SS2: Desi Henry and Derek McGarrity Share the Rally Lead!

By NI Rally Championship
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: 19 October 2019

AFTER SS2: There was drama on stage two of the MJE Wheel Repair Specialists Tyrone Stages Rally as number one seed, Desi Henry, caught the sweeper car towards the end of the stage!

He lost some precious seconds but it hasn’t dented his challenge for victory too much as he jointly leads the rally with Derek McGarrity at the end of the second test.

McGarrity has switched his Subaru for a Skoda Fabia R5 today. He had his first run in the car a couple of days ago and broke a steering rack. It’s now running perfectly and although he admits that he’s still getting used to it, he shares the top of the leaderboard with Henry.

Stephen Wright was a joint early rally leader (with Henry and McGarrity) after stage one but he dropped a few seconds to his rivals on stage two. He has Liam Moynihan calling the notes this time and like everyone else, they reported the stages to be slippery.

William Creighton, who astounded everyone with his pace at this event last year, holds fourth as he tries to get used to the Fiesta. “I’m trying to work out what gears I need to be in,” he smiled.

In fifth, Derek McGeehan wasn’t too happy at service and reckoned he should have stayed in bed this morning…

“I’m not feeling too well,” he said. “The chicanes are very tight and they only gave us 12 seconds to get ready before we had to start the stage.”

Gareth Sayers has slotted into sixth with his Fiesta despite clipping a concrete post and damaging the wing. Sean Devine slid off on stage two and lost time with a lot of muck on his wheels but is provisionally seventh.

And in the battle for 2WD, James Kennedy leads the way from John Devlin. Both reported no dramas in the slippery conditions. They hold eighth and ninth with Martin Cairns 10th.

Further down the order, Kenny McKinstry lost time with a spin and Barry Morris had an overshoot in his Darrian.

“We slid on the muck on the outside of the corner and went off,” he revealed. “We had to be pushed back on and lost around 30 seconds.”

Andy Bustard also slid wide and lost some time while Simon Devlin lost around 40 seconds when his navigator’s door kept opening on stage one. They managed to tie it up with a bungee cord before the start of stage two.

Championship sponsor Fintan McGrady echoed everyone’s thoughts on the slippery roads and Drew Wylie reckoned he needs to adjust his brake bias in service.

Crews now have a brief stop in service before heading out for the next loop. Results available from rallyscore.net.

featured