WEE MANX TALES NO.2          End of stage 1/Friday 8.30pm

 

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1

1^st (2) Mark Higgins/Andy Richardson (Focus WRC) 1.47.4

2^nd (4) Mark Perrott/Patrick Walsh (Escort WRC) 1.47.9

3^rd (5) Paul Bird/Ian Windress (Focus WRC) 1.51.3

4^th (25) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 1.52.6

5^th (24) Phillip Morrow/Simon Morrow (Lancer N) 1.53.1

6^th (10) Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinall (Impreza WRC) 1.53.3

 

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2

1^st (2) Mark Higgins/Andy Richardson (Focus WRC) 13.27.6

2^nd (4) Mark Perrott/Patrick Walsh (Escort WRC) 14.07.6

3^rd (11) Barry Johnson/Stuart Merry (Impreza WRC) 14.15.4

4^th (5) Paul Bird/Ian Windress (Focus WRC) 14.19.1

5^th (25) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 14.20.1

6^th (15) Brendan Crealey/Steve Harris (Focus WRC) 14.31.1

7^th (8) Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) 14.34.4

8^th (1) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 14.34.7

9^th (9) Tony Davies/Jakes Kelly (Impreza WRC) 14.39.9

10^th (10) Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinall (Impreza WRC) 14.40.9    

(Group N: Ryan Champion leads. Phillip Morrow 12^th. Nik Elsmore 16^th. Anthony Wilmington 20^th. Stuart Jones well down the order, having lost 4 minutes in stage 2.

 

Despite smashing a front left rim and finishing the stage with a flat tyre on his Focus WRC Mark Higgins set the tone from the word go with fastest time, 2s up on Mark Perrott over the 1.45 miles of the Port Erin test.  Kenny McKinstry was first on the road, but when his Subaru hurtled out of the mist and rain over the Port Erin headland and screamed to a halt, Kenny confessed to feeling pretty flustered. “You’d think right hand drive would be no problem, but it just feels all wrong after being left hand drive for so long in a rally car” reported Kenny.  Mark Higgins just shrugged his shoulders and admitted to clipping a stone. Interestingly Mark Perrott’s Escort WRC had a flat right front tyre, otherwise no problem for the former ANCRO champion. 

 

Paul Bird looked pretty unhappy, saying “Really horrible conditions”.  Next up was Marcus Dodd in his Hyundai Accent WRC, Marcus saying that he picked completely the wrong tyres for the wet conditions, and indeed he was 10s slower than fastest man Higgins over that opening test. At least Marcus made it unscathed, the car behind, the Focus WRC of Steve Perez, went completely off the road into the bog at the flying finish of the stage, and Steve churned and churned his way out of it for what seemed an age before the got the car back on to the road.  Roger Duckworth was next along and he told us that he was having a pretty slow run anyway, his Impreza under steering on the wet roads, and then the marshals slowed him in case he crashed into the stricken Focus of Perez.

 

As the cars arrived thick and fast so the stories unfolded. Tony Davies said he messed up the hairpin at the start of the stage. Steve Fleck forgot to switch on his Subaru wipers. Barry Johnson thought that his Subaru clutch was slipping. Steve Hendy cut a corner, thought it would be faster but it was slower. John Price in the Metro 6R4 looked to be trying really hard, but he reckoned that he didn’t pick a tyre that was just right for the conditions. Brendan Crealey said his Focus WRC was sideways everywhere on the soft wet tyres, thought his time was very slow, but he wasn’t a mile away on the opening stage.  Steve Petch at No.16 in his Accent WRC was another with a smashed front right rim and flat tyre, and that didn’t do his stage time a lot of good.  Dave Appleby’s Impreza WRC overshot a junction and he lost about 20s. Irishman Kevin Barrett had a good run in his Impreza and was not far away from the leading cars. 

 

Stuart Jones was the first of the group N cars, the young Welshman was slightly breathless at stage finish, the stage seemed to catch him by surprise.  Stuart was 3^rd fastest GpN amongst the early runners. Phillip Morrow was 2^nd fastest and said. “I always thought tarmac roads were just to get you in and out of the forests”. Ryan Champion was fastest GpN and he said. “This is a new Evo 8, the windscreen was misting up a bit, just new car foibles”. 

 

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net