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| Mourne Stages Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.2 - After SS1 - Saturday @ 10:43:23 |
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RallyNews No.2 Slieve Gullion Saturday 10.45am
Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage One
1st (2) John McGlaughlin/Crawford Henderson (Lancer N) 8.05
2nd (1) Darren Gass/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 8.08
3rd (8) Damien Toner/Paddy McCague (Escort Mk2) 8.12
4th (92) Alastair Cochrane/Gary McElhinney (Escort MK2) 8.15
5th (3) George Robinson/Tommy Spears (Impreza WRC) 8.19
6th (12) David Armstrong/John Roland (Escort MK2) 8.20
7th (4) Camillus Bradley/Danny O’Neill (Escort Mk2) 8.21
= (5) Raymond Johnston/Rodney Hicks (Lancer N) 8.21
= (17) Stuart Biggerstaff/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 8.21
= (18) Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon (Lancer N) 8.21
11th (9) Drew Stuart/Steven Park (Escort Mk2) 8.23
= (89) Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O’Kane (Lancer Evo 9) 8.23
John McGlaughlin and Co Driver Crawford Henderson were pleased to have got a stage completed without any mechanical dramas. John was fastest on the opening Slieve Gullion Stage by three seconds, John telling us at the stage finish “that was good, I enjoyed the stage, it was a bit slippy in places and I had a small worry about the anti-lag at the start but it was just me being over sensitive”. John went on to say that the brain has been back to the manufacturers and rebooted once again and this time it seems to have worked. Darren Gass was in good spirits at the stage finish despite suffering two spins in the stage. Darren described one of them as being on the bumpy straight near the start of the stage and put it down to cold tyres after the stage was slightly delayed and the crews had to wait in the Slieve Gullion carpark. George Robinson had a half spin in his Impreza but more importantly he is loosing time as the paddle shift has stopped working.
Camillus Bradley is the first of the MK2s on the road and told us “I had a big spin, I could see a trace of oil on the road and it just got away from me on one of the hairpins. The next few drivers all reported the oil but then it seemed to pass. Drew Stuart was the first of a lot of drivers who are having brake problems. Stuart had fitted new pads before the rally and found them fading a lot. Declan Boyle couldn’t find any grip and thought that he was maybe on the wrong tyre and dropped a fair bit of time, his stage time 8.39. Norman Armstrong reported that he was running out of brakes but Davy Armstong who has a beautiful brand new Mk2 out today told us “no brakes, I thought I was off on one of the hairpins, over the side of the mountain”. Finton McGrady was another to report overheating brakes.
Stuart Biggerstaff who is currently second in the Hankook NI Championship had a good run and was beaming from ear to ear and is well placed in seventh. Cyril Doherty is GpN Impreza felt the stage didn’t really suit him while Trevor Ferguson in his similar Impreza has no fifth gear. Event sponsor Rory Byrne told us that his Lancer was down on power but he still set a respectable time of 8.33. Clive Kirkpatrick is also struggling with a down on power Lancer. Alastair Cochrane had a brilliant run to finish the stage fourth fastest despite the bonnet stay coming out from the underneath the hood and sticking out at 90 degrees to the car so he had to be very careful in the hairpins. More News Later … Michael and Zoë Patterson.
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