08/09/07 - Victory at Saturday's Fisher Engineering Lakeland Stages Rally has propelled Stephen Moore into the lead of the Pacenotes Northern Ireland Stage Rally Championship!

The Pomeroy property developer, who sealed Irish National Forestry Championship success just a few weeks ago, is now 10 points ahead of Glenn Allen after Allen failed to make the start of the Enniskillen based event.

Allen's Toyota Corolla WRC is still in Holland where it was sent after an accident during a round of the Irish National Championship severely damaged the car. His title hopes are still very much alive though, as seven scores from the 10 round Pacenotes series count towards the overall result.

Allen may have been missing from the Lakeland start list but Stephen Moore and Tony McHugh still had to contend with plenty of opposition. In fact, it was Sean Devine and Damien Duffin who took the early lead in their Subaru Impreza WRC. Fastest by two seconds from Moore on the opening stage, Devine had grabbed the rally lead with both hands.

Unfortunately, only Devine and Moore completed that opening test as Raymond Johnston and Richard Bell went off the road in their Subaru Impreza WRC. Johnston, who was debuting his newly acquired S9 Subaru, slipped off the road near the start of the test and his navigator was taken to hospital as a precaution.

"I didn't think it was that big of an accident," Johnston said. "We just slipped sideways into a drain, although it was a fairly sudden stop. Whatever way Richard was sitting with his head down reading the notes, he hurt his neck. So they put a collar on him and it turned out that he has pulled a few ligaments, but thankfully he's going to be fine."

All following crews were awarded nominal times for the stage so the event continued on stage two. Leader Sean Devine and Stephen Moore both beat the bogey time, but one stage later Devine extended his lead to three seconds. Moore fought back, taking three seconds out of his rival on stage four to leave them level pegging going into service.

With the cars ready for another loop of stages, it was Devine who caught Moore on the back foot. He was fastest by six seconds on stage five, taking his rival by surprise. But it was all change at the top once more on stage six as Strabane's Devine hit trouble. His Subaru punctured on what was the longest stage of the rally, leaving his bid for victory in tatters.

"That stage lost us the rally," Devine rued. "The car just came over a crest and when she landed, the side of the tyre blew out. So we had to do about six miles on a flat wheel. It was disappointing as we really wanted to win that one, but that's rallying."

Moore was actually 31 seconds faster than Devine on this stage, but as he beat the bogey time once again, he only grabbed the lead by 12 seconds. It was still all to play for and with Devine back in fine form, he mounted an attack. Fastest on stage seven saw him cut Moore's lead to 11 seconds, but his rival replied and equalled his time through the penultimate test.

With one stage remaining, it was Stephen Moore and Tony McHugh who were on the verge of their second Pacenotes championship victory of the year, but they almost threw it away during the closing miles! In a heart stopping moment, their Ford Focus WRC stalled mid-stage and they lost a handful of seconds, but they had done enough to seal victory by seven seconds from Sean Devine and Damien Duffin!

"I didn't know how much time we had lost on the final stage," Moore recalled. "We stalled at a square right where the stage goes onto tarmac. I had to reverse but Sean only took four seconds out of us at the finish so it wasn't too bad! Now we're leading the championship on paper but Glenn (Allen) still has the edge so we have to keep winning!"

Outside the leading duo, Richard Cathcart and Paul McLoughlin had a superb day in their Group N Impreza to seal third overall. The crew were spectacular in the forests, and despite having less power than their WRC compatriots, they finished in a very comfortable third position, and first in the Sunoco Fuels Group N category.

Fourth overall went to Richard Hogg and Mark Hanna, despite suffering with a misfire in their Skoda Octavia WRC. They finished 12 seconds ahead of Raymond Mason and Peter Martin, with Seamus Devine and Terry McGonigle completing the top six ahead of Kevin O'Kane and Martin Brady.

In the Superdrive sponsored two wheel drive category, Adrian Hetherington and Graham Henderson kept their Mark 2 Escort between the hedges to finish as top two wheel drive crew. They completed the event in eighth overall, just 11 seconds ahead of Frank Kelly and Aiden Friel.

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