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| Manx National Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.4 - After SS8 - Saturday @ 10:48:14 |
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WEE MANX TALES NO.4 Saturday/Grandstand
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8
1st (4) Paul Bird/Ian Windress (Focus WRC) 40.03.9
2nd (3) Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery (Accent WRC) 40.49.6
3rd (1) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 41.04.6
4th (2) Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) 41.39.7
5th (6) Steve Perez/Stephen McAuley (Focus WRC) 42.03.8
6th (5) David Kynaston/Andy Russell (Audi A3) 42.14.7
7th (10) Danny Barry/Martin Brady (Lancer N) 42.37.8
8th (23) George Collister/Janet Craine (Lancer) 42.44.5
9th (11) Steven Quine/Richard Skinner (Lancer N) 42.51.3
10th (15) Wayne Sisson/Daniel Stone (Lancer N) 43.24.0
On the opening 2 stages this morning, Little London and Kella, Paul Bird in his Focus WRC really set the pace, seconds a mile faster than this closest challenger Melvyn Evans through stage 7, Little London. Through the Kella stage again Bird was fastest, this time by a second a mile from Marcus Dodd. Conditions were bright but cold underfoot and the roads were dry but still Paul Bird made the decision to go on wet weather tyres for the Little London stage and it really paid off. Chicken supremo Bird said at stage finish. “That was mega, fastest I’ve ever been through there”.
Marcus Dodd continues to impress with his speed and when his Hyundai came down into the little hamlet of Ballaugh after the stage he took time out to say. “We had a steady run, a bit bumpy up there, but it went well”. Last year’s winner Melvyn Evans is still trying to recover from a slow 2nd stage last night and he said. “That was a bit better I’m getting my confidence back”. Steve Perez was 4th overnight but has slipped to 5th after those first 2 Saturday stages and he seemed very undecided over his tyre choice and his times were certainly off the boil. Roger Duckworth on the other hand went really well to move from 5th to 4th. Roger said. “It went really well”. We did hear that Roger’s Impreza suffered a puncture in stage 8 but he only lost a couple of seconds.
Further stories from Little London: George Collister felt the front tyres on his Lancer going off towards stage finish which cost him a couple of seconds. Steven Quine admitted to a “scrappy” run over the stage and he said he’ll just have to get back into it. Danny Barry was fastest of the Evo Challenge contenders through Little London and said. “We pushed hard enough but I’m happy with that. We were on slick tyres and they worked well although there were a few set spots”. Simon Hughes was only 0.5s down on Barry through that stage 7 but the times coming in from stage 8 show Hughes to have lost half a minute on his rival. Simon’s Lancer reportedly has some differential problem. Danny Barry spun his Lancer and knocked the bumper off but lost no time in stage 8. Nik Elsmore was a few seconds down on both Hughes and Barry on stage 7 and he said. “The back end is kicking out slightly so we’ll have to see what can be done about that at service”.
Alan Cookson had a great run at the start of the rally and was lying just outside the top 10 this morning but he was slowish through stage 7 and has now dropped to 16th after stage 8. He had some problem with the front right wheel of his Subaru and was looking for emergency service. David Kynaston had a smooth run this morning and the current Asphalt Champion is certainly sitting in there nicely in 6th o/a, his Audi giving no trouble so far. Local driver Andrew Leece seems to be having a ball in his Subaru but he’s running more or less standard brakes in the car and joked at the end of Little London. “The brakes are getting the better of me now!”
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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