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RALLY NEWS
NO.8 Clatteringshaws..Sunday 08.00
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 7 - SHAW HILL
1st (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall) 1.09.19.5
2nd (17) Neil Simpson/Mike Gibson (Lancer N) 1.10.23.6
3rd (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Vauxhall) 1.10.27.6
4th (11) Marko Ipatti/Teppo Leino (Lancer N) 1.10.32.5
5th (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf)1.11.40.8
6th (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe F2) 1.11.44.1
7th (19) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 1.12.15.6
8th (9) Jani Pirtinen/Tomi Tuominen (VW Golf) 1.12.35.8
9th (20) Dave Wood/Les Waterfall (Impreza N) 1.12.41.8
10th (23) Guy Anderson/Dave Taylor (Lancer N) 1.13.03.5
Neil Wearden was fastest over this morning's Shaw Hill stage,
his Astra a second up on Tapio Laukkanen. That moves Laukkanen
from an overnight 7th to 5th. Mike Brown stopped to change
a punctured wheel mid stage and that moves from an overnight
5th right outside the leaderboard. Wearden commented at stage
finish "Steady away, there were places I could maybe have
made up time but I was taking no chances." Second
car on the road Neil Simpson was one of several top contenders
to finish the stage with a puncture - in his case it went soft
3 miles from the end. His time was still good but that
just took the edge off it. Mark Higgins was also just ever so
slightly off the pace, he forgot to switch on his brake cooling
system. Ipatti had a good time even though he slowed slightly
when the oil warning light started to flash. Kytolehto had a
soft rear right tyre and dropped perhaps 10s. Mobil 1 British
Champion Tapio Laukkanen commented "I didn't really have
a good run, made a few mistakes". David Higgins was
the quickest Super 1600 contender, his Peugeot in 11th overall.
Overnight 45 cars were still running from the 53 original starters.
Class leaders included James Cook in class 1 from the similar
Skoda of Michael White. In Class N2 Steve Head was in front
of Nick Skelton, both in Protons. Class 3 was led by Charlie
Exton in his Honda, co driven by Suzanne Emiliani, with Ernie
Graham 2nd and italian visitor Marco Veroni 3rd - both in Peugeot
306s. Class N4 read Neil Simpson, Marko Ipatti & Mike
Brown. Class 5 consists solely of Ford Pumas and Ben Briant
leads from Simon Maugher, with Maugher having closed the gap
to just 8 seconds. David Higgins leads class 6 for the
super 1600 contenders, with Justin Dale 13s back, then a further
9 to Marko Ramanen in his Civic. Mats Andersson is 4th,
Niall McShea 5th and Charlie Jukes in the AcryliCom backed Proton
Compact. Class 7 for the big F2 machinery read Neil Wearden,
Mark Higgins, Jarmo Kytolehto. Steve Petch/John Richardson won
the Mintex 2000 section of the rally in their Escort Cosworth.
This 2nd day sees the Scottish Championship contenders join the
fray. Young Ian Barrett & Simon Ashton in the Delphi Nova
join in having retired from the International yesterday with
a blown head gasket. More news later..BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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