CIRCUIT OF MUNSTER RALLY (LIMERICK) - 6 Jun 04

Posted: June 8, 2004 11:55 PM

At the end of the day's eight stages, they were 6.29 seconds ahead of Subaru WRC of Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell with early leaders, Patrick Elliott/David Moynihan completing a Subaru 1-2-3, some 30 seconds behind. The Group N category was won by the local Limerick crew of Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Subaru).

A host of top drivers beat the bogey time on the opening stage near Shanagolden where the Subaru WRC of Jim Harrison was in trouble with a gearbox problem. Nevertheless, he too still managed to beat the bogey time. On the second stage, it was Cavan's, Patrick Elliott in his right hand drive Subaru WRC that set the pace. Illustrating that his form in last week's Cavan Rally wasn't due to local knowledge, the former Group N national champion took a 3.5 second lead over Galway's, JJ Fleming (Subaru WRC), who opined that he was just settling into the pace. A mere 0.5 seconds in arrears in third place was the Dunlop Championship leader, Niall Maguire, who had a trouble free run through both stages.

Having to complete the entire second stage by using the gear lever and clutch, Harrison's fourth place - two seconds behind Maguire and six off the leader's pace - was commendable. Cathal Arthurs was concerned as smoke entered the cockpit of his Hyundai Accent WRC as a hard charging Denis Cronin in his Toyota Celica ST185 slotted into sixth place. Ollie O'Donovan - in seventh place - lost time when his Subaru lost power intermittently. The top ten was completed by the Subaru WRC's of Kevin Lynch and David Armstrong, the latter debuting the ex-Melvyn car.

In Group N, as expected, local Limerick driver, Colm Murphy (Subaru) set the pace, he was on the fringe of the top ten and was some seven seconds ahead of the N9 Subaru of Tadhg Linehan with Willie Fannin (Subaru) a further four seconds behind. Meanwhile, the leader of the category in the Dunlop Championship, Gabriel Martin retired his Mitsubishi.

Elliott lost the lead on the third stage when he stalled his Subaru and that allowed Maguire seize the initiative and on arrival at the second service halt, the Dunlop Championship leader, had a 7.1 second lead over Jim Harrison, who was stymied by having to use the manual change in the Subaru WRC. JJ Fleming had a big overshoot and as a result, slipped to third while Elliott had to be content with fourth place - the top four covered by just 11.7 seconds. Smoke continued to enter the Hyundai of Cathal Arthurs although he did get through the fourth stage without any incident. Kevin Lynch reported no problems but a massive overshoot cost Denis Cronin vital seconds and he dropped top seventh in a top ten that also featured David Armstrong, Sean Gallagher and Group N leader, Colm Murphy. Ollie O'Donovan lost time when his Subaru cut out on several occasions.

Maguire, Harrison, O'Donovan, Arthurs, Cronin, Armstrong and Fleming all beat the bogey time on S.S. 5 while Fleming set the pace on S.S 6 where oil spewing from the Subaru WRC of Kevin Lynch, who eventually retired, caused problems for the cars that followed. Fleming, courtesy of his time on S.S. 6, came into second, 6.9 seconds behind rally leader Maguire with Harrison in third. Elliott had two overshoots on S.S. 5 and had some major moments when his Subaru caught the oil deposits forcing the Cavan driver ton back off considerably. Arthurs and Cronin rounded off the top six.

Meanwhile, Sean Gallagher and David Armstrong, two drivers with new Subaru's, had their own personal battle with Gallagher holding the edge, albeit by some four seconds. There was considerable change in Group N, Colm Murphy had a comfortable lead after Tadhg Linehan failed to appear the service halt, and Willie Fannin dropped down after an off.
That allowed James O'Sullivan into contention for top Dunlop points.

On the penultimate stage, Harrison eclipsed Fleming and moved into second - trailing Maguire by some nine seconds and 3.6 seconds ahead of Fleming. Another change to the top of the leader board came when Arthurs reeled in Elliott for fourth. Arthurs and Cronin completed the top six. On the final stage, Maguire did just enough to take victory with Harrison clipping some 3.4 seconds off the deficit to leave Maguire's margin of victory at 5.1 seconds. Elliott posted a stunning time and took a deserved third but JJ Fleming's fine drive ended in retirement due to a transmission problem. Cathal Arthurs, who lost considerable time on the final stage maintained fourth. Cronin was fifth from Armstrong and George Tracey in his Peugeot WRC had a few spins en-route to seventh.

In Group N, Colm Murphy took a comfortable victory while James O'Sullivan annexed the top points in the showroom category. Murphy was eighth overall in a top ten that included the Subaru's of Sean Gallagher and Kevin Barrett. Ollie O'Donovan's problems continued all the way to the final stage, he was eleventh. Non-starters included Adrian McElvaney, Ray Breen and Andrew Stewart.

1 N. Maguire/P. McLaughlin (Subaru Impreza WRC) 55:30.59 
2 J. Harrison/H. Bell (Subaru Impreza WRC) 55:36.88
3 P. Elliott/D. Moynihan (Subaru Impreza WRC) 56:08.69 
4 C. Arthurs/J. Kelly (Hyundai Accent WRC) 56:19.13
5 D. Cronin/H. O’Sullivan (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) 56:34.74
6 D. Armstrong/B. Kelly (Subaru Impreza WRC) 56:40.09
7 S. Gallagher/P. Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)57:14.64 
8 G. Tracey/K. Duffy (Peugeot 206 WRC) 57:38.24
9 C. Murphy/G. Loughrey (Subaru Impreza WRX) Gp. N 57:42.77
10 K. Barrett/B. Goodman (Subaru Impreza WRC) 57:51.99

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• Report on Report on Breakingnews.ie
• www.limerickmc.ie
• Photos by James Burke

• 2004 Dunlop National Rally Championship
• 2004 Top Part West Coast Championship
• Ferodo Bonus Scheme 2004