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RALLY
NEWS NO.2
End of stage 1 Dyfi - Saturday 2.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 DYFI
1st (1) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 16.33.0
2nd (2) David Higgins/Craig Thorley (Accent WRC) 16.33.1
3rd (3) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 16.43.9
4th (7) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 16.49.4
5th (11) Dougie Hall/Steve Egglestone (Focus WRC) 16.52.4
6th (4) Steve Perez/Daniel Barritt (Focus WRC) 17.01.7
7th (6) Paul Bird/Andrew Bargery (Focus WRC) 17.06.1
8th (9) Seb Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 17.07.7
9th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 17.11.5
10th (16) Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson (Corsa) 17.14.1
Please note: The above times are unofficial and from the first cars
only. It is possible that a later number may come into the top 10.
Jonny Milner at the front of the rally, and running in clean air,
commented at stage finish. "We had a good clean run, kept out
of trouble, it went well". Not so happy was next down the
hill from the stage, David Higgins, as his Accent ground to a halt,
shouted out the window "The dust is horrendous, the front
brakes went half way through the stage, very difficult".
Austin MacHale, when he arrived, said first of all "The dust
was unbelievable". The Irishman went on to say that it
was his first time on the gravel in the Focus and he was reasonably
happy with his performance. Interestingly, the drivers behind
MacHale reported that the dust wasn't too bad. It was there, but not
the end of the world. That was until Julian Reynolds arrived, and he
was spitting dust, having caught John Lloyd's dust a couple of miles
into the stage. The problem for Julian was that he could get
within 10s or so of Lloyd's car, but couldn't get any closer because
of the zero visibility. For his part, John Lloyd scared the
pants off himself when he had spun his Impreza WRC and the car had
teetered on the edge of a very scary drop.
Paul Bird didn't look so happy when he reached stage finish. Seb
Ling in the Group N Lancer had skidded through a split junction
completely sideways and thumped into a bank right in front of Bird's
Focus WRC. Happily Ling's car wasn't damaged and he set
fastest gpN time so far. Bird was just startled.
Some other group N times included: Dorian Rees on 17.24.9. Aaron
MacHale on his first visit to the Welsh forests, 17.44.6.
In Super 1600 Kris Meeke had a good clean run although he also
complained of dust. Leon Pesticcio spun at a tight corner and had to
reverse and was 25s down on Meeke. Teiskonen had a good run
and was 11s up on Pesticcio. Guy Wilks was 1s down on
Teiskonen. Simon Hughes lost time when he caught Barry Clark's dust,
Clark's Puma suffering a puncture.
Further stories from the leaderboard include - Matthew Wilson
settling in to his 2002 Focus WRC which has a different gear change.
Dorian Rees reported 2 spins, one at the start and on three quarters
way through. Dougie Hall in the Focus WRC stalled the car twice at
hairpins. Nigel Heath in the Accent WRC, apart from having food
poisoning, had a spin and a stall. Julian Reynolds' co driver Ryland
James is seriously contemplating taking early road penalties so that
they can move up the order and try to get some decent stage times.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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