|
Leg Two - Carlisle to Carlisle
Kick Energy rally driver Steve Perez put yesterday's day
of mechanical frustration behind him to storm back into contention after a
stunning performance on the second leg of the Roger Albert Clark
Rally.
With the second loop around Scotland and the Borders today, the
Lancia Stratos driver, along with co-driver Kevin Rae, gradually made their way
back up the leader board from the 16th position they held at the overnight halt
to 7th as the remaining crews arrived back at Carlisle late this evening.
Setting top twelve times on the opening four stages today, the
Clay Cross driver upped his pace as the day progressed and by mid-afternoon,
despite one or two niggling problems with the Italian machinery, he had climbed
to 11th after the first of the Craik stages near Rae's home town of Hawick.
But it was as darkness fell that Perez really started his charge
and with string of top eight times in the southern fringes of Kielder to end up
in an impressive 7th overall and 2nd in class at the Carlisle Airport service
park after another 82 stage miles.
"After yesterday, today has been a lot better and we've
suffered no major problems although the car is cutting out in the dark and we
did the last stage with only two gears due to having no clutch. The weather has
been very mild and the stages are in good condition which has suited the little
car. We're still miles off Malcolm (Wilson) in the lead but the aim today was to
get inside the top ten and we've done that so now we just need to maintain our
speed and our luck and it's possible we can get to the finish. There's a three
minute gap to the crew in front of us so it's unlikely we'll get any higher
unless anyone drops out now" said Steve.
Perez and the
remaining crews have another dawn start tomorrow whereby they will tackle the
final five stages of the 31 stage event, which provides the sting in the tail
with over fifty miles of 'Killer Kielder', including an 18.4 miler in
Broomylinn, before the finish in Carlisle on Monday afternoon.
Log onto www.rogeralbertclarkrally.org
for further information.
Roger Albert Clark Rally - Interim Results After
SS26
1 Malcolm Wilson/John Millington (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 2hr
46m35s
2 David Stokes/Guy Weaver
(Ford Escort RS1600) + 4.49
3 Seamus O'Connell/Paul
Wakely (Ford Escort Mk2) + 7:46
4 Charlie Taylor/Steve
Bielby (Ford Escort) + 8.17
5 Phil Squires/Mick
Squires (Ford Escort RS1800) + 9.32
6 William
Onions/Tim Hobbs (Ford Escort RS1800) + 12.52
7
Steve Perez/Kevin Rae (Lancia Stratos) +
16.01
8 Bob Bean/Malcolm Smithson (Ford Lotus Cortina Mk1)
+ 16.08
9 Andrew Siddall/Colin Thompson (Ford Escort
RS2000) + 16.23
10 Reg Britton/Gerry Buckley (Ford Escort Mk2
RS1800) + 16.25
|
