RallyNews No12 Manx International Rally

MANX TAILS NO.12          Jurby-Service-Saturday 2.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 23 REGABY
1st (15) Mark Higgins/Craig Thorley (Corolla WRC) 2.40.52.9
2nd (16) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 2.45.34.3
3rd (14) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 2.46.11.6
4th (11) David Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Impreza N) 2.49.11.0
5th (17) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.50.58.8
6th (1) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot) 2.54.33.2
7th (20) Alistair Ginley/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 2.55.20.1
8th (21) Trevor Cathers/D.Wilson (Lancer N) 2.55.50.8
9th (31) Dickie Curran/Gary Lyons (Lancer N) 2.56.36.2
10th (23) Robert Watson/Sean Crellin (Impreza) 2.57.30.3
Just outside leaderboard - 11th Petch 12th Sansom 13th Woodcock 14th Cope 15th Leonard

Mark Higgins looks very safely in the lead of this Manx International Rally with just 1 stage to go - the classic Millennium right into Douglas, but behind Mark there are still sparks flying between Nesbitt and Milner. 4th placed David Higgins, comfortably leading gpN in the Barretts Subaru, hasn't relinquished all hope of a podium place just yet. When Jonny Milner left service after stage 21 his Corolla gearbox was giving all sorts of trouble and Jonny knew he only had 3rd and 4th gears. It appeared to be a simple proposition for Andrew Nesbitt to hold on to 2nd place. The Tarmac Champion however forgot to switch on his active differential system, and the Subaru slithered into an Orrisdale ditch.   The side of the car took a whack and the steering was knocked slightly awry. Andrew dropped almost 40s to Higgins in the stage but was still 10s faster than Milner. Through stage 23 Nesbitt was then 18s faster than Milner to push himself out of the danger zone of getting overtaken for 2nd.

Further back on the leaderboard it was really a question of hold station for most of the drivers. Ginley was a bit cautious over the Curraghs and Cathers took 10s off him, but young Alistair fought back on stage 23 Regaby to be 10s faster than the Ulsterman.

Alyn Spiers rolled his Swift in stage 22 but made it into service. Alyn was trying to claw back time on class leader Aisling Dooris, but obviously that is now not to be.

In the Trophy Rally Eugene Ferry continues to lead despite thumping the side of his Escort on a 3 right into hairpin left at the end of stage 21. Eugene had to handbrake the car into the hairpin and thumped the side of the Escort hard. Pat Bonar was 2nd in the Trophy but he crashed on the same stage to allow George Collister into runner up spot. Adrian Kermode continues to lead the Volkswagen Polo Challenge competitors, and that was despite an overshoot in stage 18 and being caught on wet weather tyres on the rapidly drying roads. Shaun Woffinden is leading the Ford Ka championship people from "W"ggy","the latter reporting an off song engine for the last couple of stages. Darren Snape is the leading Ford 1400 Puma driver and he told us that he was very nearly caught out with the big jump in Ballagyr and he is determined to be cautious to the finish. More news later..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON      (www.rallynews.net)