UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER 6
1st (1) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 54.33.7
2nd (2) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 56.54.4
3rd (4) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 57.33.3
4th (11) Tommy Doyle/Liam Moynihan (Clio) 58.40.9
5th (10) Ross Forde/Robbie Ward (Lancer N) 58.55.7
6th (9) Sam Moffett/James O'Reilly (Lancer N) 59.35.8
NATIONALS
1st (8) Tom Flaherty/Patrick Curley (Escort) 59.16.8
2nd (12) Pat Kelly/Dean Raferty (Impreza) 59.47.2
3rd (21) Geoffrey Dolan/Conor Murphy (Sunbeam) 1.01.26.9
4th (18) Eamonn Dervan/Keith Gardiner (Escort)# 1.02.18.0
5th (20) Neil Pierce/Enda O'Leary (Civic) 1.03.07.7
6th (34) Alan Fair/Jarlath Conneely (Civic) 1.04.45.1
If anything there was even more water on the roads when the drivers tackled the second loop of stages. Tim McNulty was again fastest throughout the 3 tests and said when he reached service. “We had one wee moment but that is only to be expected in these conditions”. Kevin Barrett in 2nd place told us. “I’m hitting a nice pace trying to stay in the middle of the road"“ Alan Ring in his GpN Lancer continues to hold 3rd place behind the two world rally cars in front and Munster man Alan reported a left rear puncture in stage 4 and now a whining noise from the differential of his Mitsubishi. Alan did not seem overly perturbed about the noise but he was rushing up the service area to get his engineers to check it out.
Tommy Doyle is really struggling to hold on to 4th place. The windscreen of his Clio is misting up all the time now and co driver Liam Moynihan has a sponge thingy on a stick to try to keep the screen clear down the stages. Ross Forde is still trying his best to keep his Lancer under control as the engine is racing under its own steam, not paying any attention to the throttle input. Ross said. “The car is driving itself in places, I’m just hanging on. We have new parts coming down from Navan right now which hopefully will help”. Sam Moffett makes up the top 6 despite his Lancer suffering a puncture in SS4 and then a buckled wheel in stage 6. It would appear that there are stones and small rocks getting pulled out from the verges into the road, a factor that several drivers have mentioned. Tom White has increased his pace and has moved up to 7th o/a. Wm. Mavitty has raised the ride height of his Lancer and said he is on a learning curve and is 8th.
National Rally leader Tom Flaherty lost a little time with 2 spins in stages 4 and 5, Tom reckoned there was oil on the road. Pat Kelly continues to hold 2nd despite a stage 4 puncture on his Impreza. Geoffrey Dolan reported no problems with his Sunbeam and is 3rd in the Nationals. David Carney in his Citroen now has a sticking throttle body and also reported a puncture in stage 6.
In the Historic rally Ed Murphy has been setting really good times to lead in his Escort while English visitor James Sutherland has brought his Porsche but into 2nd. James has been out of the sport for 3 years and certainly picked a difficult rally to get back into the swim of things. Ray Cunningham has retired his Mini because a flood of water stripped the blades of the cooling fan.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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