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RALLY NEWS NO.6 End of Hafren/near the source of the River
Severn- Sunday 10am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 HAFREN
1st (1) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 1.19.38.6
2nd (3) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.20.23.2
3rd (2) David Higgins/Craig Thorley (Accent WRC) 1.20.38.9
4th (6) Paul Bird/Andrew Bargery (Focus WRC) 1.21.19.3
5th (7) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 1.21.45.1
6th (4) Steve Perez/Daniel Barritt (Focus WRC) 1.22.37.5
7th (16) Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson (Corsa) 1.22.58.6
8th (57) Julian Reynolds/Ryland James (Impreza WRC) 1.23.27.4
9th (30) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Ignis) 1.23.36.0
10th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 1.23.45.7
11th (18) Leon Pesticcio/Tim Sturla (Punto) 1.23.58.7
12th (8) Dorian Rees/Patrick Walsh (Impreza N) 1.25.12.4
David Higgins was re-seeded to first on the road this morning, but it brought
the Pirelli Rally winner no good fortune as any advantage he had running in
clean air was negated by a puncture 8 miles from the finish of the stage.
Higgins dropped well over a minute as he wrestled the Hyundai to the finish, the
front left tyre flapping uselessly off the rim. Somehow Jonny Milner managed
to get a 2 minute gap, so he got a clean run, and set fastest time from Austin
MacHale. Matthew Wilson also had a puncture on his Focus, but Matthew dropped
probably no more than half a minute.
Austin MacHale reported that he was choked with the dust and was definitely
slowed in Milner's wake. Paul Bird had a good run. Steve Perez felt his Vodka
Kick Focus WRC seemed a bit loose through the stage, and he thought perhaps he
had a puncture, although all the tyres looked OK.
Guy Wilks was fastest of the Super 1600 drivers in his Ignis and said he
concentrated on keeping it tidy. Kris Meeke was just over 3s slower, Kris saying
"That is a cracking stage, although its my bogey stage, I always seem to break
a driveshaft there, but it went well this time". Finnish driver Aki
Teiskonen was 3rd overnight in the Super 1600, but his Saxo is parked up just past a
log pile in the stage. Leon Pesticcio in the Fiat Punto reported having fitted
new pads to the car and he was troubled a little with locking brakes.
Dorian Rees was fastest of the gpN runners, Dorian also leading the Prodrive
Subaru Cup. Jenni-Lee Hermansson was 2nd fastest. Lorna Smith 3rd, the latter
two in 22 Motorsport prepared cars. Jenni-Lee reported "I'm happy with the
car, but not myself". Aaron MacHale finished the stage with a large branch
hanging out of the back of his Lancer, and he eased off slightly towards the end
of the stage, as he didn't quite know what the screeching noise was.
Looking back slightly, Chris Davies led the Fiat Stilo Cup runners overnight,
with first round winner Will Bonniwell 2nd despite some road penalties.
Normal front runner Shaun Woffinden retired his Stilo in stage 3 when he clipped a
rock outcrop and pulled a drive shaft out. Joan Roca stopped for 4 minutes to
fix a broken gear linkage.
In the Panaround Rally yesterday Tom Curtis won in his Peugeot 205, from
young Irish driver Brendan Murphy (Impreza N). Simon Moore was 3rd in another
Peugeot 205. We did think that Gwyndaf Evans was 3rd in his MG, but Gwyndaf did
not hand his time cards in at the final control, as he had done the
reconnaissance on Friday and didn't really qualify. In the Lex Army Land Rover part of
the rally, Sgt Jace Webster had a massive 5 min. lead over Sgt Andrew Tidbury
after 5 stages with Cpl Ian Gunn 3rd. Gary Mitchell retired his example with
gearbox problems.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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