RALLY NEWS NO.1                     Showgrounds/Malton/Saturday  10.45am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1
1st (1) Mark Higgins/Brian Thomas (Focus WRC) 53.3
2nd (2) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 53.7
3rd (3) David Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Accent WRC) 53.9
4th (8) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Accent WRC) 55.0
5th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 55.4
6th (7) Steve Perez/Claire Mole (Focus WRC) 55.8
Stage 2: David Higgins fastest despite understeer. Mark Higgins 2nd fastest despite stall.  Jonny Milner had an overshoot dropped 10s. MacHale down on time, still gear change problems.

This time last year Jonny Milner was fastest on this opening Showgrounds spectator stage, went on to finish 2nd behind Tapio Laukkanen and clinched back to back British Rally Champion titles.  It is not such clear sailing this time.  Jonny is down the points order, and indeed on just Thursday lunchtime it looked doubtful if he would even start this rally, his budget having been blown on early season mishaps.  However, he is here, and he still has a chance, albeit extremely slim, of clinching his 3rd title.  The top three in the title hunt are David Higgins, Austin MacHale and Matthew Wilson.  Just 3 points separate these three, although Matthew's position flatters to deceive as he has not dropped any scores as yet. 
Mark Higgins leads the field away today, Mark driving the same Focus WRC in which he drove on the Wales Rally GB. It was interesting to see quite a few "Marshal Breakfast" stickers on the side windows, the less aid about that the better!  Mark hasn't competed here in the Yorkshire forests since the 1993 RAC where he drove an Astra, but no doubt professional that he is it will all come flooding back.  Although fastest on that opening test Mark commented "We could have been faster, it was quite slippy, and there were lots of gateposts".  Jonny Milner reported his Subaru going well, although found the stage quite tight.  David Higgins was just glad to get his Steve Petch Accent back on to gravel stages, following the asphalt of the Manx and Ulster events which didn't really suit the car at all.

Austin MacHale dropped a couple of seconds on that opening stage, the Dubliner reporting the car to be jumping 2 gears instead of 1 on the paddle shift.  Overall though Austin seemed in great form before the start, well up for the fight, and as always showing his wry sense of humour.  When the Pirelli technician came over to ask him what type of tyres he wanted, he just barked. "Slicks!"  Matthew Wilson also lost a second or two in that spectator stage when he stalled his Focus. Steve Perez in the Vodka Kick Focus echoed many drivers thoughts when he reported "Just glad to get that first one out of the way, its pretty horrible in there". 

In Group N Dorian Rees seemed to be fastest through that opening stage, Dorian the lead contender in the Prodrive Subaru Cup, and seems to have at last got a small gremlin sorted out in his Impreza transmission.  Ryan Champion was just a fraction slower in his Lancer, Ryan having trouble at the hairpin as his older model car doesn't have the full hand brake set up.  Lorna Smith had a good run in her Impreza, while Jennie-Lee Hermansson dropped quite a few seconds when she attacked the tyres at the hairpin.  Simon Hughes has switched from his normal Clio to a 22 Motorsport Group N Impreza, and he got off to a good start. 
In Super 1600 Leon Pesticcio, guest driver this weekend in the works Suzuki Ignis, was fastest out of the blocks.  Leon delighted with his first drive in the Suzuki, and commented "The car feels really good in every department, and one of the best gearboxes I've ever used".  Barry Clark hurt his hand when it got caught in the Puma steering wheel at the hairpin, Barry and fellow Puma driver, Jonnie Wigmore, more or less level pegging, a couple of seconds slower than Pesticcio. While Gareth Jones in his Clio was just a second down on Leon.  Young Stuart Jones had a good run through the stage in his Peugeot, Stuart running with No.45 on the car, but tucked in at the back of the top 20 in the running order.
On the Historic Rally Dessie Nutt was fastest on the first 2 stages despite spinning his Porsche, Patrick Watts was 2nd in his Tiger. In category 2 of the Historics Richard Gower was leading after 2 stages from David Stokes. On the Cork 20 Rally, final round of the Pirelli Tarmac series, Tim McNulty was fastest on the opening stage by 6s from Derek McGarrity both in Impreza WRCs. Eugene Donnelly in his Corolla was 6s down on McGarrity. Liam McCarthy was 4th Donie O'Sullivan 5th. Last year's winner Eamonn Boland dropped 6 minutes. More news to follow: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON (our thanks to Andrew Kellitt): www.rallynews.net