RALLY NEWS NO.7                 Malton Showground/Sunday - 10.00am

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 11 LANGDALE
1st (1) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Focus WRC) 1.11.36.6
2nd (2) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 1.13.34.8
3rd (6) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 1.13.59.3
4th (7) Steve Perez/Claire Mole (Focus WRC) 1.15.08.4
5th (4) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.15.13.0
6th (8) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Accent WRC) 1.15.47.5
7th (12) Chris Mellors/Craig Thorley (Esc.Cos) 1.16.11.5
8th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 1.16.34.2
9th (15) John Lloyd/Pauline Gullick (Impreza) 1.19.40.0
10th (10) Seb Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 1.19.47.4
11th (18) Tony Thompson/John Dunning (Lancer N) 1.19.47.7
12th (48) Jon Ingram/Mark Lewis (Impreza WRC) 1.20.16.9

Mark Higgins took up where he left off yesterday by setting fastest time through the Langdale stage, with Matthew Wilson 2nd fastest, Jonny Milner 3rd.  Fastest through the opening spectator stage this morning was Austin MacHale, but Austin reportedly has a recurrence of yesterday's gear selection trouble and wasn't particularly fast through the long Langdale test. 

Hard luck story of this morning is the retirement of Ryan Champion.  Ryan was leading Group N but his Lancer broke its rear differential on the spectator stage and he was forced to pull out. 

"Very very slippy" was Mark Higgins' comment when he reached the end of Langdale. "There was one right hander near post 3 which nearly caught us out".  Jonny Milner echoed Mark's words as regards the slippiness, but at the same time reported all well.  Matthew Wilson had a real good run at the stage although a front left tyre was deflating as he crossed the finish line. Matthew had plenty of time to change the offending wheel before the long run back down to service. 

Steve Perez had a poor time through the opening spectator stage, a half spin reportedly the cause. Steve also reports his Vodka Kick Focus to be feeling very loose at the back end.  John Lloyd had a big slide at one point in Langdale, glanced off a log pile but happily no damage. 

Tony Thompson became the group N leader following the retirement of Ryan Champion, but that didn't last long as Tony had his first spin of the rally at a square left in Langdale.  He lost a few seconds, which allowed Sebastian Ling to slip ahead by a hair's breadth.

Fastest gpN through the Langdale stage was Simon Hughes, although he is lying pretty far back in the overall scheme of things following yesterday's broken drive shaft. Dorian Rees was 2nd fastest gpN and that was despite a front left puncture for 4 miles. Dorian is 3rd gpN behind Lorna Smith. Jennie-Lee Hermansson in the 22 Motorsport Impreza also had a good run, 2s faster than Lorna Smith. Jennie-Lee 17th o/a and 4th gpN. 

In the Super 1600 category Leon Pesticcio in the works Suzuki Ignis piled on the pressure through Langdale to open up a gap between himself and Barry Clark. Leon really went for it, set a good time and is 15th o/a. His worries about Barry catching him proving unfounded as the Puma pilot slid wide on a square left. His Ford's front wheels went over the top of a rotten log, and with not a spectator in sight it took 7 minutes to get out.

Jace Webster led the Lex Army Rally Team Land Rover part of the event overnight from Andrew Tidbury with Del Hope 3rd and Gaz Mitchell 4th.

More news later…BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
(with thanks to Andrew Kellitt)