UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 BLACK LOCH
1st
(4) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 26.08.8
2nd
(1) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Focus WRC) 26.11.2
3rd
(7) Sebastian Ling/David Moynihan (Accent WRC) 26.12.1
4th
(8) Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 26.12.5
5th
(2) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 26.27.3
6th
(10) Richard Gower/Aled Davies (Accent WRC) 26.32.4
7th
(17) Barry Clark/Neil Shanks (Impreza N) 26.50.3
8th
(24) Robert Swann/Ken Bowman (Impreza N) 27.08.4
9th
(11) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Corolla WRC) 27.20.1
10th
(19) James Edwards/James Phillips (Lancer N) 27.28.7
For the
first time in 4 rallies Barry Johnson had a clean run through the
Black Loch stage, no punctures, and immediately moved into the lead
as most of the other cars around him did sustain punctures or
problems. Barry kept it clean and tidy and although his Subaru
wasn’t fastest on either of the two stages this morning he still
moved into the lead of the rally. Mark Higgins’ puncture happened
on the Clatteringshaws stage, where he lost about 40s. Mark said “We
kept it neat and tidy, middle of the road, but still we collected a
puncture. I think its just a lottery with these sharp stones. I’m
going on to a stronger tyre, an XR, I’ll just go for it and hope for
the best”. Sebastian Ling in 3rd place had a few
dramatic moments, the passenger side door of his Accent WRC dented
in. Seb saying “Couldn’t see the braking point for the dust, it was
very bad. Slid wide on one corner and into a ditch”.
Rory
Galligan set fastest time overall in stage 5, Clatteringshaws, and
moved to the front of the rally, let alone lead group N, but then on
stage 6, Black Loch, his Lancer sustained a puncture which cost
quite a few seconds.
Austin
MacHale in 5th place arrived in here to service with the
computerised dash read out on his Focus WRC playing a merry tune.
The Dubliner said “The electrics have gone haywire, the paddle gear
change, the differentials, nothing is working properly. “ Engineer
Tom Gahan gazed into the Ford, he wasn’t allowed to touch anything
of course until the car went into service properly, and he said. “It
could be the LCS, the diff controller”. Co-driver Brian Murphy
looked at him sort of oddly, shrugged his shoulders, and said “Its
all double Dutch to me!”
Austin’s
son Gareth lost time on stage 5 when his Corolla WRC sustained a
front puncture. Gareth’s co driver Paul Nagle saying “Gareth was
keeping it tidy, but there are so many rocks in the road”.
Further
stories include – Barry Clark’s Impreza getting a puncture 1.5 miles
from the end of Black Loch, lost a little time, but still going
well. James Edwards was slowed when he caught Natalie Barrett’s
Subaru, couldn’t get past in the dust, and then caught up with
Julian Reynolds’ Subaru that struggling with a flat tyre – all in
Clatteringshaws. In the Black Loch stage Donegal man Brendan Kelly
caught up with Natalie’s car, at the real fast section down past the
Loch and on towards the finish, very fast for several miles, one of
the nicest parts of the rally.
Lorna Smith
crashed her Impreza in the Black Loch stage, at a fast right over
crest jump just after the turn square right junction. Earlier Lorna
had a front puncture and damaged the front suspension on her Subaru,
which all contributed to the accident. The car ended up facing the
wrong way, on its side in the ditch and it took nearly 10 minutes
to get enough spectators to pull together to get the car out.
Richard Gower is having a good run and survived some intercom
troubles and 2 punctures, lost little time. We reported on the last
RallyNews that young Niki Cleland had crashed out. Reportedly this
happened after one of the big jumps early on in Clatteringshaws. The
car landed just off line and flipped over on to its roof. Outside
the leaderboard Brian O’Mahony is lying 13th, his Puma
the sole suriving S1600 car. Andrew Leece is 14th and
leading Formula 2 in his Clio, just ahead of Tom Metcalfe in his
Fiat Stilo Cup car. Metcalfe is over 30s ahead of Shaun Woffinden
in the race for Fiat Rally Cup points.
