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Day Two of the Pirelli international Rally started dramatically for reigning British Champion Jonny Milner, when the Huggate driver rolled his Subaru on the opening stage after being caught out by one of Wetherlair,s many blind crests. Fortunately there were sufficient spectators at the scene to roll the car back on to the track but the resultant time loss dropped Milner way down the field, faced with a seemingly impossible task to get back onto the leader board.
David Higgins continued where he had left off the previous evening, having changed the cars centre diff overnight, he was 25 seconds quicker than on the previous run through Wetherlair and 6 seconds up on Alistair Ginley, these two clear of the chasing Barry Johnson, Steve Perez and Willie Bonniwell,the Fiat Stilo driver making a surprise appearance among the front runners. Paul Bird lost a minute with a puncture, he didn't stop to change it, but was obviously hampered by the cars handling.
Gareth Jones was quickest of the Super 1600 runners and Barry Clark got the better of Alessandro Broccoli in their own private battle although the San Marino driver held on to the class lead, albeit by only 2 seconds. Neil Buckley forced the pace in the Production class, taking 6 seconds out of Sebastian Ling's class lead.
Ryan Champion had a problem with brakes while Neil Gatt was suffering chronic backache, a legacy of a major accident on his last competitive outing. Damien Cole discovered an oil leak but was unable to trace the source while simon Redhead had a brake calliper break making stopping an interesting experience. Olly Marshall had changed an anti roll bar overnight and was finding the car much more stable and Gareth Jones was much happier after a gearbox change.
Shaun Woofinden slipped off the road into a ditch when trying an overtaking manoeuvre and lost over a minute before regaining the road while James Gloster had to be pushed away from the stage finish, his car suffering from a lack of gears.
Wilie Bonniwells staggering time, over half a minute quicker than Tom Metcalfe, leapfrogged him into the lead of the Fiat Stilo Cup fracas, ahead of Jean Roca who now had Chris Davies closing in on him, the Stilo's proving to be both quick and reliable on their first appearance in the Kwik Fit Pirelli British Championship.
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