RALLY NEWS NO.6      Finish..Monday 5pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 - Last stage
1st (2) Robin Philips/Mike Gibson (Celica) 1.09.09
2nd (5) James Gillen/PJ Gillespie (Escort Cos) 1.09.14
3rd (12) Kieran Shaw/Crawford Henderson (Escort Cos)1.10.24
4th (4) Trevor Moore/Richard Curry (Escort Cos) 1.10.30
5th (6) Gary White/Barry Taggart (Escort Cos) 1.10.34
6th (25) Philip Shaw/Nigel Frazer (Escort) 1.10.46
7th (16) George Robinson/Francis Regan (Escort Cos)1.11.40
8th (19) Glenn Allen/Adrian Johnston (Escort) 1.11.43
9th (26) Jim Crozier/Ian Porter (Persona)N 1.11.43
10th (40) Raymond Mason/Stephen Dowds (Subaru N) 1.12.26
11th (10) Owen Lamont/Philip McCrea (Impreza) 1.12.36
12th (9) Richard Hall/Alan Graham (Escort Cos) 1.13.18

There was a nail biting finish to this Easter Stages Rally with Robin Philips wresting the lead from James Gillen with a few stages to go. Through stage 8, Sturgeon Bridge, Robin really got the hammer down in the Toyota to score a time of 8.55 to Gillen's 9.03. Then on the final test, Sweathouse, Philips could afford to relax just a little and let Gillen nibble a few seconds back.  The margin between the two at the end was just 5 seconds, a tight finish indeed after a dramatic day's rallying. Not least of those dramas was Denis Biggerstaff, the current Woodland Furniture NI Champion, having an accident on stage 1 and then a huge delay in stage 2 when a brake disc broke up.  Denis kept going through the remainder of the stages, and indeed set competitive times, but with no chance of championship points today.  Instead it is Philips who takes a further step forward to build up a clear lead in the Woodland Furniture standings.  Comber man Philips commented when he got out of his Chambers Homes backed Toyota "It was a really tough day's rallying, so slippy during the morning stages, I'm very relieved to have won and brought the car home in one piece". 

Dramas at the end included - Trevor Moore had a spin in his Escort Cosworth just at the finish line of the final stage. Trevor dropped 1 place to Kieran Shaw.  After early turbo problems Shaw set some superb times to move right up the leaderboard.  Fintan McGrady went off the road on the final stage, as did Douglas Richardson. Insurance Consultant McGrady got the car out of the stage without losing too much time, Richardson got his Escort stuck. Jim Crozier has won the gpN category in his Persona despite some earlier dramas. Raymond Mason in his Subaru comes into 2nd gpN and Raymond Johnston, also in a gpN Impreza, slipped to 3rd in the category following his stage 7 puncture. James Cassidy co driven by Damien Duffin finished just off the leaderboard in 14th and has won the class 4 for 1600 modifieds. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON