard Downey had to stop on Molls Gap and re-fasten his fire extinguisher which had come loose. Dermot Hanafin of MIS Insurance lost the intercom in his GpN Subaru over Molls this morning, his co-driver Claire Mole now has been re-christened Claire Horse (hoarse!). Dermot hasn’t driven on a rally for some time so his 20th place overnight wasn’t so bad. Wesley Patterson continues to lead the Nationals from Fergus O’Meara from Leonard Downey and Gary Reidy. In the Historics overnight Denis Moynihan led in his Escort from Keith McIvor (Porsche), Ray Hilliard 3rd. Diarmuid Lynch, the plumbing & heating man, was forced to retire when his Escort caught fire. His own extinguishers were useless but the organiser’s ones put the flames out in an instant and there was no big damage.
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