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RALLY
NEWS NO.2
End of stage 1 Clocaenog/Sat. 7.15pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Clocaenog Mid
1st (9) Marcus Dodd/John Bennie (Impreza WRC) 10.54.2
2nd (12) Johann Kressner/Leif Wigert (Subaru) 10.56.7
3rd (29) Charlie Jukes/David Williams (Subaru) 10.57.9
4th (10) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC)
10.59.8
5th (17) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla WRC) 11.03.2
6th (14) Tapio Laukkanen/Ilka Riipinen (Impreza N) 11.04.8
7th (11) David Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Impreza N) 11.06.7
8th (16) Katsuhiko Taguchi/Derek Ringer (Lancer) 11.08.6
9th (23) Nik Elsmore/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 11.13.1
10th (15) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Accent WRC) 11.15.0
SUPER 1600 - Justin Dale (Peugeot) 11.25.1: Gwyndaf Evans
(MG) 11.26.1: Kris Meeke (Ford Puma) 11.44.8: David
Henderson (Puma) 12.00.9:
Up here at a rather windswept Clocaneog stage there was a
tremendous air of expectation as this Rally of Wales rolled
into action. The MG of Gwyndaf Evans was first
through the stage, the crackle of the engine reverberating
through the trees, even though the car was a long way away.
Gwyndaf looked impressive, but the Machynlleth man was far
from happy, saying "Trouble with the gearbox, smoking
badly and I think losing drive to one wheel."
Next up was Justin Dale, the Peugeot man delighted to have
set fastest time, but still telling us "It felt good
but I thought maybe down on power, perhaps it was because
it was so much uphill".
Other stories from the Super 1600 drivers included…Guy
Wilks "The balance of the car wasn't good, too
sideways, scrubbing off speed, and I had one straight on at
a junction". Rory Galligan, off the pace on
12.17 said "Half way through I spun into a ditch and
the spectators didn't seem to want to get their shoes dirty
to get us out". Kris Meeke was in virtual tears
of frustration as he waggled a broken gear stick "It
broke 3 junctions in, we almost had to stop a couple of
times to select a gear"….fair play to the young man
from the Bush crossroads…fastest Puma. David Hendersons
told us "Very slippy and the coolant temperature went
away up on the twisty bits". Martin Sansom said
" very slippy and we were fiddling with the brake
balance for most of the stage".
Marcus Dodd was the first of the World Rally Cars and said
"We had a steady run, just getting into it after the
accident". Marcus was of course fastest. The
boot lid was missing from his Subaru. He reckons it
wasn't screwed on right after the accident on the Pirelli
Rally. Jonny Milner stopped at the end of the stage and
started to work at his Corolla, it was reduced to 2 wheel
drive and had brake troubles, Jonny reckoning it all hinged
around a clutch problem. Austin McHale cracked his
Corolla's windscreen on a big jump in the stage, felt as
well that the jump had damaged his Toyota's front struts,
and to add insult to injury there was a flat rear tyre.
Johann Kressner in the black Subaru said he found it
slippery and took it easy. Japanese driver Taguchi reported
a 5th gear spin but with no damage. In Group N both Tapio
and David Higgins felt they didn't have a good run, but
still had good times. More news later..BRIAN & LIZ
PATTERSON
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