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RALLY NEWS
NO.10 Newton Stewart..Sunday 12.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 GLENTROOL
1st (17) Neil Simpson/Mike Gibson (Lancer N) 1.39.54.8
2nd (11) Marko Ipatti/Teppo Leino (Lancer N) 1.40.17.1
3rd (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf)1.40.39.9
4th (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Vauxhall) 1.41.27.4
5th (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe F2) 1.41.44.8
6th (19) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 1.42.29.4
7th (9) Jani Pirttinen/Tomi Tuominen (VW Golf) 1.42.49.1
8th (20) Dave Wood/Les Waterfall (Impreza N) 1.43.17.4
9th (23) Guy Anderson/Dave Taylor (Lancer N) 1.43.27.5
10th (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall) 1.43.32.3
11th (6) David Higgins/Shaun O'Gorman (Peugeot) 1.43.41.6
12th (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 1.43.56.4
Neil Wearden was looking more and more secure in the lead of
this Scottish Rally until halfway through stage 10, Glentrool,
his Astra landed after a big jump and spluttered to a halt.
Agonizing minutes slipped by while Neil checked and double checked
wires to the ECU, the fuel pumps and everything else he could
think of. Eventually the Blackpool man and his co driver Trevor
Agnew pulled the dash cover back and checked the wiring looms,
locating a loose connection. One turn of the key and the
Astra was away again, but their time was 21mins56secs as compared
to the fastest time, set by Tapio Laukkanen, 16.56. Neil
Simpson was on 16.57 and Mark Higgins 16.58. Close stuff indeed.
Simpson now leading from Ipatti with Laukkanen into 3rd place
after being 7th overnight.
Simpson reported no big problem in that 18.5 mile Glentrool test
but the steering column clamp did come loose, allowing the wheel
to bang up and down, Neil said it felt it wasn't connected for
a moment, and he had to loosen his belts to move forward and
tighten the lever. Mark Higgins reports that he had new
brake pads fitted before the stage, it was a very short road
section up to the start of the stage and the pads weren't warmed
up or bedded in, and then after a heavy landing following a big
jump his Astra's steering tracking was knocked slightly out.
Marko Ipatti was disappointed in his stage time, 6s slower than
Simpson but then he remembered that on a 5th gear approach to
a narrow bridge his Lancer was very sideways. The former
British gpn Champion got his Lancer straight going over the bridge,
but the pendulum effect carried it sideways into a bridge costing
a few seconds. Mike Brown is still just outside the leaderboard
after being 5th overnight, Mike has no problems, but as his co
driver Aled said "The fire went out a little after the 3
minute stage 7 puncture". Jani Pirttinen was another
to have a big moment over the bridge in Glentrool, he got away
with it, but "lost a little bit of feeling".
There is a suggestion of a 1m40s road penalty for the Finnish
driver, but he doesn't know how, why or where. Dave Wood
has lost 5th gear and Mats Andersson in the Proton has lost a
bucket of time after going for miles with his wagon on 3 wheels.
In the Scottish national part of the rally Lyall leads by a handful
of seconds from Trevor Moore after the first 2 stages with Andrew
Wood well back following a first stage puncture. Acropolis -
Burns has retired(turbo). Sainz has moved ahead of Colin McRae
to lead. Kankkunen in 3rd is 8mins back, which makes one wonder
about Ford's tactics..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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