The Lisburn City Power stage proved to be a resounding success with great crowds attending to witness Derek McGarrity setting fastest times on both runs through the 0.64 mile stage. Derek extended his lead over Kenny McKinstry to 13s. The rally then swung south to Kenny’s home patch for the Banbridge North stage and Kenny set fastest time, 5.3s up on Derek to reduce the gap to 7s. It really was McKinstry territory for that 8th stage and Kenny’s wife Maggie was at the stage finish dispensing cold drinks to all the crews. The crews all seems to enjoy the stage and then stage 9 was a repeat of the same test, but there seems to be a technical problem with the times for the 2nd run through.
Neil McCance has kept his lead in Group N although he did have a slightly slow stage for the Lisburn stage but he pulled a couple of seconds back on Garry Jennings through stage 8. Fastest Group N car on the Banbridge stage was actually Phillip Morrow, but he running down the order following mechanical problems with his Lancer earlier today.
Kevin Barrett still has a transmission problem with his Subaru and he is battling hard to hold on to his 3rd place and reckons that if his car had been working right he would have been up with the top 2. Kenny McKinstry lost a few seconds at the start of stage 9 when his Subaru dropped on to 3 cylinders. He reckons that it was down to spark plugs sooting up and nothing to get unduly worried about. Further stories from stage 8 included Alan Ring having no intercom for the stage. Wesley Patterson slid his Escort into a hedge on a square right but lost little time. Phil Collins finished the stage a bit upset as a spectator had squirted water on to his Escort’s windscreen which made visibility difficult for him in the setting sun. Donagh Kelly overheated the clutch of his Lancer and had to ease back slightly to let it recover.
We talked earlier about class 7 – Drew Stewart is now leading that class from Michael Conlon with Fintan McGrady 3rd – all in Escorts. Scottish visitor Roger Donnan in his Puma is leading cl.5 from Stephen Baxter (Fiesta). Stephen skidded his car into the scenery earlier today and damaged a rear corner that also affected the suspension.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
(with thanks to Michael Patterson/Christel Deberdt/Dougie Hughes)
