|
|
| |
| RBS Int Manx National Rally 2008 |
| RALLY NEWS No.4 - STAGE 6 Barroose - Thursday @ 15:20:51 |
| |
|
WEE MANX TALES NO.4 End of stage Barroose/Saturday 10 am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 BARROOSE
1st (3) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 33.37.0
2ND (1) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 33.53.6
3rd (6) Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery (Accent WRC) 34.06.7
4th (2) Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) 34.24.4
5th (24) Richard Cathcart/Martin Brady (Lancer N) 34.33.4
6th (11) David Kynaston/Andy Russell (Audi A3) 34.52.4
7th (4) Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop (Impreza WRC) 35.03.2
8th (45) Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 35.06.4
9th (8) David Mann/Alun Cook (Impreza WRC) 35.12.9
10th (15) Rob Watson/Bruce Craig (Nova) 35.36.6
11th (17) Neil McCance/Graham Hopewell (Lancer N) 35.40.7
12th (7) Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Focus WRC) 35.43.2
Jon Ingram was fastest over the opening stage this morning by just 0.3 of a second from Melvyn Evans with David Mann a further 0.3 of a second down. Kenny McKinstry had a slight stall at the hairpin but it only cost him a couple of seconds. The roads were fairly wet when the drivers tackled that opening Barroose stage and when they arrived at the control outside the Creg-ny-Baa pub Melvyn Evans commented. “It was a bit slippy and we backed off a bit.” Kenny confirmed that stall and said. “We’ll get him (Melvyn) on the next one!” Third placed Marcus Dodd admitted that he didn’t make a great tyre choice for that stage but was hopeful that they would work well on the next one.
Roger Duckworth was a bit subdued at stage finish and admitted to a slow start. Richard Cathcart also confessed that his time couldn’t be good, and said “It just didn’t feel good, I suppose it’s the first stage and I’m a bit groggy”. David Kynaston was by his own high standards a few seconds off the pace and he admitted that he felt a bit stale.
That fastest time by Jon Ingram came as a real bolt out of the blue. Jon had said earlier that he might not even re-start the rally as the McKinstry mechanics had been working most of the night to find whatever problem it was that caused the car to cut out last night. Kenny McKinstry took Jon’s car for a run this morning and he reckoned it felt OK, and it was only then that Jon decided to put his racing overalls on. Fastest time was the reward but Jon sounded a note of caution at stage finish when he said. “I think now the differentials could be a problem”.
David Mann was another who had a few car problems last night, said this morning that it was a bit better and his stage time certainly reflected that. Young Keith Cronin, this year’s Billy Coleman Award winner, had a really good run through that stage, certainly fastest in group N from the early times. He reported all well in his car. Neil McCance felt he was being cautious, but he was right on the pace, just 0.1 of a second slower than Cronin. David Bogie was a few seconds down, the young Drumfries man struggling to get the set up of his Lancer correct on this rally. Stephen Moore made his usual slow start and dropped a few seconds on that opening test. Rob Watson in the Nova got ahead of Moore in the standings, and Rob said that his new car is handling really well now, and this morning people were advising him to go for wet weather tyres but he took a gamble on slick rubber and he said it felt good.
Looking at the overnight results sheet – Danny Barry was 16th and 5th in group N and he now has his differential problems sorted out. Derek Boyd is in 36th, the former Ulster Rally winner who has his daughter Roisin co driving, is trying out one of McKinstry’s Subarus just to see what one of these world rally cars is all about. Interestingly, when the engineers were checking the data from the first stages they could see that Derek was losing time by double de-clutching going down the gears, basically treating the car with too much consideration, just the way you had to do 30 odd years ago when Derek was at his peak in BDA Escorts, works Leyland TR7’s and Porsche Carrera’s when they were brand new! It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks!!
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
|
| |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
