RALLY NEWS NO.7                  Baldoon servic/Sunday 09.00

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8
1st (4) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 1.01.57.1
2nd (5) Tapio Laukkanen/Miika Anttila (Impreza WRC) 1.02.09.2
3rd (6) Jari-Matti Latvala/Carl Williamson (Focus WRC) 1.04.41.3
4th (3) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 1.05.34.8
5th (16) Dougie Hall/Steve Egglestone (Lancer) 1.05.53.7
6th (9) Gwyndaf Evans/Claire Mole (MG) 1.05.55.8
7th (7) Julian Reynolds/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza) 1.06.20.0
8th (20) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza) 1.06.30.5
9th (10) Gareth Jones/Marc Jones (Impreza) 1.06.35.9
10th (13) Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson (Corsa) 1.06.41.3

Overnight leader Tapio Laukkanen set fastest time on the first stage this morning, Fuffock Hill, but the Finn's charge was thwarted on the 2nd test, Shiel Rigg, when his Subaru sustained a front puncture.  This allowed Jonny Milner to take the lead, while Jari-Matti Latvala moved from 4th to 3rd with a fastest time through stage 8.  Austin MacHale also improved over the first couple of stages, moving from an overnight 5th to 4th, getting ahead of Dougie Hall, the latter saying "The car's good, but I'll have to waken up a bit".  Jonny Milner told us    "We've nothing left, flat out, although the car felt down on power, but I think it was the type of surface, gravelly and stony. We did have a half spin on the first stage this morning, dropped about 4s maybe, otherwise went well".  Tapio told us "It was a front wheel puncture, about 6 miles from the end of the stage, it just happened, we weren't conscious of hitting anything. We will try and pull it back from Jonny, think we can, but he will push hard now for sure".   Latvala's co driver Carl Williamson observed "We're quite happy with the first 2 stages today. We managed to get a 2 minute gap behind Dougie Hall, the car in front, but we still got some dust. I don't know what is going to happen on the 18 mile stage later on".

In the battle for supremacy in the 1600 category Gwyndaf Evans in the MG still holds sway.  Kris Meeke drove his heart out in the Corsa over the first 2 stages today trying to make up for the time loss with yesterday's puncture, but the net result of  all his efforts was 0.5 of a second of a gain over the 2 stages this morning.  Kris' co driver Chris Patterson joked "We need another 96 stages to win!"  Gwyndaf Evans said "We struggled for traction, perhaps running first on the road is not so good. The alternator stopped charging between 2 stages and we are still having trouble with the intercom".  Kris Meeke remarked "The engineers changed the dampers on the car last night and its working really well".  Third Super 1600 is Simon Hughes and he said "The dust problem was really bad for me, on the last mile of stage 8 I nearly had to stop".  Mirco Baldacci in the Punt, 4th in the category, feels he is losing out in the traction stakes. Garry Jennings in the works Peugeot finished the 2nd of this morning's stages with both rear dampers gone - a repeat of yesterday's problem. Garry also feels the car is under geared for these fast stages.

Other stories include - Austin MacHale reckons there is something slightly wrong with the transmission/suspension at the back of his Impreza WRC, and the car is not liking right hand corners. Ryan Champion had to do half of Fuffock Hill and all of the Shiel Rigg stage with no power steering in his Ford Puma, Ryan saying it was not only hard work but quite dangerous reacting to the bumps.

In Group N Paul Alexander took a few seconds from leader Neil Buckley, neither reporting any major problems.
Looking back to last night Mike Faulkner did win the Peugeot 206 Super Cup rally with Catalunyan crew Joan Roca/Dani Guirro 2nd. Jack & Grania Ingleby were 3rd. Shaun Gallagher dropped to 5th following fuel pump problems having set fastest time on stage 6.  The 206 Super Cup have a new rally today, again with max. points.
Anton Mitchell led the Lex Army Land Rover team last night from John Duncan with Gary Mitchell 3rd. Finally for now, an absolute "Oh Dear" story …Neil Burgess & Anna McColl started the rally badly when a spectating car crashed into the back of the Mini on the way to the first stage. They went well through the first day but this morning drove to the start of stage 1 instead of stage 7, as Anna had brought Road Book 1 with her and not Road Book 2.  Still able to smile, but with tears not far away, she told us "That is definitely how not to be a co-driver! I wouldn't even feel so bad if Neil had shouted at me". More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON                www.rallynews.net