SS3: Henry Grabs Lakeland Rally Lead from Moffett!

By NI Rally Championship
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Updated: 7 September 2019

AFTER SS3: Desi Henry and Damien Connolly are leading the Trailer Parts and Spares Lakeland Stages Rally in their Ford Fiesta WRC!

After the opening three stages, the crew have edged out a four second lead over Sam Moffett and James Fulton while Vivian Hamill and Andrew Grennan are third.

Moffett is hoping for a better run through the second loop after sweeping the road for the following crews this morning.

Meanwhile, Hamill arrived into service in a little bit of a panic after some reported fuel starvation problems but he managed to get to the time control just in time before incurring any penalties.

In fourth overall, Cathan McCourt survived a big moment when he spun at a square left.

“We spun right round!” he revealed.

Patrick O’Brien had a big smile on his face when he recounted going over a big jump. He holds fifth overall ahead of Donagh Kelly who is struggling with the handling of his Skoda Fabia R5.

“We changed the springs before the rally but I’m not sure if that’s what’s causing it,” he said. “The car is so sideways. We’ll maybe try different tyres for the next loop.”

Derek McGarrity, the reigning N.I. Champion, struggled through stages one and two with a bad misfire but has managed to cure the problem with a new set of plugs.

“I was short-shifting to try to avoid the misfire,” McGarrity explained.

Former champion, Kenny McKinstry, lost over one minute when a turbo pipe came adrift during the second stage. He also struggled with the handling of his Fiesta R5.

“She was handling like a MK2 Escort,” McKinstry explained. “I’m going to raise the back by 5mm and make a few other changes in service.”

Niall Henry caught McKinstry’s ailing Fiesta about four miles from the finish of stage two and then Henry clipped a bale, causing a bit of damage to the front wing of his Citroen.

Derek and Mark McGeehan were also in trouble when they landed in a stage two ditch and then lost more time on stage three with a puncture.

Donall Sweeney was also off the road at the start of stage two and was sporting a cracked windscreen while Joe Hegarty lost time when he hit a chicane and had to reverse.

David Condell stalled on stage two and got himself a bit flustered. He admitted to driving a bit too erratically after the incident. Tony McKenna now heads the 2WD category from Condell by 12 seconds.

Crews are now in service. Stage four is due to start around 1.50pm. Latest results are available from www.rallyscore.net.

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