Rally - Amended results

The more astute amongst you may have noticed that the 'results' which were shown on the previous posting were headed 'Provisional Top Ten'. Smart move. The actual FINAL Results are shown below!

Taylor Gibb was initially penalised for an 'off-road' excursion which earned him a Maximum penalty for Stage 10. The time was subsequently queried and his actual time was re-instated. In reality he was fifth quickest on the test despite his massive brake lock-up and slide.

This was absolutely right and fair 'cos Taylor was on a mission all weekend. That poor wee Lancer was getting its bits well and truly tickled. It shimmied under braking, slithered on the corners and was out of them like a terrier chasing a burst ball.

I should add, also, that despite the good weather and dry conditions, it did rain yesterday. Shortly after 10am a passing shower swept across the track. It was gone inside ten minutes but it caught out some of the top seeds. The stage was initially dry, then wet for a few minutes before drying again, and guess who was out there at the time, and not just Taylor. Quite a few folk had attention grabbing moments on slicks.

Anyway, all sorted now. If you were keeping an eye on Scotresults yesterday you might understand the problems. Like the rain showers, the phone signal came and went all weekend and poor Raymond was tearing his hair out, which is a terrible shame 'cos he doesn't have much left anyway. In fact each and every result had to be checked and re-checked on Saturday because the Marshals' Time cards were getting wet in the rain, the chap radio-ing in the times was having difficulty reading them and Raymond and Stan had to go through the Check Sheets when they were handed in late Saturday. So whilst many of the competitors were already mid-Chinese restaurant slurping or mid bevvying in the Royal on Saturday evening, Raymond, Stan and Bob were still at it.

These days we are all only too well aware of the efforts and dedication of Marshals but we tend to forget the backroom boys and girls who also make things happen. Just remember them next time you look at the 'Scotresults' or 'Flying Finish' results service websites which do such a sterling job for Scottish rallying.

And another thing, it would appear there was a bad accident on the Loch Lomond A82 road yesterday which caused massive tailbacks and hold-ups. Many of us trying to get home were delayed for hours. That's my reason for the lateness of last night's report.

Just to set the record straight, here's a pic of Taylor and just out of interest a pic of the view from the Ashbank Hotel at Carradale on Sunday morning at a time when most sensible folks are still lying in their beds dreaming of a full cooked breakfast, instead of getting up at 6 o'bluidy clock to go to a bluidy rally. And finally a pic to start the day with a smile showing a real photographer (Gavin) in action. Standing there scratching his head and wondering like most of us: "Whit the heck am I doing here?"

Final Results:

1 Shaun Sinclair/Fred MacLean (Subaru WRC S9) 106m 36s 

2 Nigel Feeney/Phil Sandham  (Mini Countryman JCW WRC)  108m 02s

3 Alan Kirkaldy/Cameron Fair (Ford Escort Mk2)  108m 47s

4 Taylor Gibb/Jane Nicol (Mitsubishi Lancer) 108m 58s

5 John Marshall/Scott Crawford (Subaru Impreza)  109m 05s

6 James Gibb/Charley Sayer-Payne (Mitsubishi Evo9)  110m 17s

7 Brian Watson/Caroline Will (Mitsubishi Evo) 110m 37s 

8 Alan Wallace/Darren Robertson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo6)  113m 51s

9 Colin Gemmell/Derek Keir (Ford Escort Mk2) 113m 58s

10 Gareth White/Harry Marchbank (Peugeot 208 R2 Vti) 115m 08s