McGonigle endures a difficult Lakeland Stages Rally

Posted: September 17, 2003 6:34 PM

Despite being given a low seeding position, the day started steadily with the crew emerging from the first stage in fourteenth position and fifth in Group N. However, their luck was to change for the worse on the second test as the fan belt gave way in their Mitsubishi. Incredibly, Terry kept his foot down and finished the stage only six seconds slower than the event leaders. In fact, he was quicker than many of the more powerful cars including the Impreza WRC of Dogleap Rally winner, Kevin Lynch!

The Mitsubishi's fan belt was fixed before the start of the third stage and Terry decided to take it easy and make sure that all was well with the car. There were no problems so the crew decided to have a real attack before reaching first service. Stage four was cancelled but on stage five they set sixth fastest time and moved into fourth position in the Group N category. Not bad for a 25-year-old competing in only his third gravel event'in an eight-year-old car!

Mechanics descended on the car at service to make sure it was in tip-top condition for the second loop of stages. All was going well in the Evo III camp but unfortunately there were more problems just around the corner. After setting a string of quick times during the second loop, including fourth fastest overall time on stage seven (just one second behind the eventual rally winner), Terry arrived at the scene of an accident on stage nine. The road was blocked and the crew were given a nominal time which was almost one minute slower than their Group N rivals. It was another setback for their Lakeland Stages Rally campaign.

Terry and Adrian were now running well down the order as a result of being redirected from the accident on stage nine but the Clady man is a driver made of pure grit and determination. He continued to attack the final two stages despite having so many setbacks during the event. The roads were cut-up but a solid run resulted in the Evo III crew taking fifth in Group N. However, there was one final blow awaiting the team. When they reached the finish, they found that a one minute penalty had been applied for a jump-start on stage five! Terry was shocked and argued the decision but it resulted in the crew dropping to sixth position in their class.

Nonetheless, sixth was still a good result for the Co-ordSport sponsored team. Had it not been for various problems during the event, they would have been fighting for a top three finish in their class and a top ten finish overall. Terry now leads the Junior Driver category of the Northern Ireland Championship by five points with two events remaining.