UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Colmanstown
1st (1) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 48.23.6
2nd (9) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) 49.21.4
3rd (7) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 49.44.0
4th (4) Aaron MacHale/Eugene O'Donnell (Focus WRC) 49.46.0
5th (2) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 49.48.6
6th (6) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 51.04.1
7th (29) Sean Flanagan/Brian Duggan (Impreza N) 52.20.6
8th (15) Jer O'Donovan/Sean Hayde (Impreza N) 52.27.9
9th (14) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 52.32.9
10th (10) Mike Bird/Kevin Keane (Impreza WRC) 53.00.3
11th (30) Marty McCormack/Dai Roberts (C2R2 Max) 53.01.4
NATIONALS
1st Daniel McKenna (Escort) 50.48.2: 2nd Barry Meade (Escort) 52.16.7: HISTORICS: 1st Martin Ward (Manta): 2nd Aidan O’Connor (Escort):
On stage 6 Colmanstown, Tim McNulty clipped a left corner just too tight and his Subaru sustained a puncture that cost Tim well over a minute. He had been leading after SS4 and then Gareth MacHale had led by 3s after 5 but this has certainly taken some bite out of the battle for the lead. However, there is still a long way to go. Tim will doubtless come charging back and all the while Craig Breen is upping his pace and isn’t a mile away from the lead. Craig was 11s slower than Gareth through stage 5 and less than 5s down through 6 which is a pretty remarkable performance from the young Kilkenny man. Craig told us that there is more to come from the car and he’s not pushing overly hard. Gareth MacHale told us. “I’m driving easy where it is muddy, no need to take risks”. Gareth’s brother Aaron was really annoyed with himself having spun at the gravelly square right towards the end of stage 6. His Focus then stalled and he dropped 20s. Aaron commented. "“ll the hard work in the stage wasted" He did go on to say he had had a good run through stage 5 and was only 6s down on Gareth, 1 down on Tim.
Kevin Barrett reported that everything was “dead on” although his co driver Sean Mullally was querying his stage 6 time. Alastair Fisher said. “We’re going good enough but maybe not completely on top of our game. It’s a fine line”. Sean Flanagan is setting solid times and his GpN Impreza continues to edge up the leaderboard. Alan Ring had yet another spin and told us that he is having great difficult getting great grip with his Lancer. Jer O’Donovan spun his GpN Impreza in SS5 and thought that there was perhaps some oil on the road. Mike Bird has moved up the leaderboard from 13th to 10th despite his Impreza WRC brakes jamming on and then going spongy as they overheated. Eamonn Daly smacked the front left corner of his black Lancer. He told us that the car just snapped when he put the power on after a stage 6 square right. The car is driving and steering perfectly despite the damage.
Marty McCormack tackled that 2nd loop of stages on slick used tyres but was caught out on a muddy section and spun. This cost a few seconds and dropped him to 11th. He still leads the Citroen Racing Trophy. Second in the C2R2s is Robert Barrable and 3rd Adrian McElhinney. Robert told us that he just can’t get stage 6 right while McElhinney is making adjustments to the suspension of his Citroen. Conor Harvey continues to lead his class in his Civic and is 12th o/a despite the brakes fading over the last couple of stages. Mark Kane has rolled his Citroen C2R2 and managed to keep going. In the accident co driver Don Montgomery’s jacket complete with wallet and car keys in the pocket flew out of the window and has gone! He would really like them back!
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL www.rallynews.net (our thanks to Caroline & Greg McCormack)
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