Jennings still narrowly ahead after second

Editorial Department • Published 13 Aug 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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Garry Jennings' bid for the Group N Irish National Championship could go all the way to the final round of the series after his closest rival Kevin Kelleher closed the gap with victory on the Stonethrowers Rally, despite the Ballinamallard driver finishing fourth overall.

Jennings' second place in Group N keeps him narrowly ahead in the points standings, although when dropped scores are taken in account the pair both have three wins and two second places to their name, with three rounds remaining.

A win on last Sunday's Tipperary based event would have put Garry in pole position, and all looked to be going according to plan as he opened up an advantage over Kelleher over the opening tests. After three stages the gap was up to 14 seconds, but on stage four gearbox problems were to cost him valuable seconds. "Some fork in the gearbox jammed between first and second, and I couldn't get first gear, and then I was getting it hard to get second," said Garry. "It cost me quite a bit because I had to get pushed off the line on every stage, and then I maybe gave her too much abuse on the line and the clutch started to slip a bit."

After six of the scheduled nine stages Garry's advantage was down to four seconds, and on the final loop Kelleher edged ahead, eventually finishing six seconds ahead of his Group N adversary.

"Despite the problems I was still disappointed because I thought I drove very hard at the end," admitted Garry. "It's good points for the championship though and it's still all to play for. Hopefully we'll have a good run at the next round in Galway now."

The eighth round of the series, the Galway Summer Stages Rally, takes place on August 30.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 13 Aug 09

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