RALLY NEWS NO.3                           Pickering Showgrounds/Saturday 3.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Givendale
1st (14) Tapio Laukkanen/Ilka Riipinen (Impreza WRC) 43.40.7
2nd (17) Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Anttila (Focus WRC) 43.57.2
3rd (11) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 44.11.9
4th (12) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 45.00.8
5th (16) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Accent WRC) 45.39.8
6th (19) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 46.09.6
7th (18) Chirs Mellors/Craig Thorley (Escort WRC) 46.41.8
8th (2) Gwyndaf Evans/Clare Mole (MG) 47.26.6
9th (3) Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson (Opel Corsa) 47.32.5
10th (22) Nigel Heath/Steve Lancaster (Impreza WRC) 47.56.4

Tapio Laukkanen was fastest through the long Givendale stage, all 16.35 miles of it, his time 14m15s.  Latvala was 2nd fastest on 14.25, Jonny Milner 3rd quickest on 14.36.  Latvala had been fastest on stage 5, by just over a second from Laukkanen, Latvala saying "I lost some time to Tapio because I lift the throttle in fast places, it's the driver's fault, I'm happy with the car. It feels now good and I try to keep good speed".  Tapio said "We have a small engineering problem, the car is power over steering, we tried something at last service, and now we try something else. Apart from that it is good".  Tapio's co-driver Illka Riipinen wasn't quite so happy - his glasses are broken in two and taped together with some insulating tape! 

Jonny Milner said "We're not pushing for a win, the car is spot on, still thinking of the Pirelli Championship. We dropped a little time in that last stage when we caught Ryan Champion. I believe he was struggling with a broken drive shaft".  Ryan was indeed struggling with a broken drive shaft and lost 4 minutes in stage 5, 6 minutes in stage 6, his local rally providing him with little luck, after setting a fastest Super 1600 time in stage 2. 

Gwyndaf Evans still leads the Super 1600 and is 8th overall in the MG, Kris Meeke 9th in the Corsa. Garry Jennings in the works Peugeot just outside the leaderboard, a minute and a half behind Meeke.  Gwyndaf said when he reached service "Some stages are better than others for me, the grip level varies. Nearly all the approaches to corners are at high speed and its difficult to judge the braking distances".  Garry Jennings said "We tried more camber on the front wheels as the tyres were wearing on the inside edge, but it has made the car unstable on the straights. Very exciting, like a Mk2 Escort."  When it was pointed out that his Peugeot's rear apron/bumper was missing, Garry admitted that he had no idea where it was knocked off, possibly the bad jumps near the quarry section, near the woodyard.  Young Kris Meeke reported clipping a rock on the exit to a square right uphill junction. Kris thought the Team Palmer Opel Corsa had a punctured wheel, backed off for about a mile, realised it was OK, and speeded up again. Overall Kris is still thinking about the Super 1600 in the Pirelli Championship, and said "I'm middle of the road, its important to beat Garry Jennings, not race Gwyndaf". Leon Pesticcio had a reasonably good time through 6, says the car is now good after the earlier broken drive shaft, but he is still learning the Puma. Ryan Champion reports that his drive shaft broke on a very simple fast right over small crest, hard to understand.

In Group N Neil Buckley continues to lead, and is just outside the leaderboard. Roy White had speeded up enormously as his confidence grows in the forest. Roy now 3rd in gpN and breathing down Rob Swann's neck. Barry Groundwater is 4th in gpN.

In the Peugeot 206 Super Cup Shaun Gallagher leads from Chris Moore, Shaun's co driver Richard Pashley saying at service after stage 6 "We took 8s from Chris Moore on stage 4, its rough and bumpy, but being local myself I know where all the bad bits are. However we lost 6s in stage 5 and had a bit of an overshoot in stage 6 and lost some seconds".   Late news - Chris Moore puncture stage 6, bent steering arm, dropped 20s.

Other stories include - Dougie Hall retired when his Lancer slid off on a 90 right. Julian Reynolds is running well back having been off the road on a square right corner. Shelley Taunt has won the Ladies Award on the Pirelli British Champion by just crossing the ramp this morning.  Swedish girl Jennie-Lee Hermansson has retired with gearbox troubles. More news later.     BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON           www.rallynews.net