The above times are very unofficial particularly as there was a technical problem at the end of stage 9 and then stage 10 was interrupted when Wesley Patterson crashed his Escort. The latest unofficial news is that Wesley and his co driver Martin McGarrity are both hopefully OK. The car went off the road on a fast left over bumps in a narrow section.
The situation at the top is very close indeed with Kenny McKinstry leading by .7 of a second from Derek McGarrity. Kevin Barrett in his similar Subaru has held on grimly to 3rd place today despite his car having very erratic handling particularly under braking. Kenny McKinstry said here at the Armagh City Hotel overnight stop. “We did lose a few seconds when the car misfired on the first Banbridge stage. We switched the anti lag off and that seemed to help. I’m really enjoying the rally and of course I have scored maximum points in the NI championship with this result tonight. Tomorrow is another day, I’ll just keep the foot down. Its better to be .7 of a second ahead than .7 of a second behind”. Derek McGarrity told us that he had a bit of a moment when his Subaru slid into a ditch at a farm in that tough 10th stage. The Glengormley man went on to say. “Overall I’m happy enough, I think I can work with Kenny tomorrow”. Kevin Barrett said of his Subaru’s erratic handling. “We’ll try and change the loom in the morning, we have tried everything else. The car is not pretty to drive, frightening”.
Garry Jennings really got into his stride over the afternoon stages and he will lead group N in the morning as Neil McCance is not continuing in the rally. Neil only registered for the NI leg of the rally that finishes this evening. In fact Neil and his family are heading off on holiday tomorrow. Phil Collins had a great run today to head the Mk2 Escort category but he is naturally upset that his rival through today’s stages, Wesley Patterson, has crashed out. Sam Moffett told us that he backed off a fair bit on the last stage this evening, particularly over the bumpy gravelly sections, and with the rally moving into Monaghan tomorrow with its more open roads he should well in the hunt.
More news in morning: BRIAN, LIZ & MICHAEL PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
