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| Cavan Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.4 - After SS6 - Sunday @ 16:04:20 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.4 Service/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Lavey
1st (1) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 48.23
(3) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 48.23
3rd (6) Neil McCance/Sean Ferris (Lancer N) 50.52
4th (5) John McGlaughlin/Crawford Henderson (Lancer N) 50.59
5th (9) Russell Woods/Martin Byrne (Escort) 51.01
6th (30) Paul Elliott/Brian Doherty (Lancer N) 52.06
7th (15) Peter Wilson/John Kilmurray (Civic) 52.26
8th (4) Sean Devine/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 52.46
9th (11) Brendan Cumiskey/Andrew Grennan (Lancer N) 52.52
There is a massive battle at the front between Niall Maguire and Kevin Barrett, the pair swapping seconds on every stage with Sean Devine dropping out of the equation, his Subaru suffering from a broken drive shaft in stages 5 and 6. When the cars left service after stage 3 Niall Maguire had a 3s lead. Kevin Barrett set fastest time through stage 4 to move into the lead and then Maguire was fastest through stage 5 to tie with Barrett and the two recorded exactly the same stage time through stage 6. Maguire picked a harder compound tyre for that loop of stages and it was thought that he might lose out a little in stage 4 but then have the advantage through stages 5 and 6. I didn’t work that way. Niall was sweating when he came in after stage 6 but had a broad grin on his face thoroughly enjoying the battle with Barrett. Niall said. “We’re pushing hard”. Kevin Barrett felt that the changes made to his car by Kenny McKinstry in the area of suspension and differential settings was paying off, but at the same time Kevin is just driving as hard as he can go. When quizzed about his tyre choice Kevin’s co driver Sean Mullally snorted. “It doesn’t make much difference, the car is rarely on the ground!”
Neil McCance reported a good clean run through all three stages on that loop but is still only 3s ahead of John McGlaughlin in the battle for both Group N and Evo Challenge honours. Points leader starting this rally, Liam Egan, put his Lancer into a field early on. He was caught out by a square corner after a big crest jump. It was poor reward having flown in from New York to do the rally. Paul Elliott has gone well over the last 3 stages to reinforce his 3rd in Group N. Seamus Heron was right in the GpN picture but lost a lot of time in stage 6 when his Lancer lost power. Similarly Willie Mavitty lost some time when his Lancer lost its sump guard and he had to back off over the jumps. Stanley Ballantine is still going but fighting hard to make up for lost time with throttle troubles earlier on.
In the 2 wheel drive battle there is no one to touch Russell Woods/Martin Birney who are setting scorching times in their Escort. Peter Wilson lost a few seconds when he caught several cars in stage 6 including Sean Devine’s struggling Impreza. Raymond Drury is still going but he has lost a lot of time following a suspension strut breakage in stage 3. Raymond Conlon in the black Corolla is also still going but well down the order his Toyota suffering a broken manifold. Daniel Conaghan had a good run through that loop of stage, Daniel’s co driver Trevor Graham now recovered from earlier sickness. James Cassidy is on a total of 52.56 and remarked. “Things couldn’t be better”.
CITROEN RACING TROPHY
After stage 6 McElhinney has stretched his lead to 1m11s over Sam Moffett with Martin Tynan over 5m back. Mark Kane had to pull out with gearbox trouble on his C2R2. Stephen Baxter retired when he pulled a wheel off. Barry Evans’ car had alternator troubles.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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