| WEE
MANX TALES NO.,2
Grandstand/Friday evening 11pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 Oakdene
1st (4) Paul Bird/Andy Richardson (Impreza WRC) 35.03.4
2nd (2) Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) 35.10.6
3rd (1) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 35.21.1
4th (8) Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop (Impreza WRC) 36.06.3
5th (5) Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery (Accent WRC) 36.17.5
6th (19) Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 37.29.5
7th (10) Phil Collins/Damien Crawford (Escort) 37.48.3
8th (20) Sebastian Ling/Aled Rees (Lancer N) 37.55.6
9th (27) Rob Watson/Bruce Craig (Nova) 38.09.5
10th (7) Steve Perez/Claire Mole (Focus WRC) 38.14.5
The above times are from the first few cars only and are of course provisional.
It was a real tough night for the drivers with driving rain and fog making
for flooded roads, zero visibility at times and real hard going.
Rally leader Paul Bird struggled out of the final stage of the evening
after the engine seemed to go haywire through the water splash.
Paul had a big struggle to get the car into service and the engineers
are working like mad to try and sort the problem before tomorrow’s
restart.
Second placed Roger Duckworth reported a misfire in his Subaru and the
car would only potter along for a few miles. Third placed Kenny McKinstry
described the conditions as “horrible”. Kenny went on
to say “I wasn’t prepared to wreck the car, we weren’t
on the right tyre. Once you start pushing you get a big scare.”
Kenny’s co driver Noel Orr said. “Even the road sections weren’t
easy, we were driving on the cats eyes through a monsoon.”
Fourth placed Jon Ingram was one of the few top drivers who seemed to
enjoy the evening, Jon saying. “It was like being on a road rally
25 years ago”. He did go on to say however that there is a
problem with the steering in the car and he is hopeful it will be OK for
tomorrow. Marcus Dodd always maintains that he is no lover of tarmac stages
and he found tonight’s conditions very difficult. He also
got stuck at a junction in stage 4, found the lights were not right as
well but in any case, like most of the drivers, he just turned them off
in the fog.
Kevin Lynch retired from the rally in stage 4 when he stalled the engine
at a junction and then lost a lot of time which prompted the decision
to withdraw. Young David Bogie crashed his Lancer in stage 3, happily
without any injuries but the car was too badly damaged to continue.
Phillip Morrow caught 2 cars in stage 2 which slowed him but for the rest
of the evening he flew through the fog and the rain and was really pleased
with the way it went. Neil McCance has had a great run, was 2nd in group
N earlier but we do not have his times as yet. Sebastian Ling was also
right up with the leaders and he felt he was too cautious through the
long 3rd stage and dropped valuable seconds, but he is still well placed.
Jock Armstrong in the gpN Subaru said he is the luckiest man in the rally
when he had a 5th gear spin at the end of stage 2 and the car ploughed
into a ditch but he managed to get out with little time loss.
Phil Collins had a very brave run in his Mk2 Escort to head Colin McRae,
Phil saying “Ecstatic to be here, to have survived, never have seen
conditions like it, there was so much standing water we were letting the
car drift off line trying to pick up gravel patches in the dark”.
Colin McRae’s words were not quite repeatedly when he described
the conditions, but basically he struggled with the lights and the wipers
on the Mk2 and he was not a happy Scottish bunny! Colin is lying
12th o/a. Rob Watson has had another giant killing run in his little
Nova despite the car having no power steering and Rob all of a sudden
developing weight lifters arms. He did say he was afraid to commit too
heavily as he wouldn’t have been able to catch the car if it got
away from him.
Steve Perez was glad to get through tonight, to get some confidence back
on the tarmac as the last time he was on the Island he had a big accident.
He also said it was one of his worst night’s rallying as regards
the conditions. Steve Hendy lost the wipers for 3 or 4 miles of stage
3 and also had problems getting the lights switched off in the fog as
he just wasn’t used to the new car and couldn’t find the switches
in the dark. David Kynaston in the Audi had a very good opening
2 stages but then the wipers broke and he dropped many minutes through
the long stage in particular. John Price put his Metro off in stage 2,
damaged the spoiler and a track control arm but managed to get the car
sorted and keep going.
FIESTAS: Liam Regan leading after SS2 from Elfyn Evans with Max
Utting 3rd. Fraser Jones out SS1. More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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