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For
immediate release: 28 September 2009
Kenny McKinstry seals victory at the McKelvey Bushwhacker Rally!
Banbridge's Kenny McKinstry desperately needed victory at last
Saturday's McKelvey Asbestos Removal Bushwhacker Rally to keep
his Hankook MSA N.I. Stage Rally Championship hopes alive. And
with Bangor's Noel Orr navigating, the Subaru Impreza WRC crew
duly delivered when they sealed the spoils by a slender six seconds
from Derek McGarrity and James McKee!
McKinstry led from the start of the Omagh Motor Club event but
it quickly transpired that victory was not going to be easy. He
lost precious seconds when his Impreza slipped onto three cylinders,
and a surprised Damien Tourish nipped into the rally lead after
stage three.
Tourish, driving his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, headed the
former champion by a slender one second but it was a short-lived
affair. McKinstry's Subaru was back in fighting form after service,
and he promptly returned to the number one position.
Over the second loop of stages, the Banbridge pilot concentrated
on building his advantage over his rivals. After stage six, he
had increased his lead to 12 seconds over Tourish, who was sharing
second position with championship leader, Derek McGarrity.
Throughout the day, McGarrity was tweaking the characteristics
of his Toyota Corolla WRC to his liking. As improvements were
made, his stage times tumbled, and he was on the verge of snatching
second from Tourish.
The afternoon stages moved to the Lough Braden Forest complex,
and McKinstry's rally was about to take another twist. An overshoot
during stage eight saw him drop a substantial 10 seconds to the
chasing pack, leaving him with two seconds in hand and only two
stages remaining!
The battle for the McKelvey Bushwhacker Rally honours was going
to the wire, and it was a thrilling tussle between the two championship
elects, Kenny McKinstry and Derek McGarrity. It was all down to
the final two stages, and at the last gasp, it was McKinstry who
held the advantage. Fastest times over the final two stages saw
the Banbridge pilot seal the rally victory by six seconds!
"I kept making life difficult for myself," McKinstry
said afterwards. "We did two stages with the car on three
cylinders, then built up a lead, only to have an overshoot. We
lost about 14 or 15 seconds with that, so with two stages to go,
we had a lead of two seconds instead of about 30 seconds!"
McGarrity sealed second on the event, and in championship terms,
the title is very much swinging in the Glengormley dealer's favour.
A top three finish at either of the final two events would see
him lift the Northern Ireland Championship crown for a second
time.
In third position, Neil McCance and Sean Ferris also topped the
Sunoco Fuels Group N category. The crew lagged behind Damien Tourish
for much of the day, but when the stages switched to the Lough
Braden complex, McCance found some extra speed. He overhauled
Tourish to finish third overall, eight seconds ahead of his rival.
While Tourish and navigator John McElhinney finished fourth overall,
James Gillen and Jason Harron claimed fifth ahead of Martin Cairns
and Andrew Purcell. John and James Cairns took seventh, while
Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan completed the top eight, and finished
third in Group N.
In the Superdrive two-wheel-drive category, Vivian and Paul Hamill
claimed the spoils aboard their Mark 2 Escort. They also finished
just outside the top 10 overall, while Trevor Moore and Ray Fitzpatrick
claimed second in the category to maintain their 2WD championship
lead. Frank Kelly and Liam Brennan completed the top three.
Finally, the Montgomery Motorsport historic category saw Ryan
Barrett and Barry Ferris take the spoils in their Mark 2 Escort.
The crew finished comfortably ahead of Philip Hunter and Micky
Faloon, with Tommy O'Connell and Sean Magee third.
Battle resumes at round nine of the Hankook MSA Northern Ireland
Stage Rally Championship. Based in Newcastle, the F&M Contracts
Down Rally will take place on Saturday 17 October. More details
are available online at www.nirally.com.
ENDS.
McKelvey Bushwhacker Rally - top 10 results
1 Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 34m16s
2 Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Corolla WRC) 34m22s
3 Neil McCance/Sean Ferris (Lancer Evo) 34m45s
4 Damien Tourish/John McElhinney (Lancer Evo) 34m53s
5 James Gillen/Jason Harron (Impreza) 34m54s
6 Martin Cairns/Andrew Purcell (Impreza WRC) 34m58s
7 John Cairns/James Cairns (Impreza) 35m07s
8 Donagh Kelly/Kevin Flanagan (Lancer Evo) 35m10s
9 Raymond Johnston/Rodney Hicks (Lancer Evo) 35m31s
10 John Bustard/Robert McKelvey (Lancer Evo) 35m46s
Photograph: Attached photograph depicts event winners,
Kenny McKinstry and Noel Orr, during the 2009 McKelvey Bushwhacker
Rally. Image may be used free of charge for editorial use providing
credit is given to the photographer, Jonathan MacDonald/MEDIAJAM
COMMUNICATIONS. Copyright remains with the photographer.
Regards,
Jonathan MacDonald
MediaJAM Communications
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