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RALLY
NEWS NO.7
Hexham/Saturday 6.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 Chirdonhead
1st (2) David Higgins/Chris Wood (Accent WRC) 1.34.14.2
2nd (4) Alistair Ginley/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.36.22.9
3rd (6) Paul Bird/Andrew Bargery (Focus WRC) 1.37.58.8
4th (8) Steve Perez/Daniel Barritt (Focus WRC) 1.39.26.7
5th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 1.39.44.8
6th (9) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 1.39.47.2
7th (26) Sebastian Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 1.40.46.1
8th (12) Dorian Rees/Patrick Walsh (Impreza N) 1.41.39.6
9th (10) Neil Buckley/Neil Ewing (Lancer N) 1.41.51.6
10th (19) Aki Teiskonen/Miika Teiskonen (Saxo) 1.42.24.6
David Higgins, co driven by Chris Wood, steered his Hyundai into
this final service the very clear winners of this Pirelli
International Rally. It was a stunning victory by USA Rally
Champion Higgins. He came to the rally not really committed to
the Pirelli British Championship, but registered for points at the
last minute, and this win will spur him on to contest the full
series. Alistair Ginley drove well to take 2nd place in his Subaru.
Paul Bird drove a percentage rally at times to take 3rd in his Focus
WRC. Higgins commented "It was a good rally, but a
difficult day for me. When Jonny Milner retired I just had to keep
my nose clean, and it is difficult sometimes as the car is only
designed for flat out driving. We tried some different Pirelli tyres
as a testing exercise towards the end, and they fantastic."
David then joked "We'll have to rob a bank now to get some
funds for the next round!" Following his stage 4 accident
British Champion Milner kept his Subaru going until service after
stage 8, when the car needed a new clutch fitted. The engineers had
a go at changing the clutch, but Jonny decided to pull out. Second
placed Alistair Ginley, on his first run in his new Subaru, was
pleased with his performance, and of course always had it in the
bank of his mind that the car has to be on the ferry to Cyprus, to
the World Championship rally, later this week. Third placed
Paul Bird, the motorbike man very much a breath of fresh air in
rallying, said he cruised through the last stage, fairly confident
that he couldn't be caught by Steve Perez behind. When asked about
continuing in the Pirelli series, Paul replied "We'll see, I
will have to think about the bikes first".
Steve Perez in the Vodka Kick Focus WRC also took it fairly steady
on the last stage, reasonably happy that he couldn't be caught by
Barry Johnson. In fact Barry went pretty hard, and although he
didn't catch Perez he did get ahead of young Matthew Wilson. Johnson
joked at the end "There's life in the old dog yet".
Matthew Wilson went well on the penultimate stage, but on the final
stage went into a few tight corners in too high a gear, losing time
scrabbling around the outside of the bends. It was still a fantastic
performance by the 17 year old who has it all in front of him.
In Group N 23 year old Welshman Sebastian Ling surprised everyone
with his performance to win the category overall on his first real
trip in this 4 wheel drive Lancer. Sebastian struggled somewhat over
the last few stages, his Lancer gearbox just about on its last legs,
3rd & 4th gears unusable. Dorian Rees was over 50s behind Ling
at the finish. Dorian having the distinction of scoring maximum
points on this opening round of the Prodrive Subaru Cup.
Group N British Champion Neil Buckley had to be content with 3rd in
the category, his Lancer seemingly slightly down on power.
Interestingly, Ryan Champion scored 7 fastest group N times out of
10 in his Lancer, the car obviously very battered after his first
stage accident which cost so much time. Jenni-Lee Hermansson
brought her 22 Motorsport prepared Subaru into 17th spot to claim
the title of highest placed Lady driver. Lorna Smith finished
just 28s behind the Swedish lady.
There was an upset in the 1600 category when Broccoli lost the lead
with a penultimate stage puncture, to let Finnish driver Aki
Teiskonen take the Super 1600 victory in his Saxo. A surprised
and delighted Barry Clark 2nd. In the Fiat Stilo Rally Cup
Will Bonniwell looks to have taken victory from Chris Davies with
Shaun Woffinden, despite a misfire earlier in the event, 3rd.
Finally for now, many thanks to all who helped and supported the
RallyNews and well done to all the organising team for laying on a
superb event. Thanks also to Ciara Conlon & Chris Moore.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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