| RALLY
NEWS NO.5
Carlisle Service/Saturday 3.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 Arthur’s Seat
1st (5) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Lancer N) 58.42.3
2nd (4) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 59.24.0
3rd (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 59.59.5
4th (1) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 1.00.40.5
5th (10) Wyn Humphreys/Ally Mackay (Impreza N) 1.02.24.4
6th (12) Robert Swann/Darren Garrod (Impreza N) 1.02.28.3
7th (8) Connor McCloskey/Robbie Durant (Lancer N) 1.02.32.6
8th (7) Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior (Citroen C2) 1.04.03.5
9th (14) Nick Kenny/George Gwynn (Impreza N) 1.05.29.0
10th (28) Vesa Mikkola/Tapio Suominen (Civic) 1.06.14.3
Since last service the drivers in the International Rally have done
2 stages, Chamot Hill and Arthur’s Seat, numbers 8 and 9 out
of a total of 14. Guy Wilks was fastest again through stage 8, by
just over a second from Mark Higgins with Gwyndaf Evans half a second
back. On stage 9, Arthur’s Seat, it was Higgins who
topped the time sheets, but there is still no change in the overall
classification. Ryan Champion in 4th is making no impression on
the cars in front. While Wyn Humphreys, Robert Swann and Connor
McCloskey are having their own huge battle for 5th, 6th and 7th
places. Conrad Rautenbach is still doing a sterling job to
hold 8th o/a and lead class R3 in his Citroen C2.
Vesa Mikkola leads class R2 in his Civic while Lorna Smith holds
a comfortable 2nd in that class R2 in her Suzuki Swift, Lorna anxious
to just stay on a good pace and get the car to the finish.
Another retirement from the International Rally is Karl Simmons.
Karl and his brother Guy were really disappointed to go out when
their Impreza blew its rear differential and then they burned the
centre differential out getting to the finish of the stage. That
retirement leaves just 21 cars left in the International Rally.
In the National Rally which started when the Historic Rally finished
David Hughes/Bruce Harper led in their Mitsubishi WRC after their
first 4 stages. Hughes told us that he lost the brakes in
the Mitsubishi halfway through stage 10 and he had to do stage 11
with virtually no brakes. Paul Griffiths, co driven by Jon Madoc-Jones,
was a splendid 2nd o/a in the National Rally in the Subaru. Third
overall and leading the Fiesta Sporting Trophy was Fraser Jones,
co driven by Lee Burgess. Fraser told us that he had a pretty good
run although he got a bit exuberant over one big jump and felt as
well that he over drove the car on the 3rd stage. However, having
said that he got his tyre choice just right and would appear to
be fastest of the Fiestas on all 4 stages. Tom Walster was 2nd Fiesta
and that was despite driving with a broken toe. Tom Curtis
was 3rd. Gwyndaf Evans’ son Elfyn was 4th, Jonathan Greer
5th and young Alastair Fisher 6th. Alastair has Neil Dashfield on
the notes and it would look as if he made a wrong tyre choice for
the front of the car.
News coming in from stage 11 regarding the International Rally is
that Gwyndaf Evans was fastest on stage 11 from Mark Higgins with
Guy Wilks 7s back. Guy continues to lead the rally comfortably
of course but we hear that his Lancer is in gearbox trouble and
his engineers are planning to change the unit here at service before
the final 3 stages. Further news is that young Connor McCloskey’s
Lancer has stopped about 500 yards into the stage. The car reportedly
spun and then wouldn’t move so it sounds like something has
perhaps broken in the transmission. Connor was 7th o/a just 2s away
from 6th.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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