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UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 17 BALLALEIGH It is young Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen who has been setting the pace over this morning’s 2 stages with Eugene Donnelly content to preserve his almost 4 minute lead. Guy Wilks hammered in a couple of quick times to cement his position at the front of the Tesco 99 British championship runners. Andreas Mikkelsen caught and passed David Higgins on the opening test, Kella, but said afterwards that it cost him no time, that he “just went to the side, had a very good run”. Eugene Donnelly told us here at the Grandstand service “I was dodging birds and a racing hare on the first stage. At the same time I was on tenterhooks, we had a fan belt problem on the final stage yesterday where a stone got in and damaged it and we were just a bit worried about the pulleys. We didn’t have a replacement that fitted and had to send a heliocopter to Derek McGeehan’s workshop in Draperstown to get a belt off another S12. We have since discovered that an Avensis one would have fitted so now we have about 10 belts! We pushed reasonably hard on the 2nd stage this morning, it was a fast open stage apart from a wee tight bit at the end. There is no point in me taking chances I can only throw the rally away now and its not wise for me to be looking at Andreas’ times although fair play to him, he’s going hard”. (That hare that Eugene was racing must have been a cousin of the Road Runner thinking he could go quicker than a Subaru World Rally Car!) Eamonn Boland in 2nd had a good run through the 2 stages although he found the Ballaleigh stage pretty slippy. Anyway the Wexford man has opened up the overnight gap to Wilks from 14s to 33 approximately. As for Guy he said he “made a bit of a shove on the first stage as he didn’t know what Gwyndaf would do, it paid dividends and I eased backed on the 2nd”. Gwyndaf reported no problems but seemed to be in subdued form. Paul Bird in 5th said “I can’t go any faster, this is like driving a pogo stick the car’s that soft, but I’m happy enough”. David Higgins finished that stage 17 with a load of soil and grass sticking out of a front rim and he said “It was a flat out left hander I nipped the bank and it threw the car across the road”. David went on to talk of the overheating problem with his Corolla, said it was there yesterday and he’s driving the car just as gently as he can hoping to maintain position and there’s a big gap to James Cullen behind. Conrad Rautenbach put his Citroen off the road on the first stage today, his co driver Dave Senior told us. “It was about three quarters of a mile from the start, I think we touched the grass, but the car spun. We almost got away with it but then the wheels dropped into a ditch. Eventually about 7 guys came along and very kindly got us back on to the road. I think we’ve lost about 17 minutes”. Robert Swann was running behind the Citroen and he stopped briefly to make sure they Conrad and Dave were OK. On the 2nd of the 2 stages Robert then had a spin at the tight hairpin and lost a few seconds so Wyn Humphreys behind has closed the gap and the 2 are having a great battle. Young Darren Gass also lost time at that hairpin but he has now taken over the class lead following Rautenbach’s incident. Nigel Cannell is 2nd in class to Darren, Nigel 15th o/a in his Nova. James Cullen holds 8th and he is another who is trying to drive his car as gently as he can and still keep his position. PJ McDermott is 11th o/a and he is on the pace again this morning following yesterday’s delay with a puncture, PJ gradually getting a feel for these Manx roads and starting to learn a little about the lines to take through the fast sections. Mark Higgins is in Super Rally today and setting competitive times but still just a fraction slower than Gwyndaf. James Wozencroft was also running in Super Rally but his Suzuki has lost all drive and he has retired again. His team mate Lorna Smith is going well and is 22nd o/a and leading her class. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
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