MANX TALES NO.5                    Grandstand/Service/Friday/12.15

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 White Strand

1st (2) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 46.58.6
2nd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 47.06.7
3rd (3) Derek McGarrity/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 47.07.2
4th (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 47.25.5
5th (11) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 48.21.3
6th (6) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 49.15.3
7th (16) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Ignis) 49.34.1
8th (12) Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 49.36.7
9th (14) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 49.47.1
10th (18) Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 50.00.6
11th (27) Roy White/Stephen McAuley (Lancer N) 50.17.7
12th (28) David Wright/Shelley Rogerson (Impreza N) 50.17.7

The roads have been dry in the southern half of the Island this morning and damp in the north which has made tyre choice a gamble.  Drivers who picked a cut slick type tyre were at a disadvantage through stages 6 and 7 but then had the edge through stage 8.  Kenny McKinstry was a prime example, a good run through the first 2 stages and then dropped a few seconds through the White Strand stage.  Eugene Donnelly was fastest through stage 7, Kella, and said his tyres worked pretty well throughout.  Derek McGarrity slipped to 3rd, Derek not happy over the damp roads. 

Kenny McKinstry’s co driver Noel Orr made the succinct comment here at service. “Our good work over the first two stages was negated on the third because of the weather”.  Eugene Donnelly said. “We went for a safe option, no point in taking chance, the tyres worked well, and I’d like more rain today, not pissing down, just damp.  Overall I’m finding the roads very bumpy but its going well”. 

Mark Higgins’ co driver Rory Kennedy said. “A good morning’s work”.  While Mark said “I was able to stiffen up the suspension very slightly for the 3rd stage of the loop this morning and although we lost a little time on the drying roads it was still good”.  Mark also said that he had passed Melvyn Evans in stage 8, Melvyn’s Subaru going very slowly indeed and he has yet to arrive here at service. Melvyn seemed to be in trouble from the word go this morning losing time with a spin and then the engine stalled dropping him from his overnight 5th place.

Rory Galligan is now 2nd in group N behind Higgins, but Rory not terribly happy with the balance and set up of his Lancer. Ryan Champion had a good stage 8, but in his own words “really struggled on the first 2 this morning, the car wasn’t working well, I managed to change the settings a wee bit for the last one and managed to take some time from Mark which restored my faith in life!”  Seamus Leonard is 4th in group N, Seamus’ Lancer trailing its rear bumper. Co driver Gerry McVeigh saying “We’re getting vicious under steer, off the road in stage 7 where we knocked the bumper off. We’ve been in ditches and up hedges and it was a tight square left junction where we put 2 wheels in the ditch”. 

Roy White in 11th overall and 5th gpN told us that he is getting “a small bit of low speed under steer, softened the suspension all round”.  Colm Murphy still has gear stick troubles and has dropped back to 14th behind Jonny Milner. David Wright has gone well this morning to move up to 12th o/a. Gwyndaf Evans is still pretty far back, Gwyndaf’s Lancer suffering a cracked brake disc this morning which is causing a vibration up through the steering. The car also now has a transmission noise and the front apron is kinked, possibly as a result of the sump guard getting knocked up following a nose down heavy landing. Guy Wilks found the back of his Suzuki kick sideways over a bump in White Strand, the rear of the car went into a ditch and the rim disintegrated, costing about 20s.  Shaun Fox is still being very brave and going hard in his little Corsa to be 2nd Super 1600 although Shaun feels that his car is lacking a little in top speed. Barry Clark is 3rd in the category. Darren Gass still right up there and finding his Fiesta Super 1600 a lot better to drive. He is keeping it smooth and is improving all the time. Phillip Morrow has really speeded up this morning, reckons he was a little too cautious last night and feels that he really needs to get the car to the finish of this rally. 

Andreas Mikkelsen is still going and told us that he misunderstood an over crest note, took a long time to get out of the field, the young Norwegian driver went easy over the following stages in case anything was damaged in the car and hopefully now will be able to keep going at unabated speed for the experience. Steve Petch has retired his gpN Impreza after an accident. David Stokes has moved into the lead of the Historic Rally with Jimmy McRae 1s back. Adrian Kermode 3rd and Gareth Lloyd 4th. Dessie Nutt is 6th. Steve Smith had led but retired his Porsche on the Little London stage after a very heavy landing on the Druidale section and his co driver hurt his back. More news later. BRIAN 7 LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net