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RALLY NEWS NO.10 New Brighton...Saturday
5.30 UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 - FINAL STAGE 1st (7) Martin Rowe/Chris Wood (Ford Puma) 39.22.3 2nd (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 39.37.2 3rd (8) Patrick Magaud/Guylene Brun (Ford Puma) 40.00.3 4th (15) Martin Sansom/Phil Wells (Peugeot) 40.09.2 5th (18) Simon Mauger/Scott Poxon (Ford Puma) 40.10.5 6th (1) Mats Andersson/Claire Mole (Proton) 40.52.5 7th (17) Paul Wedgbury/Neil Dashfield (Saxo) 41.02.9 8th (2) Neil Collins/James Phillips (Proton) 41.09.0 9th (19) Max McMillen/Tim McQuaid (Saxo) 41.13.5 10th (29) Rory Galligan/David Jones (Peugeot) 42.18.6 No dramas for Martin Rowe over the last stage, Martin and Chris set 2nd fastest time to win this Rapid Fit Rally of Wirral by almost 15s from the Peugeot of Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery. It is a red letter day for Rowe, not just in winning the rally, but also leading the Formula Rally Championship after this opening counter. Martin commented at the finish "I'm very chuffed, it was a good fun day out, but serious rallying as well. It's good to be back competing. The car ran well, the Pirelli tyres were good and apart from the first stage and the last one, we set fastest times all through." Fastest on that last stage was Justin Dale, as he had been on the first, and the Peugeot driver said at the end "It was good, a little bit more power might have made the difference, that last stage was a bit twistier and it suited us well". Patrick Magaud scored a fine 3rd place with no real problems. Martin Sansom came into 4th at the end when Simon Maugher lost time on the final stage when his Puma hit a kerb. At least Simon was able to keep going - Robert Woodside's example got marooned out on the stage when a wheel was knocked off. Robert was 6th overall at the time and hoping to move up a place or two on the final test. Mats Andersson was happy enough with his 6th place, the Proton seemingly not having the legs for the tarmac stages. Mats' team mate Neil Collins had to be pushed up the service lane when his Satria engine cried enough just crossing the finish line. Max McMillen was happy to take 9th place after his Saxo broke a driveshaft in stage 8 and dropped the Dubliner quite a few places. Looking back slightly, we said about Kris Meeke's gearbox - we didn't get that quite right - it was the gear linkage that broke just when he was putting it into 2nd gear and nothing to do with missing a gear. Rory Galligan has won the Peugeot Super 106 Cup and the œ1500 that goes along with it. Ryan Champion was 2nd in the Super Cup, Paul Alexander 3rd. David Henderson was the highest placed Ford Puma 1400 contender from Guy Wilks. David Bateson has won the VW Polos and Ian Forgan the Ford Ka's. Major retirements during the day included - Neil Simpson whose new VW Polo Kit Car damaged the engine. Kris Meeke with gear selectors. Donegal man Stuart Darcy retired. Christer Steen & Martin Meadows retired...there were a few more..but on the whole veryone had a good day's motorsport. Well done to Richard Pearl and all his hardworking team. Well done also to the Formula Rally team for getting the championship off the ground.. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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