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RALLY NEWS NO.9 Sweet Lamb..Sunday 09.00 UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 - SWEET LAMB 1st (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (V/hall)2.01.51.4 2nd (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall)2.03.03.0 3rd (11) Marko Ipatti/Kari Kajula (Lancer) 2.03.25.1 4th (18) Mike Brown/Aled Davies (Lancer) 2.04.38.5 5th (56) Stuart & Steve Egglestone (Lancer)2.05.02.6 6th (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (CoupeF2)2.05.32.5 7th (16) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer) 2.06.35.5 8th (22) Richard Davis/David Williams (Lancer)2.07.26.8 9th (21) Nik Elsmore/Jayson Brown (Lancer) 2.07.44.8 10th (27) Johann Kressner/Gunnar Barth (Lancer)2.07.46.4 11th (54) Julian Reynolds/R.Skinner(Celica)2.08.06.5 12th (8) Mats Andersson/Claire Mole (Satria) 2.09.28.0 An icy Hafren hairpin bend caused problems for the early runners. Particularly affected was Mark Perrott. The young Leominster man had his Lancer up to a brilliant overnight 2nd, but on the left and right hairpins the car slid away on the ice, and he hit the bank on the right, and went off on the next corner. The stricken Lancer served as a warning for the following drivers. Reportedly Niall McShea also went off the road in Hafren. Of the 58 cars that started this Vauxhall Rally of Wales on Saturday morning 44 made the restart this morning, and that of course was reduced by 2 - with McShea & Perrott retiring. Rally leader Mark Higgins suffered a rear wheel puncture to his Astra with quite a few miles of Hafren to run. Mark kept his head and only lost about 30s. He then went reasonably carefully in Sweet Lamb, avoiding the rougher bits of the stage. Neil Wearden was under pressure starting the day to reel in Mark Perrott, when he saw the Lancer off the road, he backed off, not knowing that Mark Higgins had a puncture. Unbeknown to Neil also, Marko Ipatti was on a charge. Having discovered a leaking turbopipe last night, the Finn was in determined mood this morning, and his Pirelli shod Lancer set fastest overall times through stages 7 and 8, Marko now looking a potential threat to the second placed Vauxhall. Other stories include...Mike Brown giving the spectators here at Sweet Lamb a ripple of excitment when he charged through the bowl, but messed up the hairpin, taking out the tape. Stuart Egglestone then overshot the same hairpin, the missing tape misleaing the Cumbrian driver. Happily Stuart is feeling a little bit better after being unwell at the start of the rally. Jarmo Kytolehto is still losing oil from his engine. Gavin Cox had a small overshoot in the bowl and stalled his Lancer. Cox tells us that he backed off the pace a little after Perrott's icy corner. Johann Kressner lost a little of his momentum this morning, possibly down to not getting a decent recce through Hafren and Sweet Lamb when his practice car burst its sump. Julian Reynolds had a problem at the water splash and then his Celica started to boil up. More news later..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON (with thanks to Andrew Haill & Steve Fellows)
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