McGrady Insurance Motorsport UK Northern Ireland Rally Championship

SS10: New rally leader as Desi Henry spins again!

AFTER SS10: We weren’t sure if we had a new rally leader after stage eight…but now we are!

Unfortunately for early leader Desi Henry, his dramas continued on the latest loop of stages as he went off the road again with another spin. The Portglenone driver reckons he dropped another 10 to 15 seconds, putting him behind not only Stephen Wright and Liam Moynihan in the overall standings but also William Creighton and Liam Regan.

Wright is now the unofficial leader of the event but there’s still a question mark over the penalty that has been applied to Derek McGarrity’s stage five time. As reported earlier, he incurred a stage maximum for allegedly hitting a chicane.

“How can you straight line a chicane with tractor tyres on either side?” an evidently annoyed McGarrity asked.

If the penalty is removed, McGarrity could be leading the event from Wright but as it stands, Wright is on top by 16 seconds ahead of Creighton and Henry.

In fourth, Gareth Sayers reckoned he was nearly.off the road a couple of times at the first few corners as he struggled to find grip with cold tyres.

Martin Cairns spin at a ‘square left’ while Paul Britton came to Fintan McGrady’s rescue and helped him back to service after McGrady suspected that something broke in his gearbox.

In the two-wheel-drive battle, James and Heather Kennedy now head John Devlin and John McCarthy by two seconds. Both crews are on the limit as they trade blows in an attempt to lift the spoils!

Barry Morris says he’s kicking himself after his earlier spins and Martin Doherty had a bit of trouble with the sun in his eyes. Philip Greenlee had a trip onto the grass with his Escort which has just been fitted with a new paddle shift.

There are just four stages remaining. Latest results available from rallyscore.net. Updates on Facebook at facebook.com/nirallying.

UPDATE (4.00pm): Derek McGarrity’s penalty has been removed. He leads the rally by five seconds after stage 10.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login