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RALLY NEWS
NO.10 Service/Craigswalls/Saturday 8pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 14 - SWINTON
1st (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (V/hall Astra)1.11.12.8
2nd (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf) 1.11.58.0
3rd (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe) 1.12.32.2
4th (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 1.13.35.2
5th (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (V/hall Astra)1.13.52.8
6th (17) Neil Simpson/Mike Gibson (Lancer N) 1.14.22.2
7th (6) David Higgins/Shaun O'Gorman (Peugeot)1.14.24.3
8th (16) Niall McShea/Michael Orr (Saxo) 1.15.26.7
9th (15) Martin Rowe/Chris Wood (Ford Puma) 1.15.32.8
10th (24) Guy Anderson/Dave Taylor (Lancer N) 1.15.48.2
"The pressure is all on Mark" joked Tapio Laukkanen
as he arrived in here to service after setting 2nd fastest time
through stage 14, Swinton, and 2nd fastest time on stage 13,
Eccles. Only Neil Wearden is going faster than the flying
Volkswagen of Tapio, while Mark Higgins is sitting at his own
pace at the front. When Higgins clambered from his Astra
he commented "I'm trying to be sensible, going the safe
side of hard and trying to keep a cushion, we've too much to
lose". Jarmo Kytolehto was 2nd starting this evening's
leg, but was quickly overhauled by Tapio, Jarmo especially losing
a few seconds through stage 13, telling us "The alarm light
for the oil level came on and we could see smoke behind, but
now the car feels OK". Apart from joking about the pressure
on Mark, Tapio said "We hit a duck in the stage, but otherwise
there is no problem, but of course we do keep the pressure on".
Neil Wearden said "Me and the brakes have come to an agreement"
- that was in reference to problems earlier when sometimes the
fronts locked and sometimes the back.
In the Super 1600 category Justin Dale continues to set the pace...6s
faster than his Peugeot team mate David Higgins through Eccles
and over 7s faster through Swinton, where David felt his 106's
tyres going off slightly. Martin Rowe had a really good time
through Swinton. Martin saying "The way of the suspension
of the Puma is working is very impressive, I could have gone
5 miles an hour harder over the bumps and jumps. The car is absorbing
it no problem". Niall McShea is driving just as hard
as he can go in the Saxo and tells us "When the temperature
gets over 80 degrees I think the engine slackens off. It is a
better engine than we had on the Scottish, but we have to keep
the temperature down. I can't get any more out of it, but its
great crack!" Niall is in fact the talk of many of
the spectators - just one of them, the Reverend Andrew Lees (a
real enthusiast), telling us "McShea definitely gets 11
out of 10 for style!" Not so happy is group N driver Mike
Brown - Mike's father who is also called Mike is celebrating
his 60th birthday today, but there is not much partying at the
moment as Mike, lying 11th starting leg 2, got a puncture in
stage 14. He stopped to change the wheel but the car fell off
the jack, 2 marshals and co driver Aled tried to lift the car
but it was too heavy. They drove down the road and into a ditch
to try to get the car to keel over. But still had a real struggle,
and all in all lost a massive 8 minutes. Nik Elsmore went off
in Eccles and got stuck between 2 gatesposts, damaged the intercooler
and had to do the next stage at 30mph losing a mountain of time.
BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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