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RALLY
NEWS NO.5 New Brighton..Saturday..noon UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 1st (7) Martin Rowe/Chris Wood (Ford Puma) 14.16.0 2nd (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 14.20.4 3rd (14) Robert Woodside/Chris Patterson (Ford Puma) 14.24.5 4th (15) Marttin Sansom/Phil Wells (Peugeot) 14.34.7 5th (8) Patrick Magaud/Guylene Brun (Ford Puma) 14.37.4 6th (18) Simon Mauger/Scott Poxon (Ford Puma) 14.41.9 7th (1) Mats Andersson/Clare Mole (Proton) 14.42.9 8th (17) Paul Wedgbury/Neil Dashfield (Saxo) 14.46.7 9th (19) Max McMillen/Tim McQuaid (Saxo) 14.48.6 10th (2) Neil Collins/James Phillips (Proton) 14.51.5 Once again Martin Rowe was fastest, his stage 4 time just over a second up on his team mate Patrick Magaud with Robert Woodside just one tenth slower than the Frenchman. Justin Dale has been slightly frustrated over the last couple of stages, driving hard but the times just were not coming. Then Justin's co driver Andrew Bargery noticed that their top speed was a few miles per hour down from earlier. The Peugeot mechanics quickly checked everything out and discovered that the catalytic converter was damaged. This is now being changed so it will be interesting to see Justin's times through stage 5, to see if he can redress the balance on the flying Pumas. Mats Andersson was just over a second quicker than his Proton team mate Neil Collins through that 4th stage. Mats saying "We had a good run, closing the gap a little bit to the top cars". Rally leader Martin Rowe observed at service "I was a little bit disappointed in that stage 4, we fitted new tyres but were a fraction slower than stage 3. Overall though it is what I expected really. We're driving comfortably and tidily, there is not much more we can do". French driver Patrick Magaud said "Yes we are a little bit faster now, I found it difficult to learn the road. It is our first time at this type of stage. On the first stage of the rally a Skoda in front pulled a barrel out at the chicane and slowed us". Robert Woodside joked that at the delayed start to the stage his co driver Chris had pulled 2 Pirelli girls into the Puma to give the photographers a bit of action. They were laughing and joking at this and maybe it gave them extra impetus on the stage, where they were right on the pace. Robert said "I'm four wheel drifting the car now to get more braking power, we are also getting the feel for the junctions, generally trying a bit harder". Simon Maugher reported a better stage but a little too much brake bias at the back, and of course he had that spin in stage 3 which dented his progress a little. Paul Wedgbury had a bit of an overshoot and lost a few seconds. Max McKillen in the Saxo said he has felt really comfortable in the car but this type of event is very new to him, he is trying to work out a strategy, carry the speed through the corners, work out the lines. Rory Galligan continues to lead to the Peugeot Super 106 Cup with quite a few drivers biting at his heels, including Kris Meeke,David Nutt, Seamus Donnelly and Ryan Champion. David Henderson provisionally leads the Puma 1400s after SS4 from Guy Wilks,while David Bateson is ahead in the VW Polo Challenge from Niall Cowan. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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