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| Manx International Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.8 - After SS13 - Monday @ 16:48:22 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.8 Grandstand/Friday/5.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 13 Ellanbane
1st (4) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.23.26.3
2nd (1) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.24.30.3
3rd (5) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza N) 1.26.18.8
4th (3) Guy Wilks/David Moynihan (Lancer N) 1.27.09.0
5th (6) Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 1.27.21.6
6th (10) James Wozencroft/Chris Ridge (Impreza N) 1.29.01.7
7th (9) Darren Gass/Neil Shanks (Lancer N) 1.29.29.2
8th (18) Brian O'Mahony/John Higgins (Clio S1600) 1.30.31.8
9th (17) Guy Woodcock/John Skinner (Escort Maxi) 1.30.53.8
10th (12) Jonny Greer/Jonny Hart (Lancer N) 1.31.26.2
When rally leader Mark Higgins brought his Subaru into the service control here at the Grandstand after the 13th stage he wasn’t asking about the times of the cars behind, rather it was the times of young Manx man Mark Cavendish that he was anxious to find out. The news was that 22 year Mark Cavendish had just won stage 13 of the Tour de France, his 4th stage win. Young Cavendish is from Laxey, an enormously competitive young man, so much so that when he took up ballroom dancing at quite a young age he became Junior Manx Ballroom Dancing Champion!
When Mark came back to the subject of rallying he said that he had a good run but that the rain came driving in over the Irish Sea to quickly saturate that Ellanbane stage and Mark, along with most of the other top drivers, was on cut slick tyres. He said there was a square left junction where the car got very sideways, caught the bank and the rear wheel filled up with mud which made a vibration in the back of the car. Mark joked. “It was in front of the TV cameras so I can’t even lie about it!” Guy Wilks has been right up there in the fastest times over the last few stages and said he intends to keep the pressure on Mark. Guy’s Lancer sounded a bit rough when it came into service and it transpired that the exhaust down pipe from the turbo is damaged. No doubt this will be quickly repaired by the mechanics. When Guy’s team mate Phillip Morrow came into service he said. “The car is not inspiring confidence, it is bouncing about on the bumps. Although it is perfect on the wide open flat sections.” Phillip went on to say that there were places where he just had to back off. Having said all that in stage 13 for example Phillip was right on th pace.
Eamonn Boland said that he was taking no chances, especially on the wet roads of stage 13 and anywhere where there was shiny tar he was braking early. David Higgins reported he clouted a kerb in his Subaru on stage 13 and he felt that something has been damaged in the back axle. James Wozencroft also damaged his car slightly when he braked too early for a square right, clipped a wall and then a massive vibration came into his Impreza and he had to cruise to the end of the stage.
Darren Gass is another reporting his car “everywhere over the bumps”. John McGlaughlin left service not knowing that his big group n Tarmac rival Kevin Kelleher had retired his Lancer because the mechanics ran out of time changing the clutch, so John was still going very hard over the next couple of stages. He then put the car off in stage 12 and explained. “The rain cam on heavier and heavier, we were on slick tyres and I wasn’t paying enough attention. I out braked myself and went off into trees, how we missed some of them I’ll never know, but the car got beached and we couldn’t get it out.” John’s co driver Damien Connolly then said. “When we did get going we mowed through some hens and there were feathers flying!” Brian O’Mahony brought his Clio into service, still leading his class and said. “That was an eventful loop. We had about 100 half spins and were in 200 ditches in the rain on slick tyres”. Guy Woodcock said. “I think I’ll have to re-design this car so that we will be able to carry 2 spares and then we could change the wheels when that sort of rain comes on. We were spinning wheels in 5th and 6th gear”. Adam Gould continues to set really good times, getting great Manx experience and is back up to 18th o/a. Local man Paul Curphey hit the side of his Lancer in Druidale, lost little time. Jason Pritchard continues to lead the Citroen C2R2 Cup contenders and is now into the top 20. Joe McGonagle is up to 20th and leading class R1 in his Civic despite having smashed the front mudguard and door against a telegraph pole this morning where there was oil on the road.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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