Hurson wins Tour of Sperrins Rally
Former National Rally Champion, Peadar Hurson, driving a Subaru WRC, took a start to finish victory on the Tour of Sperrins Rally in Maghera today.
The Warrenpoint driver and his co-driver, Allan Harryman finished 11.4 seconds ahead of Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Subaru WRC) with Charlie Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Toyota Corolla WRC) finishing third.
Hurson led Donnelly by a fraction of a second after the opening stage with Devine in third.
He then stretched his lead to almost five seconds on the second test and midway though the six stage encounter, he led Devine by 11.3 seconds.
Devine and third placed Donnelly were just a fraction of a second apart while Connor McCloskey (Subaru) was fourth.
In the battle for the two-wheel drive category, Adrian Hetherington led Wesley Patterson by just 1.4 seconds.
Hurson went on to take victory and while Donnelly moved into second on the penultimate stage, his rival, Devine reclaimed the runner-up spot on the final stage, he also took maximum points in the Pacenotes Northern Ireland Rally Championship.
McCloskey was fourth followed by David Bogie (Toyota Corolla WRC) and Cathal Rogers (Mitsubishi), who won Group N.
Patterson took the two-wheel drive award – he finished some seven seconds ahead of Hetherington.
Non-starters included Derek McGarrity, Glenn Allen and Eugene Donnelly.
1. P. Hurson/A. Harryman (Subaru WRC) 37m. 38.1s.
2. S. Devine/D. Duffin (Subaru WRC) 37m. 49.5s.
3. C. Donnelly/P. Toner (Toyota Corolla WRC) 37m. 51.9s.
4. C. McCloskey/F. Regan (Subaru WRC) 37m. 52.7s.
5. D. Bogie/K. Rae (Toyota Corolla WRC) 38m. 29.1s.
6. C. Rogers/E. Rogers (Mitsubishi) 40m. 44.5s.
7. W. Paterson/N. Fraser (Escort) 40m. 48.3s.
