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Thursday, Sept. 18, 2003

Leg 3: Subway Kittiwake - Gander to Clarenville

The day opens with another run through the streets of Gander, this time in the opposite direction. Base times have been lowered, so drivers are concerned about picking up their first points, however, the stage is apparently quicker in this direction and twelve of the cars are able to beat their base time.

Following Route 330 north, there are several stages in the Kittwake peninsula. Davidsville, SS 3.3, is pretty straightforward, a 4.42 km fast stage on some bumpy pavement. The road from Fredrickton to Carmanville is next, 10.4 km with some tight turns in each town and some long fast stretches in between. Several teams pick up more points, some because of minor off-road excursions.

The rally takes a quick run through Musgrave Harbour before the lunch break at the Muddy Shag Lounge.

A new stage this year is in Greenspond, a typical Newfoundland fishing village a ways off the main road. As the route travels through the streets there are some very tight turns, some very steep uphill sections, and a very fast run to the finish line. It is here that Alan Ryall's Subaru meets its end. Just after crossing the line at speed, Ryall let up on the accelerator and the car spun off the road, did a couple of endos and came to rest. Ryall and co-driver Glenn Hamilton were unhurt, though they were taken to a hospital to be checked out. Since the car is no longer driveable, they plan to return tomorrow for the Touring class in their service van.

The final two stages of the day, Traytown East and Port Blanford, are both about 4 km long and relatively fast.

The other casualty of the day was the Porsche 911S of Scott Giannou and Tim Winker. Giannou entered a marked right hand bend on SS 3.3 a little too quick. It turned out to be downhill and a little off-camber. He let up to scrub a little speed and the back end of the Porsche came around, coming to rest with the right rear fender pinched under a guardrail. The damage turned out to be all cosmetic and the team were able to continue following the lunch break. The team had been without penalty up to that point.

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