Published: Thursday, 15th July, 2010 4:00pm

Memorable victory for McNulty but more woe for Fisher

Enniskillen's Barry McNulty partnered Keith Cronin to a memorable victory on last week's Rally Isle of Man, but Alastair Fisher's woes in the British Championship continued after he crashed out of the event on the sixth stage.

For Barry McNulty the win marks his second success of the season after he co-drove Cronin to first place on the opening round of the series.

Since then however the season had provided a mixed bag of results, with car problems preventing them from amassing as many points as they would like. Going into the latest round they needed a win to keep their title hopes alive, and that is exactly what they delivered.

"We've had a lot of problems with the set up of the car since the first round, but the team have put in a huge amount of work and that is starting to show benefits," said Barry. "At the start of the rally we weren't sure about the set up of the car for the first three stages. Once we got into service we stiffened it up a bit and it made a huge difference. On the last stage the stomach was going like a washing machine, and I was counting down to the finish on the notes, but winning it was some feeling!"

Alastair Fisher was the early pace setter when he posted the fastest time over the short opening stage, but Gyndaf Evans soon overhauled the Mitsubishi driver and by the fifth stage held a narrow lead over Cronin, with Alastair thirty seconds adrift in third. Stage six was to prove decisive however. Gyndaf Evans was the first to hit trouble when he put his car off the road for several minutes, handing the lead to Cronin and McNulty, and then Alastair Fisher rolled into retirement.

Barry McNulty was able to call the pace notes for the remainder of the two day rally safe in the knowledge they had a comfortable cushion to their nearest pursuer, and they have reignited their title hopes with maximum points. The series is now a two way battle between themselves and Gyndaf Evans with two rounds remaining.

In the historic section of the rally the evergreen Mervyn Johnston and co-driver Wendy Blackledge took their Mini Cooper to class victory and fifth overall.

Elsewhere, Garry Jennings was hoping to score a good overall result on the Connacht Stages Rally. The Ballinmallard driver had hired the Kenny McKinstry Subaru WRC that had carried him to victory on the previous weekend's Lough Neagh Stages Rally, but a mechanical failure meant he was unable to complete the first stage.