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RALLY NEWS NO.8 New Brighton..Saturday 3pm UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 7 1st (7) Martin Rowe/Chris Wood (Ford Puma) 26.23.5 2nd (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 26.34.6 3rd (8) Patrick Magaud/Guylene Brun (Ford Puma) 26.56.9 4th (18) Simon Mauger/Scott Poxon (Ford Puma) 26.57.5 5th (15) Marttin Sansom/Phil Wells (Peugeot) 27.01.7 6th (14) Robert Woodside/Chris Patterson (Ford Puma) 27.01.9 7th (1) Mats Andersson/Clare Mole (Proton) 27.23.0 8th (17) Paul Wedgbury/Neil Dashfield (Saxo) 27.25.0 9th (19) Max McMillen/Tim McQuaid (Saxo) 27.25.5 10th (2) Neil Collins/James Phillips (Proton) 27.31.9 Through stage 7 there was a bit of a shuffle to the leaderboard with Robert Woodside dropping from 3rd place when his Puma broke a driveshaft. Simon Maugher set 2nd fastest time behind Rowe to jump up to 4th place. Martin Rowe was again fastest on 4.44.2, then it was Maugher on 4.44.5 with Patrick Magaud 3rd fastest on 4.47.0 and Justin Dale just one tenth of a second further back. Former British Champion Martin Rowe commented at stage finish "I felt a bit scrappy, perhaps the tyres were starting to melt in thisheat". Justin Dale felt he had a good run and was slightly disappointed at his time. While Mats Andersson told us that he touched a kerb although it cost virtually no time. Mats team mate Neil Collins had a good time but was a bit crestfallen at stage finish reckoning that perhaps the car was lapsing on to 3 cylinders, which was not a good sign. Robert Woodside's broken driveshaft problem started not far into the stage, the Ulsterman kept the hammer down the whole way, and had several huge slides, one of which almost saw the Ford piling into a lamp post sideways! Just where Simon Maugher got that superb time on that stage 7 is quite remarkable...he maintains he did nothing special to the car, he just took a big look at his own self belief and went for it. It was certainly quite a performance from the reigning Puma 1400 Champion and former Ka champion. In the Peugeot Super 106 Cup standings, after stage 6 Kris Meeke had indeed got ahead of Rory Galligan and into 11th place overall. Meeke is seeded well back down the field so of course we have to wait for his times, but when Galligan emerged from stage 7, he had a good time certainly but was resigned to the fact that Meeke is faster on the day, with a better car set up. Rory also reckons that his tyres are "shot", but he is not prepared to invest in new ones for the last few stages. Ryan Champion is up to 3rd in the Peugeot Super 106 Cup with David Nutt and Chris Moore close behind and little to chose between them timewise. Still after stage 6, David Henderson has a fair lead in the Ford Puma 1400s from Guy Wilks with Mark Wheeler 3rd and Shaun Woffinden 4th. In the VW Polo Challenge - David Bateson leads from Clive Wheeler with Nial Cowan 3rd. More news later..BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON
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