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| Jim Clark Rally 2008 |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - After SS12 - Wednesday @ 11:33:15 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Charterhall Service/Saturday 6.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12 – End of Leg 1
1st (4) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 1.15.45.6
2nd (2) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.16.08.9
3rd (1) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.16.59.5
4th (6) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 1.18.28.2
5th (14) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.18.34.7
6th (11) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza N) 1.19.50.1
7th (15) Stuart Jones/Andy Bull (MG S2000) 1.20.23.1
8th (19) James Wozencroft/Chris Ridge (Impreza N) 1.21.11.8
9th (16) Jonny Greer/Jonny Hart (Lancer N) 1.22.00.7
10th (23) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 1.22.17.5
Tim McNulty and his co driver Eugene O’Donnell in their Subaru lead this Jim Clark International Rally by 23s going into the overnight halt. When Tim came in from the 2nd run over the Edrom stage he took time out to say. “It was a good pace this evening, there was not a lot left but overall everything is going to plan. However it has been a long day”. Eamonn Boland was fastest through stage 10 but then had to give best to both Gareth MacHale and Tim McNulty through stages 11 and 12. Eamonn also reported that all was well and that he had had a good run. Gareth MacHale was at a loss to explain why the pendulum had swung during the afternoon stages so that his Focus recorded 2 fastest times through stages 11 and 12, but he did say. “It’s quite a specialised rally, there’s nobody hanging around. The crests and so on are difficult. It was 4 years ago since I’ve been here and that was in a wee Peugeot, it’s a lot faster now”. Aaron MacHale got the anti lag device on his Focus sorted at service after stage 9 and he said he had a good loop through the last 3 stages and he was able to move up from 5th to 4th.
Mark Higgins continues to lead the Tesco 99 British Championship contenders although he wasn’t just as dominant through the last few stages and he told us. “I had a silly spin on the first stage after service and we have a fair lead so I backed off a little, just being careful under braking”. Stuart Jones was fastest Group N in his MG S2000 over the last 3 stages, Stuart very happy with the way things are going. David Higgins is driving one of the new Impreza N14’s and he has been making adjustments during the day and\ said the car is handling miles better now. That there are maybe 2 corners a stage where he could have made up a second if he had taken risks, but that there is nothing much left. David also feels there is a bit more to come from the engine, that the turbo and power bands need to be more aligned.
Darren Gass hasn’t appeared here at service as yet, his Pirelli Lancer reportedly in bother, having broken a suspension upright when Darren clipped a rock. Kevin Kelleher continues to lead the Tarmac Championship GpN contenders, and indeed contrary to what we said earlier, Kevin led the Tarmac GpN C/ship category starting this rally. The Clonakilty man said here at service. “I’m very happy with the way the day has progressed following that puncture this morning. I’m getting to feel rhythm for the roads but I can’t get over the high speeds. It is so much faster than Irish rallying, 5th gear everywhere and its hard to judge the braking distance on the shiny tar”. We reported earlier that John McGlaughlin put his Lancer off the road. That was basically correct, but the main problem was that a front wheel had sheared off. Michael McCollum/Michael O’Kane from Donegal have retired their Impreza WRC when a CV joint broke going through the water splash in the Langton stage. They were disappointed to go out of the rally as they had been driving through the morning stages with a back wheel well off camber and had just got that fixed and were on a charge and really enjoying it.
Looking back a couple of stages Adam Gould was lying just outside the top 10 in his Clio and leading Cl.R2 just ahead of George Thomas who is 2nd in that class and leading the Citroen C2R2 Cup from Marty McCormack with Matt Cotton 3rd. Mark Gamble continued to lead the Suzuki Cup and was 2nd in class to Martin O’Donnell in his Civic.
More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
*For SMS results text RALLY ITC to 60066 (UK): Or 53030 (Irl.): Text RALLY ITC OFF to stop. Cost 25p/30c. Provided by stagetimes.com
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