Motorsport: McHale wins Greenmount rally sprint

The RT Greenmount Rallysprint at the new state of the art Limerick Racecourse went down to the wire.

Level entering the fourth and final stage, Austin Brian/Brian Murphy (Toyota Corolla) edged out the Subaru Impreza of Kenny McKinstry/Declan Tumulty by just six seconds.

In spite of a tough challenge from Ollie O’Donovan/David Moynihan, Tipperary’s Frank Meagher/Anthony Nestor secured third.

McHale went into an early four-second advantage over McKinstry but the pair were level at the conclusion of the second run.

The third run saw no change to the top as both drivers recorded exactly the same time around the 3.1-mile course.

Meagher was under pressure from O’Donovan, who recovered from two mistakes on the first run.

O’Donovan’s Legacy has closed to within four seconds.

The final run saw McHale take the title and the Bertie Fisher Perpetual Memorial Award.

The Dubliner won by six seconds, McKinstry punctured on the final half mile, however, McHale had experienced a similar problem on the third run.

Behind the top four, Niall Maguire capitalised on Michael Barrable's ailing Toyota to claim fifth, Barrable, despite a broken drive shaft, was sixth in a top ten that was completed by Kevin Barrett, Barry Coleman, Rory O’Connor and James Foley.

1. A. McHale/B. Murphy (Toyota Corolla) 13M. 47S.

2. K. McKinstry/D. Tumulty (Subaru Impreza) 13M. 53S.

3. F. Meagher/A. Nestor (Ford Focus) 14M. 04S.

4. O. O'Donovan/D. Moynihan (Subaru legacy) 14M. 12S.

5. N. Maguire/P. McLoughlin (Subaru impreza0 14M. 37S.

6. M. Barrable/D. O'Gorman (Toyota Celica) 14M. 41S.

7. K. Barrett/E. McCarthy (Subaru Impreza) 14M. 53S.

8. B. Coleman/A. Russell (Subaru impreza0 14M. 56S.

9. R. O'Connor/F. Kenny (Escort WRC) 15M. 14S.

10. J. Foley/P. Clavin (Honda Civic) 15M., 18S.