13-04-09: Kenny McKinstry and Noel Orr claimed an emphatic victory in the National B category of this year's Larsen Circuit of Ireland Rally, round three of the Hankook MSA N.I. Stage Rally Championship!

The Easter rally weekend spectacular saw the Banbridge driver lead the event from start to finish, and despite some last minute dramas, he claimed the rally honours by more than three minutes from Wesley Patterson and Martin McGarrity!

"A hose burst on the gearbox with two stages to go," Kenny recalled. "She was losing oil but we managed to do a temporary fix which got us to the finish. We were using manual shift, had no anti-lag and the differentials weren't working because there was no oil to make them work!"

Kenny's mechanical expertise saved the day, but he wasn't alone in his dramas. Early in the event, Seamus Leonard and John McCafferty were holding second overall, less than two seconds behind McKinstry, when a heavy landing saw them drop down the leaderboard.

"The car just cut out after the jump," Leonard explained. "We cruised to a halt at a junction and the spectators pushed us out of the way. A wire from the starter button to the starter had disconnected, so we reconnected it but by that stage we had lost three minutes."

Leonard mounted a comeback charge, and despite breaking a driveshaft, he was fourth overall at the end of day one. Just 40 seconds adrift of second placed Wesley Patterson and third placed Adrian Hetherington, he had the Mark 2 Escort drivers in his sights.

Meanwhile, second placed Patterson had been embroiled in a battle for the runner-up spot with Adrian Hetherington throughout day one. It was Hetherington who held the early advantage, but Patterson moved into the runner-up spot after the day's final stage. Hetherington finished leg one in third ahead of Seamus Leonard, with Denis Biggerstaff fifth in front of Emma McKinstry.

Rally leader Kenny McKinstry continued to set the pace at the start of day two but there were almost immediate dramas for Seamus Leonard. The Omagh driver noticed something was amiss with his car's engine, and midway through the Carrickrovaddy stage, his Impreza ground to a halt.

"I noticed the engine revs were dropping off," Leonard explained. "Then there was a loud bang and we coasted to a halt. It's an engine problem which is very frustrating as it had only covered 52 miles!"

Third placed Adrian Hetherington was also in trouble during that opening test when he put his Escort off the road and into a ditch. He wasn't alone in his ditch hugging efforts, as Emma McKinstry also slipped her Impreza WRC into a ditch. Emma was forced into retirement but Hetherington managed to extract his Escort, although six minutes were lost.

After all the dramas, Wesley Patterson and Martin McGarrity held a comfortable second behind McKinstry, with Denis Biggerstaff and Damian McCann third. All three crews safely completed the remaining three stages, with McKinstry overcoming his mechanical problems to take the victory from Patterson, who also finished first in the Superdrive 2WD category, while Biggerstaff was third.

In the tussle for Sunoco Fuels Group N honours, Cookstown's John McGlaughlin and Crawford Henderson claimed a last gasp victory aboard their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9. They had trailed Neil McCance and Sean Ferris throughout the event after losing time with a broken driveshaft, but mounted a charge during the second leg.

Bit by bit, they clawed back time, but going into the final stage, they were still 14 seconds adrift of the Comber driver. A massive charge through the test saw McGlaughlin set fastest time overall, and he moved in front of McCance to take the Group N category spoils. McCance had to settle for fifth after puncturing a tyre one mile from the finish of the final stage, while Camillus Bradley and Danny O'Neill completed the top six. Finally, in the Montgomery Motorsport historic category, Keith McIvor and David Burns claimed victory in their Porsche 911.