SS2: McGarrity Extends Lead While Kennedy Leads 2WD

By NI Rally Championship
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Updated: 7 March 2020

SS2: Derek McGarrity and Damien Garvey have extended their lead to more than five seconds after stage two of the McGrady Insurance Stages but they didn’t have a straightforward run during the stage.

“Another car spun in front of us and we were stuck behind them until the finish,” McGarrity said. “They were braking in places that I wanted to accelerate so we lost a bit of time.”

Derek and Mark McGeehan continue to hold second in their Mini WRC and admitted to almost spinning a couple of times in the slippy conditions. Kieron and Amy Graffin reckoned it was even slippier than last time but still hold third, 23 seconds behind the leaders.

Fourth placed Gareth Sayers tried different tyres but said it was like driving on ice while fifth placed Kevin Kelleher was able to see a bit better this time now that he found the demister switch for his windscreen!

“I couldn’t remember where the switch was for the blower on the first stage,” Kelleher said. “But we found it for this one and I could see where I was going!”

Jason Mitchell had a big spin and struggled with his Fiesta that’s still down on power. Emma McKinstry was a bit flustered at the finish as she had a big spin, forcing her to engage reverse in her Fiesta. She is eighth, just ahead of the Evo belonging to Gary and Keith McEvoy.

Andy Bustard’s Evo is overheating so he’s having to run without anti-lag and is just driving for a finish in an attempt to pick up some points. George Robinson’s Fiesta is running off a cylinder and Joe McQuillan decided to change his tyres for the second stage but reckoned they were no better.

Unfortunately for Paul McKenna and his 16-year-old navigator son who is taking part in first rally, they went straight on at the first corner and hit the tyre wall. Their Evo arrived at the finish missing its front bumper and McKenna reckoned his bank manager isn’t going to be too happy!

In the two-wheel-drive category, James and Heather Kennedy top the tree and are sixth overall. Alastair Cochrane and John Adams have climbed a few places to hold second in the category despite driving over the top of some trackside tyres. They’re just 2.1 seconds ahead of Jonny Morrow and Adam Semple with Drew Stewart and David White fourth after admitting they didn’t have a clean enough run.

Latest results are available from bit.ly/bishopscourt2020.

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