04/08/07 - Kevin Lynch and Martin McNicholl took another emphatic victory at last weekend's Limavady Borough Council and North West Motor Factors Dogleap Stages Rally, their fifth in a row! Piloting his Ford Focus WRC, the Dungiven driver emerged victorious by more than one minute after 10 stages in the forests surrounding Limavady.

The weekend started with a certain amount of uncertainty for Lynch though, as he arrived at Friday's test stage with two rally cars on a trailer. He tested his Focus and his P2000 Subaru, before deciding to take the Blue Oval into the forests.

It was an excellent choice, and one which saw the KPL man and his navigator sweep to full complement of stage wins, as well as their fifth consecutive Dogleap victory! Arriving at the finish 67 seconds ahead of second placed Sean Devine and Damien Duffin, the reigning champions proved they had lost none of their finesse in the forests!

"We threw caution to the wind!" Lynch enthused. "I wanted to see what the car was capable of so we pushed pretty hard all day. I was really impressed with the car, the setup was great and it worked really well."

While Lynch accelerated into the distance, the battle for second was a much closer affair. Three crews were in with a shout of honours, with Sean Devine taking the reins from the start with championship contenders, Glenn Allen and Stephen Moore, third and fourth respectively.

Allen was caught on the back foot before the start, as he was forced to borrow Charlie Donnelly's Corolla WRC for the event. A heavy accident at the Raven's Rock Rally a few weeks earlier resulted in Allen sending his car to Holland for repairs.

"The car took a long time to arrive in Holland so it's going to be another four or five weeks before it arrives back home," Allen said. "Luckily, we were able to use Charlie's Corolla, which is a very good car. But unfortunately we had the wrong setup for the first couple of stages."

Allen's troubles were compounded by a gearbox problem, which had to be changed at service. Then he picked a wrong tyre, losing yet more precious seconds, but he still managed to hold third overall ahead of Stephen Moore.

Ironically, once Allen's car was in full working order, fourth placed Stephen Moore seemed to find some extra speed and he started eating into Allen's advantage. While Donemana's Sean Devine held station in second position behind event leader Lynch, an intense tussle for third was developing between Allen and Moore.

With two stages remaining, Allen and Moore locked horns in a battle that could have a major influence on the outcome of this year's championship. As the two main title contenders, they both knew that finishing in front could hand them a psychological advantage for the remaining rounds. Allen entered the event ahead on points, so the pressure was on Moore to perform, and that's exactly what he did.

Faster than Allen over the final two tests, it was Moore and navigator Tony McHugh who claimed third position, almost overhauling Sean Devine and Damien Duffin in the process. In the end, Devine finished just five seconds ahead of Moore, who was 10 seconds ahead of Glenn Allen and Damien Connolly.

Fifth overall was sealed by Richard Hogg and Mark Hanna, who made their first foray into the forests with their Skoda Octavia WRC. They were lucky to hold on to their top five spot though, as the gear linkage disconnecting midway through the penultimate stage. That left them stuck in fourth gear, but they just managed to hold on to fifth by one second from Seamus Devine and Jonathan Pollock.

Sunoco Fuels Production category

In the battle for Sunoco Fuels Production category honours, Errol Clarke and Neil Ewing grabbed the early advantage in their Mitsubishi, but they were set to succumb with a malfunctioning wheel speed sensor. They tried to fix the problem in service but then their car refused to fire up, forcing an end to their day.

Neil McCance and Sean Ferris were also struggling in their Lancer with a fuel pump problem, leaving a three way fight for the spoils between Tristan Pye, Cathal Rodgers and Howard Clarke. It was Clarke, who had Jason Harron on the notes, who held the initial advantage but their progress was thwarted when they caught other cars on the stages.

That allowed Pye and Rodgers to keep in touch, and two stages from the finish, they were tied on times! Rodgers, with John McCafferty on the notes, really pulled out all the stops through the final tests to emerge victorious, while Tristan Pye and Kirsty Riddick dropped to third in class after a storming drive by Clarke and Harron saw them net second. None of these crews are registered for points though, so it was fourth placed Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan who picked up the Sunoco Fuels prize.

Superdrive two wheel drive

The hotly contested two wheel drive category victory went to Mark Barnett and Vincent Fergus after they finished 19th overall in their Ford Escort RS. In an event which saw a number of leading retirements from the two wheel drive field, including hopefuls Adrian Hetherington, Frank Kelly, Bob Riddles, Alastair Cochrane and Aidan Toner, Barnett kept his cool to come home in first position.

James Kennedy and Rodney Torrington were second among the two wheel drive field and picked up the Superdrive prize as the first championship registered crew home, while Paul and Peter Ward finished third.

Round seven - Lakeland Stages Rally

The Pacenotes championship moves to Enniskillen in September for the Fisher Engineering Lakeland Stages Rally. The event takes place on Saturday 8 September, when Glenn Allen and Stephen Moore will continue their bid to lift the N.I. series crown!

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