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| Nenagh Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.5 - After Stage 6 - Sunday @ 16:18:34 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.5 Service/Sunday 4.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 (Last stage)
1st (5) Melvyn Evans/Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) 1.02.16
2nd (4) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 1.02.38
3rd (6) Kevin Kelleher/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 1.02.59
4th (2) Niall Maguire/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.04.19
5th (11) Mike Quinn/Grainne McEnery (Escort) 1.05.21
6th (14) Manus Kelly/Donal Barrett (Escort) 1.05.31
7th (35) Alan O'Callaghan/Cathal McGrath (Impreza N) 1.07.46
8th (15) Washington James/L. Jones Davies (Darrian) 1.08.06
9th (25) Pat Kelly/Noel Lambert (Impreza) 1.08.29
10th (34) Jason Roche/Damien Fleming (Escort) 1.09.34
When Welshman Melvyn Evans and his co driver Patrick Walsh brought their Subaru Impreza into the Abbey Court Hotel finish in Nenagh Melvyn commented. “A great day. The 2nd stage was very slippy but it all went well. We had a puncture going out to the last loop and had to fit the spare which had a different type of tyre but we were OK.” Derek McGarrity set a string of fastest times towards the end and he said. “On the last couple of stages I was driving the car, it wasn’t driving me. Its all about getting miles in the car, it will be a different story for the next round of the championship”. Kevin Kelleher/Adrian Deasy were 3rd and also won GpN had a brilliant run in their Lancer. Kevin said at the finish. “Fabulous day, couldn’t fault it but it got too dry for us towards the end the world rally cars got away from us”. There was drama surrounding Niall Maguire/Barry Goodman on the last stage when their Subaru blew its turbo. Niall dropped over a minute in stage time and a place on the leaderboard but he made it to the finish. Mike Quinn had a great run to win the 2wd division from Manus Kelly. Daniel McKenna in his Escort finished outside the leaderboard but set some brilliant times over the afternoon stages.
Incidents from a few stages ago include: Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally had to withdraw from the rally at service after stage 4 when a wheel stud sheared on their Triton Showers Subaru. Last year Kevin was faced with the same situation in Kerry and drove a stage with one stud missing and the wheel came off, so he wasn’t going to try that again. This retirement is not a good start to Kevin’s National Championship campaign, and especially frustrating as he was lying 2nd overall. Another retirement was Frank Sweeney whose Escort stopped in stage 4 when the fan belt dislodged on a jump and then the oil pump belt got knocked off. Frank has asked us to send special good wishes to Raymond *Cuddles” Walsh from himself and all at West Limerick Rally Spares. Raymond was crushed by a lorry during the week and is in hospital in Dublin.
Ed Synan lost 2m and dropped out of the top 10. Eoin Duffin lost the lead of his class when his Escort G3 got sideways at a 5 left corner in stage 4 and jammed the stage for several minutes. Declan & Brian Boyle retired their blue Escort when a tyre distorted and jammed and then the jack broke and they ran out of time. After SS4 Kevin O’Connor/Donal Balfe were leading the Juniors in their Citroen C2R2. Darren McKenna was 2nd in his Corolla TC. This was O’Connor’s first run in the left-hand drive Citroen. Also after SS$ David Ryan was leading the Historic section from Martin Creaven, both in Escorts. Looking forward to next weekend there are still entries available for the Wm Loughman Forestry Rally and the man to contact is: Barry Duggan from the Carrick on Suir club.
Finally for now well done to CoC Bill Ryan and all his hard working Birr MC team for laying on such an enjoyable event. Our thanks to all who supported and helped with the RallyNews service. Thanks also to Dougie Hughes for distributing the Rally News and to Shauna Barrett for supplying the coffee!. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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