Photo: Roy Dempster (www.roydempster.com)
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Cronin Keeps Lead In British Championship
Corkman Keith Cronin fought hard this weekend on the Jim Clark International Rally, clinching 2nd place overall in the British Rally Championship section of the event.
Cronin, the winner of the first two BRC rounds, is now 2 points clear of Mark Higgins in the British championship standings after three rounds.
The Rally began on Friday night with 6 stages, half of which were run in the dark. However, it was not the dark that shook Cronin. Two miles into the 2nd stage, Keith got a puncture which forced him to hobble through the test, costing him nearly 2 minutes. Cronin was fastest on the next three, taking up to 20 seconds a stage from the BRC category leader Mark Higgins.
Saturday morning and the comeback continues as Keith is fastest on a further seven stages, closing the gap to a mere 2.6 seconds. But, while in final service, it starts to rain and Keith begins his charge over the last three stages on slick tyres.
In the attempt to catch Higgins, Cronin suffered a spin in the Mitsubishi Evo 9 on the second last stage of the rally which dropped him further back again. With fastest time over the last stage, Keith and his Limerick co-driver Greg Shinnors finished 2nd overall, of the BRC runners, behind Higgins. Cronin finished the event 2minutes 40seconds ahead of 3rd placed Adam Gould's Subaru N14. Euan Thorburn finished 4th in his Subaru N12 over three minutes behind Cronin.
Having set fastest times on 12 out of the 17 stages, Cronin has now proven his pedigree on tarmac, preparing him for the next round of the championship, The International Rally Isle of Man, which takes place on the 10th and 11th July.
Article supplied by Cronin Motorsport
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