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Lynch Hotels Clare Stages Rally 2004 Report Round 5 - 2004 Top Part West Coast Championship
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Full
Results and Stages Times in Excel Format Limerick man, Ollie O’Donovan with Millstreet navigator,
David Moynihan, won last Sunday’s Clare Stages Rally driving a
McKinstry hired Subaru Impreza WRC, the same car which won last years
event in the hands of Jim Harrisson.
He finished 50 seconds ahead of Tim McNulty / Eugene O’Donnell
(Subaru Impreza WRC) while Sean Gallagher / Enda Sherry (Subaru Impreza)
finished 3rd a further 7 seconds back. Conditions were mixed with heavy showers. Championship
leader, Niall Maguire, had to withdraw his entry a couple of days before
the event, so it was Patrick Elliott / Martin Cahill (Impreza S9) who
set the pace on the opening two Stages “Ballinruan” and “Caher”,
taking 12 seconds out of Tim McNulty on the first stage and
a further 11 seconds on the second stage. Ollie O’Donovan was 30 seconds slower than Elliott on SS1
as he tried to acclimatise to his new car. SS2 saw Ollie just 3 seconds
slower than Tim McNulty and 14 seconds slower than Elliott. SS3 “Castlequarter” saw rally leader Elliott crash out.
Losing some time getting off the start line he decided to pile on the
pressure, but got caught out on the second chicane on the stage. The
front wheel clipped the last bale while exiting the chicane, pulled the
steering out of his hand and dragged him into the stone wall and out of
the rally. McNulty, who was second on the road, stopped to check if
everything was ok. SS4 which was a repeat of SS1 saw McNulty get caught out on
one of the big jumps before Ballinruan when he landed wrong and caught a
big rock and punctured a wheel. He had to drive to the finish of the
stage on the flat wheel. O’Donovan now took 2 minutes off McNulty, who
had now dropped down the leaderboard.
Sean Gallagher was a further 40 seconds back. After changing the flat wheel McNulty put in a big charge
and set fastest times on the remaining 4 stages to finish 2nd
overall, 57 seconds behind O’Donovan. Sean Gallagher had a 27 second
lead over McNulty going into the last stage but he spun and got wedged
on a tight bridge and eventually finished 3rd overall, 7
seconds behind McNulty. This was Ollie O’Donovan’s first win in a multi stage
rally and he was absolutely delighted as he sprayed the champagne on the
rain drenched crowds at St. Flannan’s College. Ollie also praised the
organisation team under Clerk of the Course, Jim Casey and all the
marshals for a well run event. 4th was Denis Cronin / Helen O’Sullivan (Toyota
Celica), while James O’Sullivan / Brian Duggan (Mitsubishi) finished 5th
overall and won Group N from Willie Fannin / Michael Courtney (Impreza).
This now puts James into the lead of the “Top Part West Coast Rally
Championship”. Top Clare Driver, Anthony O’Halloran from Ruan decided a
week before the rally to revert back to his Opel Manta and dropped in
his new engine on Saturday night, he put in a blistering set of times on
the first 4 stages to take him to 3rd overall but he got
caught out over a fast tight section through a bog while flat in 6th
gear on SS5. The back of the Manta slid sideways and clipped a tree
stump which threw him into 3 x 360 degree spins and while he had it
corrected and got away he didn’t realise that the oil cooler had been
damaged with the impact and all the oil leaked out of the engine and put
him out of the event. This left the top Clare Motor Club crew, brothers Michael
and Richard McNamara (Ford Escort) from Killanena who finished 13th
overall and winners of Class 12. They also took the “Noel McCullagh
Award” which is presented each year by the club to the highest placed
Clare driver. 2nd Clare crew was father and son, John and
Niall O’Sullivan from Ennis in their Peugeot 205. The Clare ladies crew of Jane Cogan and Jeanne Casey had a
lucky escape when they lost control on a jump on SS2 and went off the
road. They got out to view the damage and to see if they could get back
on the road but the car was struck by the next competing car which lost
control on the same spot and pushed them further into the ditch. Other Clare Motor Club award winners included David and Tony
Murphy (Nova) 1st Class 10, Pa Malone / Kieran Green (Escort)
2nd in Class 10, Mark Casey / John Lyons (ESCORT) 3rd
in Class 11, Joe Kierce / Christina O’Leary (Escort) 3rd in
Class 10 and Adrian Boyle / Lisa Healy (Swift) who were the winners in
Class 9. Results and Stages Times: http://rally.connect.ie/ Irish Rallying Website: http://www.irish-rallying.com/
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