Boland wins two on the bounce as Meeke stars on Rally of The Lakes 2008

Eamonn Boland won the rally (his second in a row after the Circuit and third in his career) after two of his pursuers crashed out. Boland was quickest up the gap on SS1 but then Tim McNulty pulled into the lead until he crashed heavily on Cods Head after establishing an 18 second lead. Boland then re-took the lead, but was being chased hard by Gareth MacHale, to leave a 10 second overnight lead. A repeat battle of the Circuit looked likely until Gareth had a crash into a bridge on Carragh Lake. Boland could take it easy as had a gap of over two minutes to Derek McGarrity and in the end won by three.

The undoubted star was Kris Meeke in the S1600 Clio who recovered from 21st place to fifth o/a after a puncture and without it could have finished second. Dessie Keenan scored a fantastic 3rd o/a on his first ITC event in a WRCar. Kevin Kelleher won Group N after Colm Murphy crashed out.

Top Ten Results

1st (2) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 2.14.14.9
2nd (4) Derek McGarrity/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 2.17.14.9
3rd (35) Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 2.17.54.2
4th (7) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 2.19.38.8
5th (13) Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Clio) 2.21.28.4
6th (9) Patrick Elliott/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 2.21.33.5
7th (11) PJ McGrath/Billy Collins (Impreza WRC) 2.23.11.6
8th (15) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 2.24.52.7
9th (22) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 2.25.31.1
10th (29) John McGlaughlin/Crawford Henderson (Lancer N) 2.28.48.9

Videos of the event

On board Kris Meeke in the Renault Clio S1600 on Molls Gap

Onboard up the Gap

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

• Kris Meeke delighted with his performance on the 2008 edition of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland
• Meeke to Barbados Rally as Higgins unsure if doing Rally of the Lakes
• Stuart Jones is concentrating on the British Rally Championship for the rest of the year in the MG super 2000