RALLY NEWS NO.1 Boscombe/Saturday 09.00

1^st Ken McKinstry/Noel Orr (Subaru) 1.28.7

2^nd Steve Fleck/George Thaw (Subaru) 1.28.9

3^rd Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Subaru) 1.29.9

4^th Mark Perrott/Garry Mansell (Escort WRC) 1.30.1

5^th Steve Hill/Andrew Bargery (Lancer) 1.31.2

6^th Steve Hendy/Mark Milton (Escort Cos) 1.31.4

7^th Peter Stephenson/Stephen McAuley (Subaru) 1.31.9

8^th Warren Philliskirk/Eurig Evans (6R4) 1.32.9

9^th Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley (Lancer) 1.33.0

10^th Andrew Hadden/Mark Andrews (Lancer) 1.33.6

The shock news at the early morning start of this Sunseeker Rallye is that Marcus Dodd/John Bennie, the No.1 seeds, did not start. The news started to break last night that there was an insurance difficulty on their expensive Subaru. Marcus rightly felt that unless everything was properly in place he should not do the rally. This leaves Ulsterman Kenny McKinstry first on the road, the Banbridge man commenting before the start of the rally…"It’s disappointing, for Marcus, for the rally fans and for us. I was really looking forward to having a race with Marcus again".

At the end of the first stage McKinstry had shrugged off that disappointment and was in buoyant mood, saying "It’s my first time in anger with this particular car, it feels good, brilliant to be out competing again". Kenny was fastest on that short promenade test, where despite the bitterly cold wind, one brave soul was in the middle of the churning surf with his board, oblivious to the 300hp rally cars whizzing down the prom! Second on the road David Mann lost some time when he overshot a chicane and had to reverse. Roger Duckworth was well on the pace, but echoed the feeling of many of the top drivers when he said "Just concentrating on making a steady start, getting into the groove, playing myself in".

Further "non starter" drams surrounded Gary Midwinter – his Escort WRC giving engine ECU troubles on the way to the start ramp, and he decided to withdraw. Other non starters included – John Brown, Guy Robinson, Geoff Smith and John Morgan, while Rob Morgan is slotted in to co driver for Andy Burton in the Cosworth engined Peugeot.

In the hotly contest gpN category of the rally, Andrew Hadden was fastest of the early runners, while Jeremy Easson was just over a second slower on 1.34.8. Some further times from that first stage include David Mann on 1.35.7: Andy Burton 1.37.6: Graham Middleton was on 1.34.2 in his Corolla WRC.

More news after stage 3….BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON

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