AT the end of day one of the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally, Ballylickey’s Keith Cronin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin are nicely poised in second place, just 6.3s behind overnight leaders Derry’s Callum Devine (VW Polo GTi R5) and his Killarney co-driver Noel O’Sullivan.
Welsh ace Matt Edwards (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Mallow native David Moynihan are 30.6s further behind in third.
Aside from Cronin, Ovens driver Owen Murphy (Citroen C3 Rally2) is tenth overnight; Dunmanway’s David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) is twelfth; Dunmanway’s Jason McSweeney (Skoda Fabia R5) is thirteenth and Clonakilty’s Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) is fifteenth.
The event, consisting of three days action for the first time in its history, quickly developed into a duel between Cronin and Devine, who is the reigning Irish Tarmac champion.
Of the four stages today, Devine punched in three fastest stage times with Cronin best on SS2 – to cut the deficit to 3.6s.
While Devine pushed hard Cronin was cautious in places and was pleased with his second place heading into tomorrow’s eight stages.
‘The second time through Ballinascarthy (SS3) was really tricky, it was actually wetter than the first run, I was glad to get out of it. I was happy with the last stage, Callum (Devine) is going hard, so we'll have to stay in touch with him and hopefully be able to challenge for the win after that.’
Top seed Josh Moffett didn’t have a good day, he struggled to get in the groove with his Citroen C3 and while he was third at one point, he finished the day down in sixth.
Despite some back pain, Owen Murphy (Citroen C3 Rally2) made into the overnight top ten.
Incorrect tyre pressures cost David Guest time on the opening stages; Jason McSweeney was delighted to get through the night stages unscathed and Cal McCarthy has regained his confidence.
Locals leading their class include Lyre’s Tim O’Donovan (Toyota Corolla) and Glandore’s Pat Calnan (Ford Ka).
Overnight Top 10:
1. C. Devine/N. O'Sullivan (Polo GTi R5) 25m. 25.8s.
2. K. Cronin/M. Galvin (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+6.3s.
3. M. Edwards/D. Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+36.9s.
4. W. Creighton/L. Regan (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+53.8s.
5. J. Greer/N. Burns (Citroen C3 Rally2)+1m. 03.4s.
6. J. Moffett/A. Hayes (Citroen C3 Rally2)+1m. 04.0s.
7. D. Boyle/ P. Walsh (Citroen C3 Rally2)+ 1m. 28.8s.
8. D. Kelly/D. O'Sullivan (VW Polo GTi R5)+1m. 43.0s.
9. E. Doherty/T. Murphy (Skoda Fabia Rally2)+1m. 44.4s.
10. O. Murphy/ A. Nestor (Citroen C3 Rally2)+1m. 46.5s.
