Dunlop national rally championship

A change of springs on his Subaru after the early stages of the Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally on Sunday put Patrick Elliott on a winning course and on top of the Dunlop National Championship. The Cavan man and his season-long rival, Niall Maguire, had continued their battle on the seventh round of the championship, and co-driven as usual by Paul Goodman, Elliot finished 9.3s ahead of Maguire and Enda Sherry. The rally was in the balance from the start and entering the final stage, Maguire was just 0.5s ahead of Elliott. But the Monaghan man"s Impreza suffered a puncture a few miles from the end and Elliott took victory and a two-point lead in championship. Kevin Barrett/ Sean Mullally (Subaru WRC) were third. 'The gap was 9.8s at the most,' said Patrick, 'and the thing that changed the event the most was that we modified the handling set-up. We used stiffer springs which meant we were able to go quicker - the stages weren"t that bumpy and the car was too soft early on.' Patrick admitted he would have a problem as he lacked 'match fitness' following a six-week gap since the previous rally, and when Maguire opened a gap he realised he had to do something to stop him. He made a big effort on stage four and only gained 0.5s, but after the suspension change, he worked the gap down to a second. 'Then we stalled at a hairpin on SS6 and lost 4s but we took 3.9s back on SS7, so there were 7s between us going into the last one.' Both drivers were giving it their best: 'I"m really going hard, but so is Patrick - there"s very little in it,' said Maguire. 'We were lucky with the weather all day, but it had rained on the last stage and it was slippier,' said Patrick. 'We were going as good as we could, we had quite a few moments and there"s no points for putting the car in a ditch - Niall was probably pushing a bit too hard and he got the puncture on the back driver"s side.' Patrick said he was delighted with the result and admitted that if it hadn"t been for the puncture we don"t know who would have won the rally. He"s now looking forward to the Galway Summer Rally on August 31, when he 'should be match fit'. 'We just have to go for it. Niall has to win all three remaining rounds, I need to win one,' he said of the approach he intends to take. In the two-wheel drive category of the Stonethrowers, Trevor Mulligan"s Escort held an early advantage over the Corolla of Terence O"Shaughnessy and the Starlet of Maurice Moffett, though by the end of the day the situation was reversed and O"Shaughnessy was best 2WD in fifth, followed by Moffett; Mulligan was a late retirement. Top 10 finishers; 1. P. Elliott/P. Goodman (Subaru WRC) 1h. 02m. 53.4s. 2. N. Maguire/E. Sherry (Subaru WRC) 1h. 03m. 02.7s. 3. K. Barrett/S. Mullally (Subaru WRC) 1h. 04m. 45.4s. 4. PJ McGrath/B. Collins (Subaru WRC) 1h. 05m. 35.3s. 5. T. O"Shaughnessy/E. McGrath (Toyota Corolla) 1h. 06m. 26.4s. 6. M. Moffett/J. McKenna (Toyota Starlet) 1h. 06m. 31.2s. 7. A. MacHale/K. Duffy (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 06m. 48.4s. 8. A. Ring/A. Deasy (Mitsubishi) 1h. 07m. 12.1s. 9. R. Woods/M. Byrne (Ford Escort) 1h. 08m. 01.1s. 10. J. Maguire/P. Maguire (Escort Cosworth) 1h. 08m. 04.0s. Dunlop National Rally Championship (provisional positions after Round 7): 1. P. Elliott 132 points; 2. N. Maguire 130 points; 3. K. Barrett 75 points; 4. A. Ring 51 points.