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RALLY NEWS NO.9 New Brighton..Saturday 3.45 UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 1st (7) Martin Rowe/Chris Wood (Ford Puma) 31.05.0 2nd (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 31.20.6 3rd (18) Simon Mauger/Scott Poxon (Ford Puma) 31.39.9 4th (8) Patrick Magaud/Guylene Brun (Ford Puma) 31.40.3 5th (15) Marttin Sansom/Phil Wells (Peugeot) 31.46.2 6th (14) Robert Woodside/Chris Patterson (Ford Puma) 31.47.2 7th (19) Max McMillen/Tim McQuaid (Saxo) 32.16.5 8th (1) Mats Andersson/Clare Mole (Proton) 32.19.6 9th (17) Paul Wedgbury/Neil Dashfield (Saxo) 32.26.6 10th (2) Neil Collins/James Phillips (Proton) 32.27.7 Despite some clutch problems Martin Rowe was fastest through stage 8 with Simon Maugher 2nd fastest, less than 1s slower than Rowe..Patrick Magaud 3rd fastest. Martin Sansom 4th fastest and Robert Woodside 5th fastest, just ahead of Justin Dale. Rowe commented after he rushed into service to get the Boreham men to check the clutch "We took the first lap steady in that stage then on the 2nd lap we pushed hard, the car feels really good. The clutch did worry me, but we have a lot of service time and can replace the unit if necessary. The set up on the car has been good from the start, I haven't really changed anything, but through the long fast corners the car is not sliding, there is a slight change from understeer to oversteer, I can play with the throttle and keep it on track. It's good to be back in competition. Although I do gravel notes on the world championship for Arai, it is not the same as real competition". Justin Dale in the Peugeot tells us that he is making little changes to the suspension to try to improve things, but thinks his big problem is not having enough power out of the corners. Simon Maugher continues to set very impressive times, although his rapid improvement up to 3rd will be hard to sustain as Justin Dale looks to be beyond his reach with just 2 stages remaining. Robert Woodside is disappointed to be down in 6th place, the Ulsterman drove hard through stage 8 but didn't manage to improve his position. Robert feels the car isn't working just as well as it was earlier today. Max McKillen managed to get ahead of Mats Andersson on that stage 8. Neil Collins was worried about his engine after stage 7, team manager Harry Hockly reckons that the problem is down to a cam shaft sensor and they should be able to sort it out. Paul Wedgebury was in trouble through that stage 8, his Saxo misfiring badly with some sort of fuel starvation trouble. In the Peugeot Super 106 Cup ..Kris Meeke continued to impress through stage 7 and was edging away from Rory Galligan with Ryan Champion up into 3rd, Dave Nutt 4th. News from SS8 is however that young Kris' Super 106 car has ground to a halt after he downchanged 2 gears at once, and the box has blown. David Henderson continues to lead the Ford Puma 1400s from Guy Wilks. Ian Forgan is now leading the Ford Kas from Jack Ingleby. While David Bateson leads the VW Polos from Clive Wheeler, Nial Conway and London based Greek George Philippedes, who is a comparative newcomer but has just set two fastest Polo times. Looking outside the Wirral at an equally hot and busy Bishopscourt Rally this afternoon - Maurice Gass in his Subaru WRC leads from Kieran Shaw in the ex works Escort WRC with Owen Lamont 3rd (Subaru), David Greer 4th. More to follow.. BRIAN AND LIZ
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