Rally - Marshall's Mach1

John Marshall and David Robson won the Mach1 Stages Rally at the weekend, but John  was already on his way home when he found out! Sadly there was a bit of a kerfuffle at the conclusion of the 2 day Campbeltown thrash and results were delayed before being confirmed.

Initially it looked as though Bruce Edwards had won from Alistair Inglis but they were each given a 30 second penalty having been reported by a Judge of Fact that they 'had struck a course marker and gained an advantage'. They were not the only ones and a few others also fell foul of the restrictions imposed on stage routes by single-venue rallying.

Otherwise it had been a cracker of an event which finished in blazing sunshine having started in thundery rain. And if you want to see folk walking at 45 degrees, visit the west coast when the wind is coming in off the Atlantic! Fortunately the showers came and went but as John  Marshall said: "Tyres will decide this event." And so they did, but for most of the drivers it was a lottery.

John  Rintoul was fourth, Tom Morris fifth and Barry Renwick sixth and looking quite pleased with himself: "After Crail we found another broken wire in the starter motor, so we think we've got it fixed now!"

Early leader Shaun Sinclair retired on the first stage of the day on Sunday with an inoperative (as opposed to broken!) gearbox, Alan Kirkaldy's diff broke in the Escort and John Paterson  broke a halfshaft in his Escort leaving Densport's Barry McKenna to finish top Escort in 8th place.

Sean Robson won the 1600 class when Gareth White suffered a snapped halfshaft on the penultimate test, but the two had been level pegging up till then. Greg Inglis therefore scored second and Murray Coulthard lost a wheel, on the opening stage.

It had been some event, 101 starters and just 67 finishers. There will be a full report later in the week in the on-line mag.

Final Results:

1,  John Marshall / Dave Robson (Subaru Impreza Teg B13) 86m 01s 

2,  Bruce Edwards / Jim Smith (Darrian T9 GTR) 86m 09s  

3,  Alistair Inglis / Colin Inglis  (Lotus Exige)  86m 19s 

4,  John Rintoul / Ross Hynd (Hyundai Accent WRC) 86m 36s 

5,  Tom Morris / Colin Harkness (MG Metro 6R4) 87m 28s 

6,  Barry Renwick / Paul Hughes (Proton Satria Millington) 87m 57s 

7,  Colin Gemmell / Derek Keir (Subaru Impreza) 87m 58s 

8,  Barry McKenna / Julie McGuire (Ford Escort Mk2) 87m 59s 

9,  Stuart Walker / Lewis Brown (Skoda Fabia S2000) 88m 36s 

10,  Ian Paterson / Heather Grisedale (Subaru Impreza N10) 88m 36s