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RALLY
NEWS NO.5
Hexham Service/Saturday 12.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6
1st (2) David Higgins/Chris Wood (Accent WRC) 55.25.7
2nd (4) Alistair Ginley/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 56.11.7
3rd (6) Paul Bird/Andrew Bargery (Focus WRC) 57.54.9
4th (8) Steve Perez/Daniel Barritt (Focus WRC) 58.26.0
5th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 59.17.0
6th (26) Sebastian Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 59.25.4
7th (9) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 59.29.0
8th (10) Neil Buckley/Neil Ewing (Lancer N) 1.00.29.8
9th (12) Dorian Rees/Patrick Walsh (Impreza N) 1.00.35.4
10th (16) Alessandro Broccoli/Giovanni Senese (Fiat Punto) 1.00.41.0
Following Jonny Milner's stage 4 accident David Higgins is very much
out on his own, although the Hyundai driver can't afford to relax
too much as Alistair Ginley was fastest through stages 5 and 6.
Higgins commented here at service. "The roads are so fast, the
slow corners feel very slow, maybe you think you were slow, but it
would be easy to get caught out. This is a long hard rally. You need
to keep your nose clean. I have perhaps backed off a little, but you
have to be careful, the car doesn't work as well then".
Alistair Ginley reported "Anything can happen here still, we
were fastest on the last 2 stages so we'll keep pushing on, but
really this is a shake down for me for Cyprus. This is a nice car,
well balanced, I'm happy with the set and there's plenty of power,
but the leash is on me a bit".
Matthew Wilson was 3rd after stage 4, but now Paul Bird has moved
into the slot, Paul saying. "The car's awesome, I've just kept
the last 2 stages as clean as a whistle, 80 per cent really, I'm not
going to catch Alistair". Vodka Kick man Steve Perez
reported a small problem in stage 5, there was a terrible noise, and
he wasn't sure whether it was a puncture or brakes, then it all came
right. But the hesitation allowed Paul Bird to open up a gap and
Barry Johnson to close in from behind. Matthew Wilson
did a good job to get his Focus WRC into service in 7th place,
Matthew having to work very hard to combat the lack of power
steering. Hopefully the M-Sport engineers can change the pump
now, but a lot will depend on how much debris has gone into the
steering rack.
Sebastian Ling pulled out all the stops to maintain his Group N lead
on stage 6. Neil Buckley had been chipping away at his
advantage but Sebastian was 10s faster through that sixth stage,
Buckley saying. "I've no answer to that, perhaps I didn't drive
so well or perhaps the tighter stage didn't suit the car so
well". Dorian Rees holds on to 3rd group N, Rob Swann
4th. Simon Redhead is 5th despite driving with a most peculiar
brake set up. A front caliper broke and he is driving with
carbon metallic pads on one side and ordinary ones on the other,
which means that every time he brakes hard the car wants to go
sideways. Jenni-Lee Hermansson is next up in gpN, the Swedish lady
calling for her 22 Motorsport team to change the brake discs and
pads at the rear here at service. Loran Smith was closing in
on Jenni-Lee, but Loran has had a problem in stage 5 and has dropped
5 minutes, reason as yet unknown.
In the Super 1600 category, Broccoli holds the advantage over Barry
Clark, with Simon Hughes up to 3rd. Finnish driver Teiskonen 4th and
Gareth Jones 5th. Broccoli's Punto broke the exhaust and the sump
guard in stage 5, the Italian now driving very much with winning the
category in mind, and doesn't want any last minute errors. Teiskonen
is still lamenting losing the time behind Jonny Milner when Jonny
was emerging from his stage 5 accident. Jonny is now down in 41st
place, and a decision will be taken here at service whether to
continue or not. Nicky Beech admits that perhaps the accident
was down to him, there was confusion over which crest they were on,
and maybe he called the square corner late. The team reckons
that if possible Jonny should keep going to get some match practice
in the new car, but the clutch was damaged in the scuffle to get out
of the ditch. Eventually the spectators rolled the car over on to
the stage, for which the crew is very grateful. Nicky only
sorry that he couldn't beep the horn as he was pulling away, the
horn got damaged in the accident.
Leading Fiat Stilo Cup contender Joan Roca is now up to 20th
overall, with Bonniewell in 2nd in 21st, 12s back. Chris
Davies 3rd a further 15s in arrears. More news later. BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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