SLIGO STAGES RALLY - 13 Jul 03

Posted: August 5, 2003 4:56 AM

Steve Fleck was among others coming to terms with the fast pace and the small bits of loose gravel among an overall very clean tarmac stage, was just a further 3 seconds off .
Willie Fannin/Brian Duggan opened the charge in the group N category setting a 10.00 on the opening stage which became more difficult to maintain as he suffered turbo problems Early retirement was experience by Trevor Lancashire with a broken half shaft would not help his attack on the Quinn group border championship in class 12 while the overall championship leader Norman Armstrong set a good time of 10 .32 but considered himself that he was a little off the pace. Colm Murphy set the fastest among the Focus’s while his comrade and championship leader Oliver Stanley had a slight impact inflicting some cosmetic damage to the car.

Cookstown man Glen Allen took on the challenge of the overseas crews to set fastest on the Sligo Motorcycle Centre stage 2, in a time of 8.32 , a six second advantage on Steve Fleck in a WRC Impreza and indeed ten seconds faster than early leader Steve Hendy . Sean Gallagher in the Cosworth developed brake problems leading to him being three minutes off the road so he decided to retire. Mac Mc Kenna , the highest placed rear wheel drive after stage two was leading class 13 and lying 6th overall at this early stage. Raymond and David Johnston set the pace within the Group N field taking a time of 8.50 while taking advantage of Willie Fannin ongoing turbo problems as overseas competitor Mark Worley was getting familiar with Irish stages .

As the crews entered service after the opening loop of four stages it was obvious a close battle was taking place at the top of the field between Allen and Fleck with the advantage going to Fleck setting a 10.58 on the Fallon Oils stage 3 , six seconds faster than both Allen and Hendy both setting an 11.05. On the Sligo Haulage & Distribution stage 4 Hendy made a recovery to set fastest in the Cosworth , but a one second advantage was not enough to impact on the leaderboard standings , which saw Fleck holding the lead entering the only service of the day. Mac Mc Kenna while pushing hard got caught out on a square right , damaging the car severely on the left , and even though still driving , decided to retire as the car wasn’t handling right and navigator John Loughlran was a little soar. Another retirement in class 13 was Paddy Boyle who put his Escort off on stage 4 inflicting severe damage to the car but both driver and navigator were unhurt.

Returning to attack the loop of four stages for the second and final time Glen Allen was adamant of gaining the lead and went on to set fastest on stage 5 with a time of 9.25 , eighteen seconds faster than his first time across the same stage and six seconds faster than leader Steve Fleck , twenty two seconds faster than Hendy who incidentally set fastest on the same stage in the morning.Alan Nesbitt in the Celica was not out of the picture, recovering from power steering problems earlier in the day actually set third fastest on the first stage after service. UK visitor , and current tarmacadam leader entering Sligo , David Kynaston in the unique Audi A3 Quatro , was having difficulty over the bumps on the stages as the suspension didn’t have enough travel to adapt to the Irish stages , though he still held his own within the top ten.

Stev Fleck and navigator eventually took advantage over the three remaining stages bettering Glen Allens by a combined 15 seconds in total giving him victory at the 2003 Tom Hunt / Sligo Park Hotel Sligo Stages Rally by a nine second margin although he was not a registered U K Tarmac championship contender , but just came to enjoy the event . Allen a little disappointed that he didn’t push a little harder over the last three stages was delighted to finish such a close second . Steve Hendy’s third place credits him with the 25 points in the UK championship which puts him on joint lead with David Kynaston who claimed fifth overall in Sligo and the second overseas crew registered in the championship. Sean Devine with Robert Mc Daid on the notes captured the Group N award as Raymond Johnston , leading the Evo attack throughout much of the event moved one of the speed restrictors incurring a 30 second penalty and also lost some time when Tony Davis crashed out. Even though tight margins separated the Ford Focus crews Oliver Stanley , John Foley , Geryy Keyes and Colm Murphy throughout the day , it was Murphy who emerged winner and also claimed the class 7 award. From a Quinn Group Border Champonship prospective , the Sligo event did not cause any major upsets with only one remaining round to go , as current leader Norman Armstrong finished third in Class 13 as local Domnic Mc Loughlin took the class honours .Kieran Henry lying third on the table entering his home event took second in Class 5 which on paper elevates him to second spot but as it is the best four rounds to count things may change. The position of his Navigator, Aidan Gannon is consolidated as nearest rival Asley Mc Adoo was not in Sligo , so therefore he still remains in the lead with only one round to go in Donegal in October.

The event itself run extremely smooth on the day which saw 87 finishers returning to the finish ramp at Sligo Park Hotel , enjoyed thoroughly by all competitors and in particular those seventeen crews who traveled from the UK and expressed interest in the event being a counting round again of the National Tarmacadam Championship in 2004.At the prizegiving ceremony the Club Chairman thanked all those involved in particular the residents on the rally route and their warm acceptance of the event .He also thanked Main sponsors Sligo Park Hotel and Tom Hunt Motors as well as stage sponsors , Mc Carrick Garages , Sligo Motorcycle Centre , Fallon Oils & Chemicals and Sligo Haulage & Distribution.

1 Steve Fleck/Andy Card (Subaru Impreza WRC) 73m 33s
2 Glenn Allen/John Gallagher (Ford Escort WRC) 73m 42s
3 Steve Hendy/Aled Davies (Escort RS Cosworth) 74m 38s
4 Alan Nesbitt/Enda Sherry (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) 75m 53s
5 David Kynaston/Andy Russell (Audi A3 Quattro) 77m 00s
6 Sean Devine/Robert McDaid (Subaru Impreza WRX)  Gp N 77m 46s
7 Raymond Johnston/David Johnston (Mit. Lancer Evo 6) Gp N 77m 56s
8 Dominic McLaughlin/Cyril Donnellan (Peugeot 205 RWD) 78m 23s
9 Damien Gallagher/Mac Walsh (Escort 2.0) 79m 12s
10 Mark Worley/David Gamblin (Mit Lancer Evo 7) Gp N 79m 22s

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• Photos by James Burkee