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| ALMC Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.2 - After SS1 - Sunday @ 11:23:08 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.2 End of stage1/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Kentstown
1st (142) Seamus O'Connell/Sean Magee (Escort) 7.14
2nd (5) Neil McCance/Sean Ferris (Lancer N) 7.18
3rd (2) Mart Courtney/Mick Courtney (Celica) 7.19
4th (3) Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort) 7.24
(141) Brian Brogan/Mac Walsh (Escort) 7.24
6th (1) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 7.25
7th (8) Alan Carmichael/Ivor Lamont (Lancer N) 7.27
8th (10) Brian O'Mahony/Frank Curtin (Clio S1600) 7.28
9th (4) John McGlaughlin/Crawford Henderson (Lancer N) 7.30
10th (11) Adrian Quinn/Alastair Wylie (Lancer N) 7.31
(9) Michael Curran/Alan Whyte (Escort) 9.31
The opening stage was damp in patches and slippery, hard for the drivers to read. However that wasn’t No.1 seed Michael Barrable’s main problem. Michael stalled his Focus WRC at the start line and dropped at least 10s and from there on through the 14.5km stage he was on the back foot. No such problems for Seamus O’Connell who set a scorching time to lead the rally. Second on the road Mark Courtney reported a slight problem with his Celica’s 5th gear but otherwise OK. Fifth gear is fairly handy for that first stage as it is very fast. Third on the road Adrian Hetherington said. “Just kept it nice and clean”. John McGlaughlin by his standards was slightly off the pace of the fastest Evo, Neil McCance, but John said. “I had just no confidence, I found the surface unpredictable”.
Even Neil McCance, who set a brilliant time in his Lancer, said. “The car was sliding about everywhere”. Brian O’Mahony reported just a hint of a misfire with his Clio S1600. Stanley Ballantine said he felt a very high frequency judder under braking with his Lancer. Alan Carmichael also reported an uncomfortable feeling with his Lancer, which was stepping out under braking. Alan has new “tarmac” brakes fitted for this one so maybe they are still bedding in.
Nigel McGinn has crashed his Lancer (No.17) off the road on a square right corner and Stephen Cullen in the following GpN Impreza stopped to make sure that driver and co driver were OK. Tomas O’Rourke felt he was running out of top speed in his Civic. Damien McCarthy had a good run to record 7.38 in his Civic but was 4s down on Peter Wilson. Martin Cunningham also had a good time, 7.39.
In the Irish Evo Challenge Neil McCance leads after stage 1 from Alan Carmichael with John McGlaughlin 3rd and Willie Mavitty 4th. There are still some Evo times to come including Liam Egan who has made the trip from New York. Liam has the always glamorous Mary O’Kane co-driving. We are still waiting for times for the Citroen Racing Trophy runners as they are seeded a bit further back but interestingly if Adrian McElhinney gets a clear win today he could tie up the Citroen Trophy and with it the prize of a C2R2 Max kit worth €15,000.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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