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McHALE LOSES FIFTH IN EXHAUST EXIT FROM JIM CLARK RALLYPosted: July 16, 2002 12:08 PM - 5788 Hits
Posted: July 16, 2002 12:08 PM McHale and co-driver Brian Murphy (Newbridge) were confident on a top finish in their first outing in the Edinburgh-based Jim Clark Memorial Rally in the Michelin-shod, Toyota Finance-supported Corolla, and despite a few niggling problems it looked as if a certain fifth place overall was on the cards. The rally started from Ocean Terminal at lunchtime on Friday and 455 miles in total were scheduled over the two-day event, including 160 stage miles. After the second stage, the famous water-splash test at Langton just south of Duns, the turbo pipe on the Toyota Ireland Corolla needed changing following an intermittent fault, which was losing them vital seconds. Austin and Brian still came into service at Duns in fifth place on the leaderboard behind Jonny Milner, Robert Woodside, Derek McGarrity and Paedar Hurson. As Andrew Nesbitt recovered from an earlier spin back up to fourth place, McHale dropped to sixth, but the early Friday evening stages, three and four, were very wet and treacherous, catching out several leading contenders. At the overnight halt, the positions were McGarrity, Milner, Eamonn Boland, Nesbitt, Woodside and McHale, with the prospect of an early start on Saturday morning. McGarrity dropped out early on Saturday morning, elevating McHale back up to fifth but Austin reported that the engine was slightly down on power, which seemed to be turbo/intercooler related. And then a flattened exhaust section on Stage 9 necessitated a quick change in service. As Nesbitt leap-frogged to lead the rally after the 13th stage, McHale was still going well in fifth place, the team having sorted out the engine problem. However, it all came to an end on Stage 15 after the Langton test when the exhaust split fairly close to the electronics and a serious risk of fire forced McHale to retire the Toyota Ireland Corolla from the rally. There was good news for the two younger members of the McHale family, youngest son Gareth taking a creditable fifth place in the Peugeot 206 Cup, while eldest son Aaron took a superb sixth place overall in the Sligo Stages on Sunday. Austin heads for the World Rally Experience at Punchestown Racecourse this Sunday, July 21 and is hoping to repeat the joint victory he took with Nesbitt last year.
Topics:
Jim Clark Memorial Rally
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