TOP seeds Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin (Citroen C3) lead the way after four stages of the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally with some committed driving on the open day’s action on Friday.
After the opening stage at Ballinascarthy they held a 4.8 second lead over Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes (Citroen C3). Matt Edwards and David Moynihan (Hyundai i20) were quickest on the second test at Rossmore.
Both stages were then attempted in darkness with Cronin going quicker than his first run over Ballinascarthy and another good time on Rossmore saw him take a 13.2 second lead into the second day. Edwards holds second place but is being pushed hard by Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne (Ford Fiesta). Armstrong, on his first visit to West Cork, had no intercom on the first loop of stages, but recovered well to take the fastest time on the fourth stage to lie just 1.4 seconds behind Edwards.
Josh Moffett holds fourth place ahead of Eddie Doherty and David Kelly who are fifth and sixth respectively. The cold dry conditions have meant a very fast pace, and there have been several notable retirements. Local driver Jason McSweeney went off the road on the first stage, as did Jer O’Donovan. English visitor James Ford also failed to make it out of stage one with mechanical issues. Daniel Cronin and Donnchadh Burke went off the road on stage three in their Citroen and are also out. The national category is being led by Simon Reaid from Padraig Egan, both in Escorts with Vincent O’Shea (Darrian) in third place.
The top six overnight were as follows
1 – Keith Cronin & Mikie Galvin, Citroen C3, 0:24:32.3
2 – Matt Edwards & David Moynihan, Hyundai i20, 0:24:45.5
3 – Jon Armstrong & Shane Byrne, Ford Fiesta, 0:24:46.9
4 – Josh Moffett & Andy Hayes, Citroen C3, 0:25:08.2
5 – Eddie Doherty & Tom Murphy, Skoda Fabia, 0:25:18.1
6 – David Kelly & Arthur Kierans, VW Polo Gti, 0:25:28.0
The action resumes at 9.10am this Saturday morning with the classic Ring Stage. The Historic category will join the fray on this stage. There will be a total of eight stages during the day with Kilbrittain, Dunworley and Clogagh being used as well as Ring.
