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| Sligo Stages Rally 2009 |
| RALLY NEWS No.7 - After SS9 Final Stage - Sunday @ 18:17:09 |
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Rally News No.7 Sligo Park Hotel Finish Ramp Sunday 6.15pm
Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage Nine
1st (1) Patrick Elliot/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.25.05
2nd (2) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 1.25.18
3rd (3) Kevin Barrrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.26.28
4th (4) Melvyn Evans/Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) 1.27.15
5th (6) Garry Jennings/David Moynihan (Evo) 1.28.45
6th (7) Kevin Kelleher/Alistair Wylie (Lancer N) 1.29.17
7th (15) John Cairns/James Cairns (Impreza) 1.30.56
8th (10) Eamonn Daly/Paddy Robinson (Lancer N) 1.31.29
9th (23) Pat Kirk/Peter Ward (Lancer N) 1.32.50
10th (16) Russell Woods/Martin Byrne (Escort) 1.32.58
11th (12) Paul Kiely/Pat McSharry (Lancer N) 1.33.29
12th (18) Brian Brogan/Damien McGettin (Escort) 1.34.20
Patrick Elliott and co driver Paul Goodman gently cruised their Impreza up to the finish ramp at a now sunny Sligo Park Hotel. Patrick beaming from ear to ear as he returns to the winners podium once again. Patrick said “it is great to be back at number one again, I don’t know where Niall got the speed from in stage eight but we had a good enough lead for the final stage, it has been a very tough day, difficult conditions but a brilliant rally, well done to the organisers”. Elliott and Maguire tied on the final stage both setting a time of 7.15 to leave the winning margin at 13 seconds. Niall Maguire was far from despondent at the finish “we really had a go over that stage eight, Enda and I were absolutely flat out over the mountain, it was fantastic”. Today’s second place keeps him right in the Dunlop points hunt. Kevin Barrett had a good run to third today.
Melvyn Evans and co driver Patrick Walsh made the long trip over from Wales very worthwhile as they have secured the Richard Egger Insurance MSA Taracadam title with their strong fourth place finish today in their Impreza 12b.
Garry Jennings came here today in search of championship points and he certainly got the job done. Garry and co driver David Moynihan have led GpN from the beginning and take the category win by over thirty seconds from Kevin Kelleher today. Eamonn Daly survived a few moments to bring his Lancer home third in GpN while Pat Kirk despite a slow start was flying this afternoon and brings his Lancer home in ninth.
Russell Woods overcame his misfire to take 2wd honours after Dominic McLoughlin suffered mechanical problems earlier on and he finished way down.
The Sligo Rally today is also a round of the Hass Border Rally Championship and John Kelly should get the drive of the day award for being the fastest driver in class ten on stage three of today’s event. Enda McLoughlin and co driver Karen Kelly have led class ten for most of the day but they are not registered for Border points though we are still waiting for the later crews to come off the final stage. Christie Carey popped his head in to tell us his tractor unit suffered an electrical fault yesterday and immediately James Foley offered the use of his truck to ensure that the crews had a supply of Hankook Tyres for today, Christie is very grateful.
Once again it has been a text book Sligo Rally, the Connaght Motor Club putting on a brilliant event with great stages and as usual you could have set your watch by today’s timetable. Congratulations go to COC Robert Lyttle and his team for a such a great event. Many thanks to our sponsors today for supporting the Rallynews service and as usual our thanks to Dougie Hughes for all his help during the day. Michael & Zoe Patterson
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