RALLY NEWS NO.5                   Duns - Service - Saturday 5pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12 FOGO
1st (12) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.07.46.6
2nd (25) Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter (Impreza WRC) 1.08.03.1
3rd (17) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.08.11.7
4th (15) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.08.27.3
5th (16) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 1.08.31.1
6th (14) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 1.09.03.0
7th (22) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.09.17.5
8th (23) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.11.07.0
9th (4) Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson (Opel Corsa) 1.12.10.7
10th (27) Roy White/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 1.12.57.2

Still the action continues on this Jim Clark Rally with Andrew Nesbitt blitzing the opposition through stages 11 and 12, Swinton and Fogo, to move into the lead. James Thompson dropping from 2nd to 18th, following an accident, in stage 10 Eccles. Eugene Donnelly falling back with poor tyre choice and black storm clouds gathering for some of the irish competitors in the shape of the organisers' weighbridge set up at the entrance to service.  Peadar Hurson's car is reportedly 4 kilos under the 1300 kilo weight limit and one other Irish driver is also apparently under the limit, but this has to be confirmed.

Nesbitt's co-driver James O'Brien commented at service in "Where the road was drying we took full advantage, weren't a bit shy".  Eugene Donnelly commented "Just can't stay with these guys, especially Andrew, but I think I probably picked the wrong tyre. A very heavily cut intermediate."  Jonny Milner's co driver Nicky Beech said they were going a whole lot better, but they would sit back and study the situation in relation to Pirelli British Championship points, now that their main rival James Thompson, had slipped so far back. Touring Car Champion James told us about his stage 10 accident. "It was a K right type corner, we braked well before it but the car slithered on, tried a bit of the hand brake, car got out synch, engine stalled and we were off, beached."  James went on to say that they also had a spin in stage 12 Fogo.

In Group N Roy White in the Lancer has been going brilliantly over the last few stages while Seamus Leonard has dropped a few seconds following an excursion on the main road section of the Swinton stage. At a 6 Right tightens his Impreza slithered into a ditch.  Dickie Curran has also been going well in gpN although he is seeded way back at 42 and was held up in stage 3 following someone else's accident, but still Dickie has moved ahead of Brendan Crealey into 3rd in gpN.  His son Michael isn't far behind.

In the Super 1600 category Kris Meeke is under very strict instructions from his Opel team to keep everything neat and tidy and get the car to the finish, just hold on to his Super 1600 lead with no heroics.  That's easier said than done of course, Kris reported one small problem, a small vibration underneath the car following a heavy landing in Swinton. Ryan Champion reports his Puma engine lost all its crispness and fading away a bit, that was following the water splash in Langton. Leon Pesticcio is now 2nd Super 1600 despite a spin. Barry Clark 4th even though he had an overshoot in stage 12. 

Further stories from the top 10 include Eamonn Boland having an overshoot in his Impreza WRC at a square left, went into a gateway and had to reverse out. Derek McGarrity has smashed the rear left corner of his car, lost about 10s. Barry Johnson has lost any chance of a decent result now, a wheel rim split at the big jump in Swinton and he had to stop and change the wheel, losing over 5mins.  Further news on Carl Williamson is that he is comfortable, has a pelvic injury and his arm is not broken.

In the Peugeot 206 Super Cup Shaun Gallagher charged through towards the end to win convincingly and increase his points at the top of the table, Stuart Jones came into 2nd having led a few stages from the end. Chris Moore was 3rd and Jack Ingleby 4th. This puts Jack in a good position in the championship as well. Richard Sykes was 5th today. Gareth McHale 6th. Philip Morrow and Dessie Keenan put their cars off the road. More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON