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| Banna Beach Kerry Mini Stages |
| RALLY NEWS No.3 - After stage 2 - Sunday @ 14:07:17 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.3 End of stage 2/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2 Churchill
1st (1) Thomas Fitzmaurice/Fionn Foley (Lancer N) 14.22
2nd (4) Mike Quinn/Grainne McEnery (Escort) 14.27
3rd (6) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 14.28
4th (22) Richard & John Burke (Impreza) 14.51
5th (3) Shane Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza N) 14.52
6th (12) Fergus O'Meara/Liam Brennan (Escort) 14.55
7th (5) Sean Flanagan/Diarmuid French (Impreza N) 15.02
8th (146) Paraic Cummins/Graham Kelly (Escort G4) 15.08
9th (11) Pat Kelly/Jonathan Folan (Impreza A) 15.14
10th (44) Tim Enright/Stephen Buckley (Escort) 15.17
Stave 2, Churchill, started just down the road from the Banna Beach Resort and ran up past Ardfert to eventually finish on the main road between Ardfert and Tralee. The 14.8km stage was drying rapidly as the drivers approached catching many on the wrong tyres. First on the road, Thomas Fitzmaurice, finished the stage in 7m47s and said he could have gone quicker if he had fitted dry weather hard compound slicks. Still, the TLI man was more than happy to move into the lead. Shane Maguire was definitely on the wrong tyres and dropped 22s to Fitzmaurice. Mike Quinn had a great run to move up to 2nd o/a in his Escort. Alan Ring set 3rd fastest time for the stage and slipped to 3rd o/a having led the rally after stage 1. Alan was on an intermediate tyre which just was not right for the conditions.
Jim McKenna’s Starlet clipped a bridge in the stage and it would appear that Jim has pulled the car off the road at a junction. Terence O’Shaughnessy has the front brakes of his Escort sorted and he’s lying just outside the leaderboard on a total of 15.25, equal with Cal McCarthy. Eamonn Hanley in the black S1600 Clio reported a very bad misfire in the car and may be forced to pull out of the rally. Eamonn told us that the car has not been used for almost a year and thinks that there may have been stale fuel left in the pump.
Fergus O’Meara is having a good run in his new car although he feels that the suspension still needs a bit of fine tuning and the Escort is a bit wandery. There is also a small glitch with the gear change indicator panel so at times Fergus doesn’t know what gear he is in. Anthony Hand, who has Laura Fuery co-driving in his Escort, reckons the car is down on power and his total now is 16.39. Richard Burke clipped a bale near the end of the 2nd stage, happily with little damage to his Impreza and set a good time.
On Wales Rally GB Loeb has won in his Citroen with Petter Solberg & Chris Patterson 2nd in their privately entered C4. Hirvonen eased off ever so slightly on the final stage and Latvala surged through to take 3rd in his Focus WRC. Loeb had already clinched the World Drivers C/ship and provisionally it would appear that Latvala has come into 2nd in the c/ship and Petter Solberg 3rd. This has still to be confirmed and if it is correct would be a fantastic achievement for the Solberg non-manufacturer team. Craig Breen has finished 12th o/a and 2nd in SWRC which is another great result for the young Waterford man.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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