After nine special stages in the West Cork Rally, the second round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship, a tremendous battle is taking place amongst the top championship contenders. Currently Sam Moffett lies in second place behind Rally leader Donagh Kelly, and on course to take maximum points. However with almost 120km of stages still to go today, he still faces a strong challenge from Robert Barrable who has really got to grips with the new Hyundai i20 R5 and is only 14 seconds behind the Monaghan driver. Barrable in turn is only five seconds clear of Josh Moffett while Alastair Fisher is only another 20 seconds behind with Stephen Wright the fifth placed registered driver. The action begins today with the Clogagh stage at 12pm and will see six stages in all before the first car arrives at the finish ramp at approximately 3:45pm.
The hotly contested National Rally is currently being led by Kevin Eves in his Corolla by just over 20 seconds from Gary Kiernan and Brian Brogan is only one second further back. Damien Tourish had been in contention but hit a bank on yesterdays sixth stage and was forced out. In the Historic Rally, Barry Jones leads from Ernie Graham, both in Escorts, with Owen Murphy in third place in his Avenger. Photo of Sam Moffett & Karl Atkinson is courtesy of Kevin O’Driscoll.