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| Pirelli International Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.7 - After SS10 - Saturday @ 19:00:02 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.7 Carlisle Racecourse Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10 AT SERVICE
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/Martin 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
Since our last Rally News the crews in the International Rally have not driven any more stages following the fire which put Guy Wilks’ Proton S2000 out of the rally. That was on stage 8. Between delays and the top 6 cars not having hand held fire extinguishers because they had used them to put out the Proton fire and a forest fire, stages 9 and 10 did not run for the International Rally. The Pirelli Tour of Cumbria competitors did not get doing stage 8 but are competing over stages 9 and 10. The International crews are now going out to drive stages 11 and 12, Glen Dhu and The Valley. Mark Higgins was first on the road behind the Wilks’ Proton and he said that as he was driving through stage 8 and Guy was ahead of him Mark said that he was coming upon bits of burning plastic lying on the track and he was to swerve his Subaru around them. Then of course he came upon the burning Proton stopped. Mark tried to put the flames out with his hand held extinguisher but to no avail. He decided then to try to get to the end of the stage to alert the emergency services and he was no sooner past the incident when the Proton’s petrol tank blew and then the forest went on fire. Other drivers were by this time arriving and between them they managed to put the forest fire out but could not save the car.
As regards the next 2 stages and trying to maintain his rally lead Mark said. “It could be a lottery, the stages are sure to be rough”. When asked if he would fit a spotlight pod Mark continued. “We’ll lose about 40 horse power with the lights on. It’s a lovely night I think we’ll chance it without the spot lights”. When we spoke to Keith Cronin he was very much of the same opinion as Mark, that he would give it a go without the spot lights. David Bogie is 45s back from Keith and he told us that he ripped the exhaust off on the one stage he did before the incident. He is going to have a replacement piece of exhaust fitted here but reckons the unit needs re-designed. Dave Weston is in 7th and was happier with his stage and said that he changed the centre differential settings on the Impreza and it is much better with less under steer.
Jonny Greer and Alastair Fisher are having a mighty battle for 4th and 5th. They are separated by just .3 of a second. Alastair said. “We’re having a good cut and I’m very please to be only a second a mile off Cronin and Higgins’ pace”. Greer admitted he didn’t go quite as hard on that stage and that was the only reason he dropped 3s or so to Alastair. Danny Sigurdarson told us. “We were safe, no problem. There is nobody pushing us from behind. My big push was to be a fireman in the forest!” Chris Firth and Max Utting maintained their places in 9th and 10th while Rob Swann reckoned that his Geoff Jones Motorsport engineers made big improvements to his Impreza for that last stage. Craig Breen and Marty McCormack are separated by just 1 second in the race for 2 wheel drive honours. Craig leads the Fiestas and Marty McCormack leads the Citroen Racing Trophy in his C2R2 Max. Marty commented. “Everything is spot on, we’ll just suck it and see through the last 2 stages, just drive at our own pace”. Martin is on a £4000 bonus from Citroen if he wins Class R2 as well as the prize money for winning the Citroen Racing Trophy. Kyle Orr has maintained his 2nd place in Cl.R3 and 2nd in the Fiestas. Kris Hall retired his Fiesta earlier, his co driver Barry McNulty told us that they went into a fast left hander and the car kicked up in the ruts, slid into the ditch and the engine and gearbox “got a big bang”.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (Our thanks again to the Marty McCormack Team - for dinner this time! A first class job)
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