RALLY NEWS NO.9                    Malton Showgrounds/Sunday 12.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 14 GIVENDALE 2
1st (1) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Focus WRC) 1.32.13.0
2nd (2) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 1.34.38.3
3rd (6) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC)   1.35.16.3
4th (7) Steve Perez/Claire Mole (Focus WRC) 1.36.21.6
5th (4) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.37.12.0
6th (8) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Accent WRC) 1.37.34.9
7th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 1.38.24.9
8th (18) Tony Thompson/John Dunning (Lancer N) 1.42.35.6
9th (15) John Lloyd/Pauline Gullick (Impreza) 1.42.39.5
10th (10) Seb Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 1.42.46.0
11th (48) Jon Ingram/Mark Lewis (Impreza WRC) 1.43.30.7
12th (11) Dorian Rees/Patrick Walsh (Impreza N) 1.44.24.7

Mark Higgins and co driver Bryan Thomas have scored the clearest of victories here on this Trackrod Rally with their Focus WRC, Mark a real class act that the other drivers simply could not match.  He commented here at service "If there was another day to do I'd be quite happy, I love driving the Focus WRC. I enjoyed the rally, although not all the kerfuffle about David. Over the last few stages it was still tricky and sllippy, but we found a comfortable pace, although the braking points were hard to judge. Every corner was different and we did miss a few apexes."  Mark does hope to do the final round of the Pirelli Championship, the Tempest, but his next outing is Corsica in a Group N Subaru.

It was a fairly dejected looking Jonny Milner sitting in his Subaru at the control.  He was 2nd here last year and clinched the Pirelli British Championship, 2nd this year, but a whole different story, his championship effectively over in his own mind. Jonny said "We achieved what we set out to do and that was get maximum points, but we can't catch Austin (MacHale) or David (Higgins) on the final round as regards the number of points available". 

For 17 year old Matthew Wilson this is yet another red letter day, his first podium position on a British Championship Rally, 3rd here on the Trackrod quite some achievement.  Matthew knocked the rear bumper off the Focus on the last stage, had quite a moment and decided then just to go for the finish. Steve Perez had a good run over the last 2 stages to reinforce his 4th place. Steve had been having problems with the hand brake coming on. The on board computer recorded it 6000 times through stage 11. Anyway, it was all sorted for the last 2 stages and Vodka Kick man Perez was pleased to finish 4th. Austin MacHale wasn't so happy, maintaining that the grease, oil and water mixture that landed on his screen on the penultimate stage didn't happen by accident. 

Unofficially, taking into account dropped scores, Austin MacHale and David Higgins have 89 points in the British championship. Matthew Wilson and Jonny Milner 80.  That is, we must emphasise, taking dropped scores into account, and very unofficial. 

Main change to the leaderboard on the final stage was that Chris Mellors dropped right out of the reckoning when his Escort Cosworth ground to a halt following the quarry section when a crank shaft sensor cam adrift. Chris and co driver Craig Thorley pushed the car off the track into a junction siding. John Lloyd came thundering down in his Subaru, got distracted at the sight of the stricken Escort Cosworth, missed his braking point and started to career off the road, causing Thorley to run for his life into the trees!  Happily there was no coming together! 

In Group N there was a major race at the end with Tony Thompson and Sebastian Ling tying going into the final stage. Thompson threw caution to the wind to beat Ling by 11s to take the category. Ling however went for a good clean run, intent on trying to score maximum Pirelli British championship points, which he did.  Lorna Smith was 3rd gpN. Dorian Rees 4th, so gpN in the championship goes right down to the wire on the Tempest.

Leon Pesticcio has won Super 1600 in the Suzuki Ignis and commented at the finish. "I'm thrilled that Suzuki were able to deliver me a car that could go when we wanted. The team was fantastic. The last 2 stages were amongst the worst of my life, I've never driven so slowly, I was so determined to get the car to the finish and do the job that Suzuki asked me to do". 

Latest positions on the Cork 20 are that McNulty still leads. McGarrity is still 2nd but Eugene Donnelly has closed to within 2s so the race for the Pirelli Tarmac Champion title is far from over. Finally for now, many thanks to all who helped and supported the RallyNews. It was great to be here in Yorkshire, well done to Rod Parkin and all his hard working officials for such a great event.

BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
(our thanks to Andrew Kellitt)