RALLY NEW NO.4             Duns service/Saturday  2.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 Chirnside 2
1st (25) Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter (Impreza WRC) 41.49.1
2nd (15) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 41.52.3
3rd (26) James Thompson/Plug Pulleyn (Evo) 41.52.6
4th (12) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 41.55.2
5th (17) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 41.57.7
6th (22) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 42.06.8
7th (14) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 42.36.0
8th (16) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 42.39.6
9th (23) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 43.03.5
10th (4) Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson (Opel Corsa) 43.52.7

We had a late news on the last RallyNews that Gwyndaf Evans  had crashed his MG at the first junction of stage 6, Kimmerghame. That has subsequently been confirmed and Gwyndaf was forced to retire from the rally.  Following that Jari-Matti Latvala crashed his Focus WRC at the same junction and then Tapio Laukkanen crashed his Impreza just around the corner.  Unfortunately Latvala's co driver Carl Williamson sustained some injuries and the stage was then cancelled.  Carl has a suspected broken arm and possible broken hip or pelvis. More news on this later, hopefully Carl is reasonably comfortable. Gwyndaf described his accident thus - "When we left service we were on a cut slick tyre and as soon as I drove out the road I knew it was a wrong choice.  The roads were quite wet.  I baked early for the junction, the car just seemed to go faster, I steered it on to the gravel at the side, but still got no braking at all". 

The battle for the lead continued unabated through stages 7 and 8 with the top drivers swapping seconds.  Amazingly Stage 7 was bone dry and most of the drivers who had picked an intermediate tyre found the rubber overheating, and then stage 8 was wet, which meant they had to struggle once more. Peadar Hurson reported a reasonably good run. While James Thompson joked "This is all good experience for me".  Eugene Donnelly was slowed in stage 8 when his Impreza wipers jammed down, Eugene slowed right down, stuck his arm out the window and hit them a whack to get them going.  Then he clipped a big rock on the last square left in the stage, the Subaru careering on to the grass.  "That was nobody's fault but my own" commented the Ulsterman.  Austin McHale lost some time when his Impreza turbo pipe came adrift.  Jonny Milner says he is clawing his way back, leaving his braking as late as he can but still trying to keep out of trouble.  Maurice Gass' lovely Impreza is stopped in stage 8 and reportedly there is a bit of a fire. Barry Johnson's Impreza was stuck in 3rd gear for a bit of stage 7 and all of stage 8.

In Group N Brendan Crealey has speeded up.  Seamus Leonard still leads by 8s from Roy White, with Brendan Crealey now 20s back having been fastest through stage 8. We reported earlier that Neil Buckley had retired his Lancer - he managed to get going again following his accident. There was little body damage but it took ages to get the oil cooler by passed.

In the Super 1600 category Kris Meeke is out on his own now in the Corsa although a bit frustrated that stage 6 was cancelled, because he was over 20s faster than anyone in the category. Ryan Champion is 2nd in his Puma, a 10th of a second ahead of Leon Pesticcio. Barry Clark's Puma is damaged at the back but still going. In the Peugeot 206 Super Cup after stage 5 Stuart Jones leads by 3s from Shaun Gallagher. Jack Ingleby is 3rd a further 3s back, Chris Moore 4th, Ian Warren 5th, Gareth McHale up to 6th. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON       www.rallynews.net