UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 13 Bewshaugh 2

1^st (12) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 1.26.44.4

2^nd (1) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.26.51.6

3^rd (7) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 1.27.02.3

4^th (14) Stuart Jones/Craig Parry (Lancer N) 1.27.24.8

5^th (2) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Lancer N) 1.27.42.9

6^th (6) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Lancer N) 1.28.11.9

7^th (15) Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 1.28.16.9

8^th (9) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Suzuki Ignis) 1.28.35.4

9^th (11) Julian Reynolds/Stewart Merry (Impreza N) 1.29.35.9

10^th (4) Alister McRae/Gordon Noble (Impreza N) 1.29.36.8

11^th (16) Conrad Rautenbach/Dave Senior (Impreza N) 1.29.45.1

12^th (27) Lorna Smith/Dave Robson (Impreza N) 1.31.37.1

Mark Higgins lost his lead on this Pirelli Rally when his Impreza sustained 2 punctures in Kershope while slightly further back Martin Rowe dropped out of 5^th place when he crashed his Impreza at a bridge in stage 12, Kershope.  Ryan Champion now leads despite a niggly little problem with his Lancer. The engineers changed the gearbox at the big service this morning, more or less as a precaution, but the rear mounting wouldn’t match up and the gearbox is banging around. Ryan is having to take it very easy off the start line, no full blown starts at all.  Still, he’s leading and that’s what its all about. Mark Higgins said his punctures came more or less out of the blue, he perhaps ran wide on one corner and then about a mile later felt the tyre going a bit soft, then further on towards the end of the stage another tyre just went bang when he hit a stone or something on the road. He didn’t really see anything untoward.  He said that it would nearly have been better if the tyre had come off the rim because the car was almost impossible to steer and he lost at least 15s at the chicane in the stage. He reckons that the 2 punctures together cost him just under a minute. Mark also has a slight worry over his Impreza fuel pressure, so the mechanics are going to check that out here at the satellite service.

Gwyndaf Evans had a good run through stages 12 and 13.  Stuart Jones was fastest through that Bewshaugh stage, Stuart saying. “Yes, we’re trying hard. I turned the suspension a few clicks and it made the front better but the back fractionally worse. We’re finding the rhythm now.  Stuart’s co driver the laid back Craig Parry commented. “Apart from choking with all the dust its good, I think Stuart is keeping it neat and tidy although that last stage was fairly rough and a bit loose in places”.  Martin Rowe should have been next up but of course he was stopped in Bewshaugh. David Higgins passed the Rowe incident and said. “It was a fast downhill section, the spectators were waving away back, but when we came round a right hander the accident was 500 metres straight ahead, easily seen, on a left hander over a bridge. He looked like he had just clipped the rear of the car. It certainly wasn’t an aircraft accident. There were plenty of spectators there and the OK board was up”.  David went on to say that he is struggling a bit with his brakes, he had new pads fitted this morning and it doesn’t seem to have the same bite.

Phillip Morrow is making no real impression on Milner in front, Phillip saying. “The brake pedal is pretty spongy and it has shaken my confidence. We’ll give the brakes a wee bleed here. We got one corner wrong in that last stage, we were in too deep, got on to the grass and lost a few seconds, it was all a bit exciting. We made the note for the corner too fast, we changed it down slightly when we did the stage yesterday, but not enough”.  Conrad Rautenbach is chipping away at the times of Julian Reynolds in front, Conrad saying. “We’re getting a bit more consistent than yesterday but still having a go”.  Alister McRae said. “Its going well, we had a good time through stage 13, on the pace of the leaders, but there is no way we can pull back the time we lost with the gearbox linkage and so forth. However that’s the way a championship should be”.  Guy Wilks continues to lead the Super 1600.  His Suzuki had a puncture in stage 12 but he only lost a few seconds but was still faster than Kresta in the Super 1600 Fiesta, Kresta running under Super Rally rules. Lorna Smith’s Impreza had a soft rear tyre after Kershope but she set a good time through Bewshaugh and is quite happy.  Barry Clark is just behind Lorna in the classification but is making no impression on her times, Barry’s Fiesta still suffering power steering problems. Dougie Hall is just inside the top 15 now but says he’s been going “crap” this morning. Stalled the car in Ash Park then got a puncture in Kershope although Bewshaugh wasn’t too bad. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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