Cork 20 update !

[Graham]

Rally News No.9 Mallow Service Sunday 4.30pm

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 13

1st (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.58.40

2nd (3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O’Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.58.49

3rd (5) Tim McNulty/Eugene O’Donnell (Subaru WRC) 2.03.06

4th Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 2.03.11

5th (8 Denis Cronin/Helen Sullivan (Celica) 2.04.46

6th (10) Tony Davies/Jakes Kelly (Impreza WRC) 2.05.09

7th (1) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.05.41

8th (17) Willie Fannin/Mick Courtney (Impreza N) 2.07.11

9th (21) James O’Sullivan/Brian Duggan ( Lancer N) 2.07.15

10th (24) Paddy White/Aidan Moran (Impreza WRC) 2.08.57

11th (31) Tadag Linehan/Tony Linehan (Impreza N) 2.12.32

12th (11) Johnny O’Sullivan/Pat Cashman (Escort WRC) 2.13.18

The major news here at service after the penultimate stage is that rally leader Tim McNulty was off the road in stage 13. Tim and co driver Eugene O’Donnell have led the rally from the start but Tim explained "there was a square left into a right into a left and she just slid into the dyke, and stuck fast". The Pierse backed Impreza was stuck for nearly five minutes, dropping Tim down to third. But the excitement isn’t over yet. In stage twelve Derek McGarrity pulled one second back from Eugene Donnelly while in SS13 Eugene turned the tables by two seconds, leaving him with a leading advantage of nine seconds going into the final stage. Derek was bullish about his chances, saying "I am still going to try, there is still a little bit of a misfire but you have to have a go". Eugene Donnelly was genuinely upset for Tim McNulty, but although he may be leading the rally, Eugene stressed that he is here to win the tarmac championship.

Eamonn Boland thinks the head gasket may have failed on his Impreza and he is crossing his fingers for the final stage and the road section back to the Rochestown Hotel finish. Tony Davies was slightly baulked by the recovering Tim McNulty in stage 13 and feels that any chance of catching Denis Cronin may have gone.

Johnny O’Sullivan is having a dreadful run today, his Escort WRC blowing a turbo in stage 13 dropping another couple of minutes. In GpN Willie Fannin is now only four seconds ahead after he acknowledged that he got a 30 second flyer in stage 12, he and James O’Sullivan taking the production category down to the wire on the final stage. Phil Collins continues to lead the modified rally from David James and Philip Cross now into third in his sunbeam. More News Later Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd



so - GO ON EUGENE !!!!!

 

[Graham]

Rally News No.10 Rochestown Hotel Sunday 6.00pm

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 14

1st (3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O’Gorman (Impreza WRC) 2.06.30

2nd (5) Tim McNulty/Eugene O’Donnell (Subaru WRC) 2.10.47

3rd Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 2.10.52

4th (8 Denis Cronin/Helen Sullivan (Celica) 2.12.27

5th (10) Tony Davies/Jakes Kelly (Impreza WRC) 2.12.50

6th (1) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.13.22

7th (17) Willie Fannin/Mick Courtney (Impreza N) 2.14.52

8th (21) James O’Sullivan/Brian Duggan ( Lancer N) 2.14.56

9th (24) Paddy White/Aidan Moran (Impreza WRC) 2.16.38

10th (31) Tadag Linehan/Tony Linehan (Impreza N) 2.20.13

In a dramatic final stage development Derek McGarrity has won this years Cork 20 International Rally and secured the 2004 Pirelli Tarmac Championship. Eugene Donnelly had held a nine second lead going into the final stage but in an almost unprecedented event, the rally leader who was running second on the road, encountered rocks, nails and a piece of timber with pop rivets lying in the road. Donnelly had no chance and crashed the Kingspan Corolla out of the rally lead. Both Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely are uninjured but they remain at the scene of the accident while an investigation is initiated.

Tim McNulty takes the runner up spot with one of the finest drives of his career. Tim and co driver Eugene O’Donnell led from the very start of the rally, a string of fastest times enabling them to build up a lead of almost a minute, but a small error on the penultimate stage saw the Pierse crew lose five minutes when they got stuck in a ditch. Liam McCarthy and rally sponsor Kieran Murphy have finished an impressive third on their debut in the McKinstry Subaru. The crew struggled a little today in the wet conditions but had build up enough of an advantage to secure their position. Willie Fannin takes the GpN award after a fantastic rally long battle with James O’Sullivan, just four seconds separating this great fight.

Phil Collins completely dominated the modified section of the rally. The Welshman would almost certainly have finished seventh overall had he been included in the main rally, and he comes home almost ten minutes ahead of David James and Jim Crowe. In the Historic rally Aidran Kermode had a healthy lead over Frank Cunningham while Todd Falvey was leading the Post Historics in his Porsche from Martin Ward.

Finally for now congratulations to Frank O’Mahony and his dedicated team from Munster Motorcycle and Car Club on a superbly run Cork 20 rally and a big thank you to all those who supported and helped with the Rally News service. Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd



Strange that eugene found this debrit and no one else happened upon it ?

 

[Graham]

so the craic is looking like someone has deliberaty put stuff on the stage after 1st car passed for eugene to hit, was between junctions in top gear and under trees it happend and reading another forum his cars had a big impact !

interesting reading here - http://www.worldrallying.info/forum/viewthread.php?tid=1417

 

[jonny106]

so the craic is looking like someone has deliberaty put stuff on the stage after 1st car passed for eugene to hit, was between junctions in top gear and under trees it happend and reading another forum his cars had a big impact !

Thats bad banter that Another bad news story for irish rallying this year.

 

[Designated Driver]

F*ck this is bad news - I've never heard of such sabotage and it sounds like it was too! a really low day for the sport

 

[seanbob]

Heard yesterday as it happened, absolute disgrace and brings the sport into disrepute!!!! :x :x :x

Apparently Donnelly & Mc Garrity will share the 2004 championship title now after the investigation which is i suppose is better than nothing considering the disgraceful antics of a few scumbags!!!!

 

[Cess]

Just saw a report on the UTV live news. There was all kinds of debris on the road, the most sinister being a spliked piece of timber. Donnelly's car was in pieces.

 

[RComms]

don't know who these idiots where, but its ruined the tarmac championship in one sweep.

Feel truely sorry for Eugene.

 

[Mel]

Saw it on the news too, I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that timber with all the nails through it. Total disgrace and whoever done it is lucky they didnt kill someone.

 

[veedubboy]

This happened a few years back in a rally over here.... cant mind how dun it to how....bad crap...eugene is lucky to be alive.Good rling by the authorities to give shared spoils.

Insurance is going to be even more of a night mare for organised rallies next season...well done tit heads

 

[Designated Driver]

according to rally people Eugene was told not to bring the car down cos it wouldn't be going back. did anyone hear why he was held for 3 minutes at the start of the stage after derek? normally its a 30sec. gap

 

[RComms]

according to rally people Eugene was told not to bring the car down cos it wouldn't be going back. did anyone hear why he was held for 3 minutes at the start of the stage after derek? normally its a 30sec. gap

can't tell you in this particular instance why the gap appeared.... but typically its either the driver wanting more than 30secs, cos he feels there is a risk of catchin the car in front... or the timekeeping equipment went abit ski wiff for a while lol.

 

[bob]

Complete disgrace, couldnt meet a nicer fellow than Eugene.

 

[minis]

3 min delay cos of spectator problems