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| RBS Int Manx National Rally 2008 |
| RALLY NEWS No.5 - After SS8 - Thursday @ 15:21:58 |
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WEE MANX TALES NO.5 Grandstand/Douglas/Saturday 11.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8
1st (3) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 54.20.1
2nd (1) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 54.28.6
3rd (2) Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) 55.30.7
4th (24) Richard Cathcart/Martin Brady (Lancer N) 55.41.6
5th (4) Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop (Impreza WRC) 56.06.2
6th (11) David Kynaston/Andy Russell (Audi A3) 56.16.5
7th (45) Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors 9Lancer N) 56.18.1
8th (6) Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery (Accent WRC) 56.22.8
9th (8) David Mann/Alun Cook (Impreza WRC) 56.32.1
10th (17) Neil McCance/Graham Hopewell (Lancer N) 56.59.6
11th ((32) Graham Coffey/Dave Gamblin (Impreza WRC) 57.08.3
12th (18) David Bogie/Kevin Rae (Lancer N) 57.22.5
With just 8s separating the top 2 cars of Melvyn Evans and Kenny McKinstry it is all to play for on this RBS International Manx Rally. Roger Duckworth moved up to 3rd place when Marcus Dodd dropped a few seconds after his Accent WRC suffered a puncture. Richard Cathcart really woke up through stages 7 and 8 and has maintained his group N lead over Keith Cronin. When Melvyn Evans reached service his co driver Sean Mullally reported. “The paddle shift gear mechanism broke half way through that last stage. We went well through stage 7 although there was quite a lot of standing water.” Melvyn maintained that he wasn’t being hard on the gear change mechanism that “it is a weak point”. Kenny McKinstry’s man on the notes, Noel Orr, said. “Kenny has been coming to his Island for such a long time that he has the run down the Baldwins down to a fine art. He said afterwards there was one place where he maybe could have gone harder. The speed you can carry is huge but if you get it wrong it would be a very big accident. Still, it was fantastic”. Kenny had far and away the fastest time through stage 8, 13s up on Evans, 12 up on Duckworth.
Marcus Dodd’s puncture happened half way through stage 7 at a “don’t cut” in the notes. They thought maybe the tyre would be OK but then bits of rubber started to fly off. Marcus finished the stage on the flailing remnants of the tyre, more or less destroying the front mudguard. They then had to do stage 8 on an oddball front tyre. Roger Duckworth reported a lot of clutch slip on his Subaru at the start of stage 7. It lasted 3 or 4 miles and after the very nadgery but dramatic jump over the main road crossroads Roger thought seriously of pulling in to the side of the road. Then it sort of cleared and he had a good run although he lost some time when he caught up with the struggling Dodd Accent before stage finish.
Richard Cathcart brought his group N Lancer into service with great wedges of soil sticking out from around the front wheel. Richard said. “The tyres were overheating, I couldn’t stay with it at times. The car was pushing out at the end of corners and there was one medium right into hairpin left where we thumped a bank.” Richard’s co driver Martin Brady laughed when he interjected. “He couldn’t have taken more soil out with a JCB!” Jon Ingram has gone well this morning but he is still not happy with the differentials on his Subaru. He thinks there is something not quite right in the wiring loom and said. “Its coming and going like an Irish builder!” Still has moved from an overnight 7th to 5th. David Kynaston is struggling with a new suspension set up on his Audi. Keith Cronin set a very good time through stage 8 but his co driver Greg Shinnors insisted “We’re just learning the island, being wary of the wet patches, trying to hit a good safe pace.” When it was pointed out that they were doing exceptionally well learners, Greg Shinnors said. “Every day is another school day!”
Further stories included: David Mann has severely crunched the back of his Subaru, the suspension is bent and the engineers are not sure if they will have the spares to fix it here. Stephen Moore is maybe letting himself get psyched out a little by all the talk of shiny tar and slippy roads. At least Stephen’s Focus is going well but he has slipped back to 13th place this morning. Neil McCance said. “Last night I was brimming with confidence, today I’m more nervous, but the times are good”. Rob Watson’s Nova suffered a puncture on Kella, the passenger side front. Rob finished the stage on the flat but didn’t drive too hard. He lost a minute and is now 20th o/a. David Bogie put his Lancer into the scenery on a 1 right into square left this morning. The rear spoiler was damaged but in overall terms David is gaining in commitment on the tarmac roads. Stephen Petch put his Accent into a field on the Curraghs, thankfully the gate was open but he then couldn’t find reverse and had to depend on the marshals to push the car out. Danny Barry was off at the start of the Kella stage on the first square left. Danny said he just tipped the brakes, the tyres were cold and the Lancer side swiped into a wall wrecking half the boot area. The Wicklow man then said the handling wasn’t great through stage 8 and he dropped about 20s.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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