DOHERTY BOYS CLAIM THIRD ON TOUGH ULSTER RALLY!

Posted: September 10, 2002 4:01 PM

Driving the Keylite Roof Windows Subaru Impreza WRC, the pair had no major problems in the McKinstry Motorsport-run McAleer & Rushe and McLoughlin Motor Factors sponsored car throughout the two-day 15-stage enduro, which counted for both the Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac and the Pirelli British Championships.

Having missed both the Jim Clark and Manx International events due to business commitments, the Dohertys were back in harness on one of their 'home' events and although some of the stages were close to Daniel's Derry home base, he was unfamiliar with the roads used, giving him no advantage.

It was the first time the duo competed on the 'Ulster', which packed in 345 road miles and 130 stages miles into a condensed 24 hour period. The packed entry read like a Who's Who of rallying, presenting the young brothers with their stiffest competition to date, but Daniel and co-driver Michael were well up for the task when the rally got underway on Friday afternoon.

They settled into third place behind Nesbitt and Derek McGarrity at the start and for the first three stages were going very well until a bad tyre decision for the fourth and fifth stages lost the brothers a bit of time. However, with the weather so changeable for the evening stages, they were not alone in the tyre choice lottery.

After Peader Hurson crashed out and Eamonn Boland had problems, Daniel was left in a very comfortable third position, but they realised that second placed Milner was too far ahead to be caught. For the last five stages on Saturday they eased the pace and cruised home to preserve third place.

Daniel was clearly delighted, saying: "It’s certainly our best international result to date - apart from the Summit two years ago - so both Michael and I are very pleased and so are our sponsors, I'm sure. It was a very difficult rally with very narrow lanes, and changing weather conditions; it poured with rain most of the time and the stages were saturated with water and mud, making them absolutely treacherous.

"Looking at the map it seemed fairly easy, but it was far from short or easy. On Friday night we finished about midnight and were up and away again at 4am on Saturday morning, so it was an exhausting event too."

He continued: "We haven't decided yet what we're doing next. With two rounds of the Tarmac series left, we will do one of them but a lot depends on our remaining budget."