Saturday 1 September 2012

Rally - Merrick dramas


Euan Thorburn still leads after 2 of today’s 4 stages but there is trouble under the bonnet of the Ford Focus: “We were stuck in 6th gear for the last 3 or 4 miles,” said Euan, “there’s oil leaking out of the gearbox from a pipe above the casing tucked under the transmission tunnel and I don't know if we can get to it. If we can’t fix it, we’re out.”

David Bogie had a problem too: “We flew over a crest in there and landed hard on a rock, it punctured a rear tyre and punched a hole through the rim itself. Instant deflation.”

Not to be outdone, third placed Jock Armstrong is not too happy either: “The car’s lost power. It’s done it before so we think we know what’s gone wrong. A wire near the gearbox has melted and fused with other electrics sending the wrong signals to the ECU.”

That put last year’s Merrick winner Mike Faulkner into fourth place after a steady run through Glentrool.

David Wright had to stop and change a front puncture and Tristan Pye stopped and changed too: “I’m driving Dad’s car to day, and he told me, if I get a puncture not to drive on it – so I did as I was told.”

In rather more trouble is Quintin Milne. Cowped!

Leading times after SS2 (of 4)
Thorburn, 26m 06s
Bogie, 26m 22s
Armstrong, 26m 32s
Faulkner, 26m 53s
MacDonald, 27m 2s
Kerr, 27m 45s
Collie, 27m 48s
McClory, 28m 32s
McCombie, 28m 52s
Robathan, 28m 57s

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