For immediate release: 21 July 2009

Cookstown driver seals ALMC Rally honours!

John McGlaughlin was left celebrating an excellent result at Sunday's City North Hotel
ALMC Stages Rally when he sealed second overall and first in Group N with his McGlaughlin's Bakery sponsored Mitsubishi Lancer!

After a break from the driving seat for almost two months, the Cookstown driver returned to action at the Co. Meath based event, hoping to build on his success at round six of
the Irish Mitsubishi Evo Challenge.

"I was a bit rusty at the start," John admitted, "and the rain on Sunday morning didn't
help matters as I had never used Pirelli tyres in the wet. I had no confidence so I
dropped some time on stage one, and when I tried to push hard on the second stage, I spun!"

The roads started to dry out and on stage three, John upped the ante to move closer to his rivals' pace. Despite the time loss, he and navigator Crawford Henderson were third in Group N, less than half a minute behind the category leaders.

Confidence was building and through the second loop of stages, the Sunoco Fuels crew matched the category leader's pace. At the final service halt, John found himself holding fifth overall and second in Group N, but he was still half a minute behind the production category leader.

"The stages were very fast so it was difficult to make up time," John explained. "There were very few technical sections but going into the final loop, I decided to put the pressure on. It was very wet on stages seven and eight, but we managed to take almost 20 seconds out of the category leader!"

That left 12 seconds between John and the number one position going into the final
stage. It was going to be a tall order to nab the top podium spot, but John pulled out
all of the stops in a major effort to take another Evo Challenge victory.

"It was the hardest I drove all day," John admitted, "and it almost ended in tears. During the final stage, the car took off sideways over a crest into a square left. The back of the car was in the hedge and I thought we were going into the field. Luckily, the hedge was quite solid and we stayed on the road!"

When John arrived at the finish, he waited with baited breath to compare times with the category leader, but there was no sign of his rival. He had retired during the closing miles, handing the Bush Filling Station crew their second Evo Challenge victory on the trot, as well as second overall!

"I'd rather I'd have sealed the win in a straight fight," John said. "It was another good battle and it would have been very close at the finish. Unfortunately, as I know all too well, rallying can be cruel sometimes. We were on the right side of luck on this occasion, and my navigator, Crawford Henderson, as well as the McNeill Motorsport team, did
another great job all weekend!"

After contesting only two rounds of the 2009 Irish Mitsubishi Evo Challenge, John is
already holding joint fifth in the series standings, and only 10 points adrift of the series leader. Despite his late foray into the series, the Cookstown driver has already become a real contender for the title!

ENDS.



Regards,

Jonathan MacDonald
MediaJAM Communications