STOBARTS SUPER SHOW

A huge crowd turned out to welcome the Pirelli International Rally back to Carlisle and they soon saw the stunning spectacle of the high performance cars as they rocketed round the 1.4 mile Spectator Stage at Newby Grange, specially built as a “people friendly “ venue, the large crowd were treated to a thrilling display from the countries leading drivers who slid around the many bends, jumped high over the artificial “Yumps” and negotiated the water splash at undiminished speed .

Fastest after two runs at the “Supersprint” were the Eddie Stobart backed crew, Mark Higgins/ Brian Thomas in their Ford Focus but only by two seconds from another Focus driven by Irish bhoys Austin McHale/ Brian Murphy who were closely followed by the other Higgins, David, in the Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MR, then Bird/ Windress (Ford Focus), Milner/ Beech (Toyota Corolla), Ling/ Allsop (Hyundai Accent), Galligan/ Shinnors(Mitsubishi Lancer) and Perez/ Dashfield (Ford Focus). The competition was very fierce and, indeed, the top ten crews were covered by a mere 15 seconds. Gwyndaf Evans, giving the new Ford Fiesta S1600 it’s British competition debut was back in 20 th position, finding grip hard to find.

Mark Higgins headed back to service minus his rear bumper which came off at the watersplash, while Richard Gower detoured off the route and done a quick “Lap” round a large chestnut tree before regaining the track while several crews climbed up the grassy banks lining the stage including Stephen Petch/ Micheal Wilkinson (Subaru Impreza) while the first casualty of the event was Leo Pesticcio whose Fiat Stilo managed amere 15 yards off the start line before expiring.

Top 10. M.Higgins/ B.Thomas (Ford Focus) 3.59.9, A.McHale/ B.Murphy (Ford Focus) 4.01.9, D.Higgins/ D.Barritt (Mitsubishi Lancer) 4.03.6, P.Bird/ I.Windress ( Ford Focus) 4.05.0, J.Milner/ N.Beech (Toyota Corolla) 4.06.9, S.Ling/ I.Allsop (Hyundai Accent) 4.09.0, R.Galligan / G.Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer 4.10.4, S.Perez/ N.Dashfield (Ford Focus) 4.11.4, J.Ingram/ A. Bargery (Ford Focus) 4.12.8, T.Laukkanen/ H.Kaapro (Subaru Impreza) 4.12.9.