1^st (1) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.10.30.5

2^nd (12) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 1.11.11.4

3^rd (7) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 1.11.35.8

4^th (14) Stuart Jones/Craig Parry (Lancer N) 1.11.56.6

5^th (10) Martin Rowe/Robbie Durant (Impreza N) 1.12.07.5

6^th (2) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Lancer N) 1.12.08.1

7^th (6) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Lancer N) 1.12.32.6

8^th (15) Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 1.12.35.2

9^th (9) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Suzuki Ignis) 1.12.46.3

10^th (11) Julian Reynolds/Stewart Merry (Impreza N) 1.13.34.4

There was on e fairly significant change this morning to the overnight standings when Gwyndaf Evans moved from 2^nd to 3^rd as a result of road penalties leaving service. The Welshman’s Lancer needed a change of gear box/clutch and the job went wrong for the mechanics and although they had quite a big service, some 45 minutes allowed, they just ran into lateness.  Gwyndaf drove a stormer through the opening stage then to record fastest time, but really we are talking here about less than 4 seconds splitting the top 5 cars through that Ash Park stage.  The stage was only 5.1 miles long, the surface was mostly good, very fast in the morning sunshine, but there were some slippy damp places under the trees just before the finish.

Mark Higgins was first on the road in his Impreza, he reported a good run although his co driver Rory Kennedy said. “We had a good run but got very sideways in a couple of places towards the end but it was no bother to this boy”.  Ryan Champion finished the stage with small tongues of flame licking from his Lancer’s front brakes, more testimony to new brake pads being fitted at service than to hard braking in the stage. Ryan saying “We had a good run, all our niggly problems from yesterday are sorted out”.  Stuart Jones was next through, the young Welshman looking as if he’s trying with every sinew, huge determination on his face and he was obviously slightly disappointed to be half a second slower than Mark Higgins, still not bad going.  Interestingly, the stage seemed to get slightly faster with the passage of the first few cars.  Martin Rowe had a great time through the stage and then said. “Yes, it went well, but I’ve taken a gamble with the tyres. It is a softer compound, I haven’t really tested them, they worked well in there but the next stage, Kershope, will tell the real story”. 

David Higgins was another to finish the stage with small tongues of flame licking the brake callipers, David seemingly happy with the car otherwise. Jonny Milner reported a big moment on that slippy bit of stage towards the end saying that his lancer was in 2 big ditches but he got away with it unscathed. Phillip Morrow was just a fraction of a second behind Milner in the overnight standings. The young Ulsterman had his Lancer gearbox now changed and at long last has got 5^th gear to play with, but he was slightly disappointed to be 2s down on Milner in stage time.  Phillip was sweating hard at the stop line of the stage which would indicate that he

was trying but he was forced to shrug his shoulders and admit “too cautious”. 

Guy Wilks continues to lead the Super 1600 category and is 9^th on the road in his little yellow Suzuki. When Guy stopped the car there was quite a lot of smoke coming from underneath the bonnet and he said. “It’s a feature, not a problem, on this rally, we have an oil leak down at the sump”.  Otherwise Guy had a good run. Interestingly Roman Kresta in his Fiesta Super 1600 rejoined the fray this morning under the super rally rules and he was 5s slower than Wilks.  The Czech Republic driver didn’t say much at stage finish but did give the thumbs up to indicate all was well.  Barry Clark was 14^th overnight and he was shaking his head at stage finish, and when he wrestled his helmet off took time to tell us the power steering was broken before roaring off at a great rate of knots to see if he could fix it.  Running just in front of Barry was Lorna Smith, her gpN Impreza 13^th overall, Lorna reporting a steady start to the rally yesterday but speeded up as the day went on and had no problems.  Alister McRae is 12^th overall and has his transmission problems sorted out in his McKinstry Impreza.  Looking back to yesterday young Fermanagh man Richard Cathcart took victory in his Lancer on the Pirelli National Rally with Nigel Griffiths in his Impreza 2^nd.   Robert Barrett in his Micra won the Stars of the Future part of the rally from David Meredith in his MGZR. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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