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| Pirelli International Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - After SS8 - Saturday @ 16:03:31 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Carlisle Racecourse/Service/Saturday 4.00
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 Trinket
1st (3) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Impreza N) 52.20.0
2nd (2) Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 52.30.2
3rd (7) David Bogie/Kevin Rae (Lancer N) 53.15.7
4th (15) Jonny Greer/Anthony O'Conaill (Lancer N) 53.28.7
5th (14) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 53.29.0
6th (8) Dave Weston/Dave Robson (Impreza N) 53.50.8
7th (12) Danny Sigurdarson/Andy Bull (Lancer N) 55.35.8
8th (25) Chris Firth/Mark Taylor (Impreza N) 56.45.9
9th (26) Max Utting/Katie Blake (Impreza N) 57.06.8
10th (16) Rob Swann/Darren Garrod (Impreza N) 57.25.6
11th (19) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta) 57.50.7
12th (28) Marty McCormack/Phil Clarke (Citroen C2R2 Max) 57.51.8
Guy Wilks and his co driver Phil Pugh have led this Pirelli International Rally from the start but unfortunately their fine drive has come to an end on stage 8, Trinket, as their Proton S2000 has gone on fire. The information that we are getting is that the fire brigade was in attendance but couldn’t save the rally car. Guy and Phil are both OK. The competitors who did get through stage 8 were subsequently given a zero time.
Keith Cronin had the fastest time through stage 7 so there is still quite a battle going on between Mark Higgins and Keith and indeed David Bogie is only a further 45s back. Jonny Greer, Alastair Fisher and Dave Weston make up the rest of the top 6 and with 4 stages remaining anything can still happen on this Pirelli International. Earlier we said that Adam Gould had retired with a mechanical problem. It transpires that this was incorrect. His Impreza got beached when he put a couple of wheels off the road after a chicane and subsequently the gorse went on fire. There was no damage at all really but Adam’s rally was over. That was on stage 5.
Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts have won the Fiesta Sporting Trophy section of the event. They are continuing in the International section and are having a fine run. Mark Donnelly was well in contention in the Fiestas but he slowed with a damaged back axle and then pulled out at service after stage 6 which was the end of the Fiesta category anyway. First round Fiesta winner Matt Edwards was running in the BRC Challenge but he finished well down the order following an off road excursion. Marty McCormack continues to lead the Citroen Racing Trophy and he is now only 1s behind Craig Breen in the race for best 2 wheel drive honours. Mark Gamble is 2nd Citroen despite having lost a little bit of time with damaged sump guard/exhaust troubles. One S2000 car still going strong is Peter Stephenson’s MG S2000. Peter said that the car is handling well, a bit down on power and hard to get off the line and at the chicanes but he’s still 17th o/a. Richard Sykes has moved into the lead of Class R1 ahead of Molly Taylor, both in Swifts.
In the Tour of Cumbria rally Marcus Dodd led after their 4th stage, Chirdonhead, his advantage over Steve Perez 6s. Paul Bird was 3rd having led earlier but lost time when he got stuck at a chicane and stalled the engine. Marcus Dodd made a slow start to the rally when his Accent developed a hydraulic problem which “knackered” the gearbox. Marcus had an intermittent 6th gear through his first loop of 4 stages so did well to battle back from 3rd to 1st. Perez said he felt out of practice and he also has a sore neck following a skiing mishap. Simon Hughes was 4th and led group N as well as the Evo Challenge. Danny Barry, the current series leader, was 5th. Danny is suffering from flu and is full of Lemsips! He said he fell asleep in stage 3, just couldn’t get into it. Nik Elsmore was 6th and 3rd GpN and said. “I’m not on the pace, can’t put my finer on it. It’s a matter of keeping out of trouble and getting to the finish”. Owen Murphy was 7th and said his lancer was cutting out and seemingly not on full power. Steve Bannister was 8th and best of the 2 wheel drive section. Alan Carmichael of ACT Transport was 9th and 5th GpN. Alan won GpN last weekend on the Circuit of Ireland and said his Lancer doesn’t seem to be well set up for the Kielder forest roads and “is scooting about on top of the gravel”.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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