RALLY NEWS NO.6(A)      End of Ash Park..Sunday 08.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 - ASH PARK
1st (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe F2)1.08.44.4
2nd (11) Marko Ipatti/Kari Kajula (Lancer N) 1.09.04.9
3rd (15) Mike Brown/Aled Davies (Lancer N) 1.19.28.0
4th (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (V/hall Astra)1.09.40.1
5th (26) Dave Wood/Les Waterfall (Impreza N) 1.09.54.1
6th (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf)1.10.15.6
7th (8) Mats Andersson/Claire Mole (Satria) 1.10.21.8
8th (22) Nik Elsmore/Jayson Brown (Lancer N)1.10.37.6
9th (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 1.11.17.6
10th (30) Guy Anderson/Dave Taylor (Lancer N)1.11.53.2
STOP PRESS; 09.45: UNCONFIRMED REPORTS ARE REACHING US FROM SS9 THAT BOTH TAPIO LAUKKANEN & NEIL WEARDEN HAVE STOPPED IN THE STAGE WITH ENGINE PROBLEMS.

Tapio Laukkanen was equal fastest with Jonny Milner through the first of today's Pirelli International stages. Kytolehto was 6s slower and Neil Wearden was over 50s off the pace to drop from 2nd to 4th at a stroke.  Conditions once again, despite the early hour, are hot, dry and dusty. Tapio commented at stage finish "The car is fine, we'll stay with these suspension settings, the tyres are good".  The big question now is, just how far up the leaderboard the British Champion can go with just 4 stages, albeit long ones, remaining. Jonny Milner was just delighted with his equal fastest time, Jonny re-seeded from his overnight position of 35th to run in the top 10. In the Super 1600 division, Mats Andersson and Justin Dale had equal stage times, Justin a little disappointed not to have beaten the Swede, the Peugeot driver commenting "We was on it in there!" (in other words flat out). Just outside the top 10 we have Jock Armstrong in the Golf, 11th. Gavin Cox 12th, Paul Griffiths 13th, David Wright 14th.
Overnight class places in the international include - Steve Head in his Proton leading class N2. Jamie Cook (Skoda) leads class N1.  Charlie Exton & Suzanne Emiliani in their Honda lead class N3 from Simon Thomas.  Thomas won the class on the first round but an early puncture sees him 5 minutes behind the Exton Honda.  Class 6 is led by Mats Andersson from Justin Dale with David Wright 3rd in his new Corsa Kit Car, the Junior British Chamion really coming to grips with his homebuilt machine. Dutch driver Roger van Iersel leads class 5, the first of the Dutch Micras. 

In the City Challenge, Stephen Finlay in the Ford Focus WRC has a 1 minute 44second lead over Steve Petch in his Escort WRC.  Petch is the first Mintex 2000 contender.  Brian Lyall is 3rd overall, Glyn Jones 4th, Robert Woodside 5th and Jim Carty 6th.

Ryan Champion is the highest placed Peugeot Super 106 contender in 10th place with Mike Faulkner 2nd, Martin Sansom 3rd, Rory Galligan 4th - just a handful of seconds covering the top Peugeots.In the Lex-Army Land Rover race - Jim Clark & Simon Nock lead from Mark Simmons & Jace Webster with Anton Mitchell/Steve Partridge 3rd.  More news from Hexham service..BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON