WEE MANX TALES NO.4             Saturday/End of stage 6/09.45

 

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Barroose

1^st (2) Mark Higgins/Andy Richardson (Focus WRC) 33.51.9

2^nd (4) Mark Perrott/Patrick Walsh (Escort WRC) 35.22.7

3^rd (11) Barry Johnson/Stuart Merry (Impreza WRC) 35.59.8

4^th (5) Paul Bird/Ian Windress (Focus WRC) 36.08.0

5^th (8) Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) 36.23.3

6^th (1) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 36.23.4

7^th (25) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 36.40.0

8^th (15) Brendan Crealey/Steve Harris (Focus WRC) 36.59.4

9^th (10) Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinall (Impreza WRC) 37.09.8

10^th (37) Dom Buckley/Dougie Redpath (Porsche) 37.15.9

11^th (34) Robert Watson/Norman Quayle (Nova Kit) 37.23.8

12^th (46) Kevin Stevens/Marc Jones (Lancer N) 37.34.1

 

Mark Higgins fairly flew his Focus WRC through the opening Barroose stage of this Day 2 on the Roush Manx Rally.  The Focus stopped the clocks on 2m39.2s which must be just about the fastest time ever for that stage.  Mark commented. “We firmed the suspension up at last night’s service, it is still a little soft so we will try to get it a bit harder during the day.”  Mark is running first on the road, No.1 seed Kenny McKinstry running 6^th this morning.  Higgins was going so hard last night that he actually caught Kenny’s Subaru on the 2^nd stage.  Kenny just doesn’t seem to have settled in to the car at all.  There are lots of small things he is not comfortable with, he can’t see the gear change light for example, and finds himself quite often in the wrong gear for the tight corners. Mark Perrott is 2^nd on the road this morning and 2^nd fastest through the stage, but 7s slower than Higgins for the 3.25 miles.  Perrott’s Escort WRC still has sticking throttle problems and he is having to drive around the problem.

 

Barry Johnson changed the suspension slightly on his Subaru and when he got to the end of the bone dry stage this morning he said. “Its just effing gorgeous!” Paul Bird in 4^th and Roger Duckworth in 5^th reported no problems.

 

Ryan Champion, 7^th overall and leading Group N, made a lacklustre start to the day, his time 3.03.8, fastest gpN of the early runners being Kevin Stevens on 2.56.6, while Phillip Morrow did 2.58.2.  Ryan said. “I need to waken up”.  When asked about the vibration in the steering last night, he confirmed that the car needed a lower suspension arm changed.  Phillip Morrow commented that he was just glad to get through last night’s stages and hoped to go a bit harder today. Kevin Stevens is really going hard in his GpN Lancer and looking very determined this morning.

 

Brendan Crealey had a torrid time through last night’s wet and foggy stages and commented this morning. “It’s a bit better, my confidence has grown from minus one hundred to zero!”  Steve Perez is running outside the top 10 with his Vodka Kick Focus, his total now 37.58.4, his time this morning 2.55.5 so he could well come on to the leaderboard before long, but having said that he is not particularly happy with the way his Focus is braking this morning. Rob Watson has been doing some work on his Nova, changing the rear suspension set up and it is certainly paying off this weekend.  Rob, like most of the drivers, is very happy to see dry roads this morning.

 

There were 99 cars still running this morning from 116 starters, last night’s wet and foggy stages taking their toll.  Some names outside the leaderboard include Steve Hendy down in 16^th, although Steve set an excellent time this morning 4^th fastest, so he may well come on to the leaderboard. John Price is in 20^th, just ahead of Nik Elsmore who in turn is just ahead of Paul Alexander.  Paul got some new tarmac brakes delivered to the Island yesterday for his Lancer, but the brackets were wrong and he got some new ones machined yesterday afternoon which was quite a remarkable job.  Shaun Fox was down in 28^th having damaged his Corsa rear beam on the opening stage. Nigel & Michaela Cannell were 30^th in their Corsa and leading cl.A6 from the leading Peugeot 206 contender Jonnie Wigmore who was 2^nd in cl.A6.  Owen Murphy has slipped to 3^rd in the class, 2^nd Peugeot.  Steve Petch Snr is 27^th in his Accent WRC, his son Stephen is 35^th in his GpN Impreza. Local man Stephen Quine with Clerk of the Course John Skinner’s son Richard on the notes, is leading cl.A7 in his Astra Sport.  Kenny McKinstry’s daughter Emma is on her first run in the Isle of Man and she is down in 64^th in her Group N Lancer.  More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net