RALLY NEWS NO.7
Baldoon Service/Saturday 5pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 GLENTROOL NORTH
1st (1) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 1.15.48.7
2nd (2) David Higgins/Craig Thorley (Accent WRC) 1.15.58.0
3rd (7) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 1.19.56.5
4th (30) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Ignis) 1.20.19.8
5th (3) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.20.44.3
6th (6) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 1.20.54.9
7th (10) Leon Pesticcio/Tim Sturla (Punto) 1.21.37.1
8th (9) Sebastian Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 1.21.40.6
9th (18) Jonnie Wigmore/Robbie Durant (Puma) 1.22.08.4
10th (17) Simon Hughes/Craig Parry (Clio) 1.22.32.6
Jonny Milner left service after stage 7 with a 19s lead over David
Higgins and some 20 stage miles still to go. Higgins was
determined to give it his all and charge for victory and knew
he had to beat Milner by 1s per stage mile. On the first
stage out, Jennys Hill, Higgins was on course, the Hyundai almost
5s faster than the Milner Subaru. On stage 9 however, Glentrool
South, Milner fought back and was 3s quicker, to leave Higgins'
fastest final stage time through Glentrool North, irrelevant in
terms of victory. Milner, the current Pirelli British Rally
Champion, and a great lover of the Scottish Rally, had won by
9.3 seconds. More than enough to keep Jonny on course for
his 3rd British Rally Champion title.
Barry Johnson had a steady run to 3rd overall, while many of his
rivals ran into problems with punctures and accidents. Guy Wilks'
4th place and Super 16t00 win, on top of last weekend's Super
1600 win on the WRC Acropolis Rally, was quite an achievement.
Leon Pesticcio got the brakes more or less fixed on his Punto
for the last 3 stages, kept his act together and finished 2nd
Super 1600 and 7th overall. Jonnie Wigmore, who celebrated
his 21st birthday last week, was 3rd Super 1600 and 9th overall.
Simon Hughes 10th and 4th in the category with his Clio.
Gareth Jones retired 4 stages from the end when his Clio broke
the driveshaft.
When Jonny Milner brought his Subaru into the final service he
said. "That was one hell of a scrap, we both learned a lot,
like just how hard you can go in these cars. Brilliant for the
championship". David Higgins said "I'm disappointed
with my spin earlier in the rally, but it was an incredible battle
trying to fight back. The car is fantastic up to about 100 mph
but then seems to slow a little after that. Not winning wasn't
for lack of effort". Third placed Barry Johnson said
"I enjoyed it towards the end, concentrated on keeping the
car on the track. Now I have to get my backside into gear for
the Scottish National Rally tomorrow". Fourth placed
Guy Wilks commented. "It was always in the back of my mind
to do the job for Suzuki, finish the rally. We can't do the Trackrod
so I can't afford to drop a round." Austin MacHale in 5th
said. "Kept it tidy through the last few stages, not hanging
about, thinking of Donegal next weekend". A broadly
smiling Matthew Wilson rounded off the top 6 and he reported.
"We had another puncture on the penultimate stage, the tyre
just exploded 2 to 3 miles from the end, but otherwise a great
run. Very enjoyable".
Looking outside the top 10 - Aki Teiskonen was 11th in his Saxo.
John Lloyd 12th in his Subaru. Barry Clark (Puma) 13th. Lorna
Smith in the 22 Motorsport GpN Subaru 14th. Dorian Rees 15th and
maintains his lead in the Prodrive Subaru Cup. Aaron MacHale
was 16th following his earlier problems. Mark I'Anson 17th. Damian
Cole 18th despite his Subaru power steering problems. Jennie-Lee
Hermansson 19th and 6th Group N. Stuart Jones 20th, and his father
Mick's Lancer all in one piece! Chris Davies finished best
of the Fiat Stilo Cup contenders, well ahead of Tom Metcalfe in
2nd at the end. Last minute retirements included: Steve Perez
who pulled out after losing so much time in stage 7 and Nigel
Heath who also retired after losing a mountain of time in that
difficult 7th stage. Kenny Brown, another of the Prodrive Subaru
Cup contenders retired his Impreza following clutch damage.
Finally for now many thanks to everyone who helped and supported
the RallyNews service on this Scottish Rally. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
