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For
immediate release: 22 October 2007
Series
leaders fail to rock the Cathcart!
Last
weekend's FM Contracts Down Rally saw plenty of drama unfold in
the County Down forests, as the penultimate round of the 2007
Pacenotes MSA Northern Ireland Stage Rally Championship started
from the King's Inn, Castlewellan.
New stages were on the agenda, including two runs through both
Tullymore and Drumkeeragh forests, as well as three stages in
Kilbroney. It was a format that was set to test the best of Northern
Ireland's rally talent, as the main contenders for the title,
Cookstown's Glenn Allen and Pomeroy's Stephen Moore, locked horns
in a battle that could potentially decide the outcome of the popular
series.
But for Stephen Moore, his rally was almost over before it started,
when a hole in his Ford Focus WRC's petrol tank was discovered
just hours before the start. It seemed as though the problem was
terminal, but luckily for Moore, another competitor came to the
rescue.
"Martin Cairns was also entered in the rally with his Subaru,"
Moore explained, "but when he heard about our problem, he
offered his car to us. It was a lucky break, although the car
was very different to my Focus. It was right hand drive, and I
found it really difficult to get used to it."
Moore found himself struggling during the opening miles, and was
outside the top ten after stage one. His chances of a maiden N.I.
Championship success seemed to be slipping from his grasp, while
rival Glenn Allen was in the hunt for victory near the head of
the leaderboard with a Toyota Corolla WRC, hired from Denis Heaney.
Surprisingly, it wasn't Allen who was leading the event, and neither
was Impreza WRC pilot Sean Devine. Taking the stages by storm
was Enniskillen's Richard Cathcart, who was really on the pipe
with his Subaru Impreza production car! The tight and twisty stages
were suiting Cathcart and his Group N car, with Cathcart powering
to the top of the standings from the opening stage.
Sean Devine and Damien Duffin were fastest through stage two,
placing them three seconds ahead of third placed Glenn Allen.
Cathcart and navigator Martin Brady still held the advantage at
the head of the field by two seconds, but after an incident towards
the end of the third test, the crew thought they had lost their
advantage.
"We had a big overshoot through the tape," Cathcart
recalled. "I had to drive to the next junction to turn around.
I was sure we had lost a stack of time but as it turned out, we
were only four seconds slower than Glenn Allen."
Somehow, Cathcart and Brady had managed to hold on to their rally
lead, while Glenn Allen's fastest time saw him retake second position
from Sean Devine and Damien Duffin. Now Allen was trailing the
rally leader by one second, but on stage four it was Cathcart
who doubled that advantage!
It was a real nip and tuck affair between Cathcart, Allen and
Devine, and with three stages remaining, victory could go either
way. But stage five was set to turn the rally on its head, as
Devine retired with mechanical trouble while Allen spectacularly
rolled out of the event!
"I don't know what happened!" Allen said afterwards.
"There was a bad crest into a three right, and she just went
into a shuck. Everything was OK but then she caught a big stone
and over she went, end of rally. The car isn't too badly damaged
but it will need a bit of work to get it sorted out. So I'll be
back in my own car for the final round."
Cathcart was held back by both Allen's stricken Corolla and Devine's
Subaru, which had to be pushed into a safe position. Nonetheless,
he safely completed the test and held a 26 second lead over second
placed Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan. Paul Britton and Martin
McGarrity were holding a comfortable third position, and completed
a trio of production category crews.
Meanwhile, fourth placed Stephen Moore couldn't believe his eyes
when he saw Allen stranded at the side of the road. He knew that
if the Cookstown man had maintained his second position, his championship
hopes would have been all but over. Now Moore had been given a
new lease of life, and although he couldn't do anything about
the three men in front, he still has an opportunity to take the
Pacenotes crown at the final round.
The final two stages saw little drama for the leaders, as Richard
Cathcart and Martin Brady consolidated their lead. Fastest times
saw the Impreza crew seal rally victory, as well as the Sunoco
Fuels Group N prize, by 31 seconds from Donagh Kelly and Kevin
Flanagan, with Paul Britton and Martin McGarrity in third. The
Superdrive two wheel drive category saw Paul Killen and Richard
Nelson emerge victorious from James Kennedy and John Rowan.
Only on two other occasions in the history of the Northern Ireland
Championship has a Group N driver emerged with outright rally
victory. Michael Duke was the first, winning the 1999 Tour of
the Sperrins Rally, while Niall McShea took victory at the Lakeland
Stages a few years ago. Now Richard Cathcart and Martin Brady
have added their names to that short, yet prestigious list.
"It was a great fight with Glenn and Sean," Cathcart
said after the finish. "It's just a pity they both retired.
Glenn gave us that push to go harder but when he crashed out,
it left us in limbo. I didn't know if we should be going hard
or easy."
"It was a very good day," Cathcart continued. "The
stages were very good - they were quite tight, so it suited the
Group N car as it's a bit narrower than the WRCs. I said before
the start that I wanted to finish pretty well here, and everything
just clicked together!"
Fourth position for Stephen Moore and Tony McHugh made little
difference to their championship campaign, as it will be counted
as one of their three lowest scores come the end of the year.
Ironically, with dropped scores taken into account, championship
standings for Moore and Allen are exactly the same as they were
before the event, with both men separated by one point.
So the battle for championship laurels will go down to the final
round at the Ballymena based Townparks Glens of Antrim Rally.
The odds for success are in Allen's favour, as only a win for
Stephen Moore will see the Ford Focus pilot lift the championship
trophy. With last year's winner, Sean Devine, also thrown into
the mix, the Pomeroy man has a tough job on his hands.
The Townparks Glens of Antrim Rally will take place on Saturday
3 November, and is based at the Tullyglass House Hotel in Ballymena.
The event will feature 11 stages totalling 44 stage miles, with
the first car leaving the start ramp shortly after 9.30am. More
information is available from www.nirally.com.
ENDS.
FM Contracts Down Rally Results (Top ten)
1 Richard Cathcart/Martin Brady (Subaru Impreza GpN) 36m46s
2 Donagh Kelly/Paul Flanagan (Mitsubishi Lancer GpN) 37m17s
3 Paul Britton/Martin McGarrity (Subaru Impreza GpN) 38m18s
4 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Subaru Impreza GpA) 38m39s
5 P.J. Gillespie/Mary O'Kane (Mitsubishi Lancer GpN) 38m57s
6 Andrew Ritchie/Garnet McFetridge (Mitsubishi Lancer GpN) 39m06s
7 John Walker/Dessie Wilson (Mitsubishi Lancer GpN) 39m06s
8 Eoin McErlean/Donard McCann (Mitsubishi Lancer GpN) 39m09s
9 Gary Rodgers/Brian Crawford (Mitsubishi Lancer GpN) 39m11s
10 Damien Hynds/John Magilton (Mitsubishi Lancer GpN) 39m18s
Photograph: Attached photograph depicts Richard Cathcart
and Martin Brady during the 2007 FM Contracts Down Rally. Image
may be used free of charge for editorial use providing credit
is given to the photographer (Martin
McCorriston/RALLYPICS.ORG). It may not be sold/resold or used
for advertisement purposes. Copyright remains with the photographer.
Regards,
Jonathan MacDonald
MediaJAM Communications
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