WEE MANX TALES
NO.3 Grandstand/Friday 10pm
UNOFFICIAL
LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5
1st (2)
Mark Higgins/Andy Richardson (Focus WRC) 31.12.2***
2nd (4)
Mark Perrott/Patrick Walsh (Escort WRC) 32.36.5
3rd (15)
Brendan Crealey/Steve Harris (Focus WRC) 33.07.3
4th (11)
Barry Johnson/Stuart Merry (Impreza WRC) 33.09.5
5th (5)
Paul Bird/Ian Windress (Focus WRC) 33.18.0
6th (8)
Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) 33.32.7
7th (1)
Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 33.35.5
8th (25)
Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 33.36.2
9th (10)
Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinall (Impreza WRC) 34.13.8
10th (34)
Robert Watson/Norman Quayle (Nova Kit) 34.24.3
***Disputed time for
stage 5 – Mark Higgins’ total could be plus 1 minute. Also Brendan
Crealey 1 minute flier stage 5, possibly drop him to 7th or 8th.
Mark Higgins was a
class act through the fog and rain of tonight’s Manx Rally stages,
fastest on every stage although there is a question mark over his stage
5 time which still has to be resolved. Along with the other top drivers
Mark said that the final stage of the evening was very difficult in the
rain and the fog. Darkness compounding the problem, Mark’s Focus lights
not set quite right. Mark Perrott in 2nd place
drove brilliantly in his older model Escort WRC, although he did admit
that the throttle sticking and playing havoc with the anti lag system,
pushing the car on. Brendan Crealey in 3rd said. “We had a
few scares on the 2nd stage, in one place the car was
aquaplaning in 6th gear. It is amazing, on the next corner
the road is like sandpaper, lots of grip. The fog doesn’t bother me but
skidding in 6th does. The car is fine”. Barry Johnson
confirmed that he thought he had burned his Impreza’s clutch on the
opening stage, and made a wrong tyre choice, but overall kept it steady,
and in a way enjoyed it.
Paul Bird commented
“The lights weren’t very good on that 5th stage, otherwise
kept it steady, took no chances”. Roger Duckworth in 6th
told us “A bit of a poor performance really tonight, not driving to the
limit although I was getting a bit more used to it towards the end”.
Last year’s winner Kenny McKinstry wasn’t exactly over the moon either
when he brought his Impreza in here to the Grandstand service, Kenny
saying “Not a good night, just a lot of wee things wrong, the conditions
were very very slippy and I’m amazed at how hard I’m finding the right
hand drive. Still, who knows what tomorrow will bring”.
Ryan Champion rounded
off the top 8 and is leading Group N overnight. Ryan reporting a few
very big sideways moment in his new Lancer Evo 8, and then something in
the steering seemed to come loose in stage 4 so Ryan, up as high as 4th
earlier on, decided discretion was the better part of valour and took it
a wee bit handier through stage 5.
Further stories
included – Steve Hendy slowed with a misted up windscreen and saying it
was just a matter of survival tonight. John Price is down in 20th
place and reported a clean run, but a difficult night. Steve Petch
reckoned he was on the wrong tyres for the last stage and just pleased
to get his Hyundai to service, Steve 17th. Marcus Dodd is
further back, having lost time with a faulty alternator on his Hyundai.
That affected the lights, the wipers and the heated screens.
Marcus then was running late and caught a slower car which cost
some more time. David Appleby was another to catch a slower car, in his
case, David Kynaston, on the narrow piece of road towards the Mines, and
that cost David some time. Phillip Morrow had a huge sideways moment in
stage 5 with his Lancer, on the very fast main road section. Phillip
was counting his blessings that he got away with it and pleased enough
to be 2nd GpN on his first visit to the Isle of Man. We
mentioned earlier that Stuart Jones had lost quite a lot of time on the
2nd stage. Reportedly his Lancer burst a brake pipe. Robert
Watson has been performing his usual giant killing act to push his Nova
up to 10th overall, which is fairly remarkable.
Also pretty amazing
is Dom Buckley getting the Bobby King Porsche up to 11th,
especially in these conditions. Dom said “We were taking it handy enough
but I had a big spin at the hairpin in stage 2 and lost at least 20s.
Then on stage 3 I forgot to plug in the intercom and on stage 5 we had
trouble with the lights, but it was good”. Tony Davies is down in 12th,
reporting no real problems. Phillip Morrow is 13th and 2nd
gpN. Neil McCance 14th and 3rd GpN. Steve Hendy is
15th in his Escort WRC. Steve Perez is 16th,
having lost several minutes on the opening stage when he put his Focus
WRC into a bog. After that Steve freely admits that his confidence was
shaken and said. “I never ever seem to have a good run on the Isle of
Man”. News is coming in that James Hoseason has had a bit of an
accident in stage 5 and blocked the road, holding up the following cars.
In class A6 Nigel
Cannell led in his Corsa with young Cork man Owen Murphy 2nd
in the class with his Peugeot 206. Jonnie Wigmore 3rd, also
in a Peugeot 206. Mark Durham 4th in his Corsa. This means
Owen Murphy leads the Peugeot 206 Super Cup. Daniel Barry has retired
his example with an over revving engine. Retirement – Kevin Barrett’s
Triton Showers Subaru succumbed to a broken manifold. More
news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
