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Fethard (Wexford) Single Stage Rally 2002 - 16 Jun 02

Posted: June 17, 2002 7:41 AM - 19641 Hits

Fethard Single Stage
by John Dier & Will Downing

David James has won the Fethard-on-Sea Rally - claiming his first ever Wexford-based rally in the process.

The Gorey driver eventually had a 23 second margin to spare over his closest challenger of the day - Tipperary's David Percy.

Posted: June 17, 2002 7:41 AM

James, partnered by trusted sidekick Ron Guha, produced the two fastest times of the day - both 9'06" - on stages one and two, with Percy racing through in 9'07" to claim the fastest mark of Stage 3.

But not even a sub nine-minute time would have produced the goods for him. In truth, James had his foot firmly off the pedal in the final stage - that's what you call experience.

Three times he's missed out on titles in recent years - all as a result of going hell for leather in the final stage while on the search for silverware.

This time, he got it right.

John Nolan of Carlow finished third, just three seconds down on Percy, having moved up to second place heading into the penultimate stage following Liam Wall's blown engine.

Wexfordian Wall as the only driver able to live with James on the first outing, and trailed the Goreyman by 13 seconds going into the second traversal - but then disaster struck. Wexfordian Wall as the only driver able to live with James on the first outing, and trailed the Goreyman by 13 seconds going into the second traversal - but then disaster struck.

The top three were head and shoulders ahead of the rest.

Enda O'Brien trailed in fourth, 54 seconds behind Nolan, with a time of 28'49".

James' winning time was 27'29". To complete the Escort rout - the top five places comprising exclusively of Ford's most popular model - Waterford-based Wexfordian Eamonn Murphy grabbed fifth.

The first non-Escorts were Tomás O'Rourke's Opel Astra in sixth and Mark Kennedy's seventh-placed Opel Corsa.

But the day belongs to the James-Guha partnership - didn't they do well!


1 - David James     27:29
 2 - David Percy     27:52
 3 - John Nolan      27:55
 4 - Enda O'Brien    28:49
 5 - Eamon Murphy    28:52
 6 - Seamus Doyle    28:58
 7 - Tomas O'Rourke  29:00
 8 - Mark Kennedy    29:02
 9 - Joe Redmond     29:14
10 - David Cullen    29:16