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| Circuit of Munster |
| RALLY NEWS No.5 - After S5 - Sunday @ 14:46:12 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.5 Service/Kilmallock/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5
1st (4) Melvyn Evans/Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) 41.07
2nd (1) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 41.26
3rd (3) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 41.34
4th (5) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 41.54
5th (2) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza) 42.22
6th (10) Eamonn Daly/Brian Doherty (Lancer N) 43.47
7th (16) James Murphy/Anthony Nestor (Escort WRC 44.04)
8th (12) Ed Synan/Denis O'Connell (Escort) 44.51
9th (20) Mark Sheahan/Anthony O'Conaill (Citroen C2R2 Max) 44.55
10th (11) Paul Purtill/Kaye Shanahan (Escort) 45.20
There is very little to choose between the top 3 drivers as regards stage times but Melvyn Evans seems to have the edge. Kevin Barrett was only 1s slower than Melvyn through stage 4 but on stage 5 Kevin lost a few seconds when he caught up with the struggling Derek McGarrity Subaru. McGarrity’s car had a flat tyre and he dropped 40s which puts him out of the chase for the lead, unless of course something unexpected happens. Melvyn Evans reported all well here at service although his mechanics were adjusting something in the clutch mechanism, what Melvyn calls “the bite point”. He also said that he really loves that stage 3, The Pinnacle, which of course they are now going to do as stage 6. All in all though Melvyn has built up a small buffer over the chasing Maguire and Barrett. Niall said he went as hard as he could through stages 4 and 5 but reckons that Melvyn’s newer model Subaru has a bit more grunt.
Despite another few overshoots and clipping a gatepost with the front of his Lancer Eamonn Daly leads group N convincingly from Sean O’Donovan in his Impreza. Anthony O’Halloran has pulled back extremely well from his first stage puncture and is up into 3rd GpN ahead of Shane Maguire who is 4th in the category and 14th overall.
Peter Cummins is 15th o/a and 3rd in class 13 and told us that his Darrian performed very well over the last couple of stages. Neil Pierce leads cl.11 with Benny Kennedy 2nd in that class, 16s back. Stuart Darcy is up to 18th o/a in his newly built Mk2 Escort. This is the first time Stuart has had the 2l Escort out on the road and he’s gradually sorting out bits and pieces including the tracking of the rear axle. Pat Ryan is 19th o/a and leads cl.9 in his Escort. David Quigley/Des Sherlock round off the top 20, their Civic 2nd in class. David told us he had a bad moment in stage 3 when some spectators put some obstacles on the road.
John Danaher in the BMW is having a great run to lead class 14, his co driver Keith Curley said that they had some intercom problems earlier and now they are not pushing too hard, just trying to “hold their own”. Gerry Smith/Brigetta White are leading cl.12 but they are in trouble with a slipping clutch and they are going to try and change the unit here at service which is quite a task.
James Murphy is having a great all-sideways drive in his Escort WRC to hold 7th o/a and his engineer Dominic McNeill is trying to stiffen the car up to give less body roll on the last 3 stages. Ed Synan has had a small problem with a loose alternator but leads cl.13. Sean Moran’s Twin Cam is suffering a misfire, a loose wire to the starter perhaps the culprit.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.ne/
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