Last night, the
Island of Mull again showed its malevolent side. The wet shiny tar glinted
evilly in the light thrown ahead of the cars. Dark standing water lay hidden
over crests and around corners like elephant traps seeking their prey of mechanical
monsters. Earlier in the afternoon’s drier conditions, these same roads had
merely been a challenge, now it was a matter of survival.
And the rain. Relentless, and
yet every so often it would stop as if to draw breath and then just when senses
had been lulled another sudden deluge would drown hopes and ambitions. What a
night, what a rally. The 2019 Beatson’s Mull Rally lived up to its reputation of
the ‘Best Rally in the World’ for all the wrong reasons.
Through it all, Paul
MacKinnon and Paul Beaton sped and splashed their way to a convincing victory
by over a minute. For a while Daniel Harper and Chris Campbell were a
threatening second but that chase was put beyond doubt when the MINI lost its brakes
in Ben More and had to run brakeless through Scridain to reach service and
repairs. There was no way back.
Meanwhile the regal progress
of the Staffa Tours Fiesta continued as if ordained to be crowned king. It was
Paul’s 3rd victory on the island: “Conditions were so atrocious on
that final stage, I’m just so relieved and chuffed,” said Paul, “The rally went
to plan and we kept within ourselves although there was a wee bit in reserve.
Daniel pushed us hard in places, but the biggest challenge was the weather. It
was so changeable and conditions so unpredictable.”
And we learned something new
last night. According to Harper, the last stage was “as greasy as b*ll*cks!”
In conditions more suited to
ducks with hand cut webbed feet, the two wheel drive brigade were at a big
disadvantage from the off. Somebody forgot to tell David Bogie and John Rowan
and the Duffy brothers. Yes they were a distant 3rd and 4th but
their progress was spectacular as they slipped, slithered and drifted from bend
to bend.
“There was fog in that last
stage too,” said David, “this is a rally that just keeps on giving, it’s
relentless, absolutely relentless.”
Calum and Iain Duffy snatched
4th place from Jonathan Mounsey and Richard Wardle on the last
stage: “We gave it everything we had,” said Calum, “we left it all in the
stage. This rally had everything, it was mental out there.”
Mounsey was still pleased
with 5th: “There’s not a scratch on the car. We went as hard as we
could, but the fog spoiled the job on that last stage,” said Jonathan, “All the
Notes in the world can’t help when the fog bounces the light straight back in your
face, and even when you cut the spotlights, you still can’t see.”
Rounding off the top six were
Eddie O’Donnell and Steven Brown with Eddie echoing the thoughts of most folk: “It’s
good to see the rally back. It ran well, with no real delays and the
organisation was slick. I just wanted to finish, that was my intention from the
start but on the last stage, the alternator light came on!”
StephenThompson scored his
best result on Mull with 7th and “loved it” with Shaun Sinclair 8th
ahead of John Marshall and Craig Rutherford.
It was event sponsor Marshall
who came up with one of the best descriptions: “You know when you’re watching a
TV programme and somebody pours buckets of water over a windscreen and you’re
sitting at home saying ‘that’s fake, it never rains like that’, well it does.
It was so bad at times the wipers just made no difference whatsoever, they couldn’t
clear the water!”
There was heartbreak too. First
time out in his Fiesta, Gordon Morrison had worked his way up to 6th
but slid off the road in Calgary. Stewart Morrison revealed the cause of his disappearance
from the top ten when he explained that the two bottom links on the back axle
broke which in turn caused the axle itself to snap and Ross Hunter’s valiant run
which had carried the Peugeot up to 12th place was halted in Ben More
with the car off the road.
And who’d have thought it,
Mike Storrar finished 24th overall in the Toyota Starlet after an
engine and gearbox change and some metal embroidery work to repair his back axle.
And then of course there were
the Marshals, radio crews and safety personnel who stood their sodden ground as
Time Cards turned to mush in their hands, and pens refused to write on wet
paper. Marvellous. Each and every one of them.
Provisional Leaderboard after
17 stages (of 17):
1, Paul MacKinnon/Paul
Beaton (Ford Fiesta R5) 2:17:51
2, Daniel Harper/Chris
Campbell (Mini JCW WRC) +1:413, David Bogie/John Rowan (Ford Escort Mk2) +7:41
4, Calum Duffy/Iain Duffy (Ford Escort Mk2) +11:10
5, Jonathan Mounsey/Richard Wardle (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo6) +11:11
6, Eddie O'Donnell/Steven Brown (Ford Escort Mk2) +15:53
7, Stephen Thompson/Larry Higton (Ford Escort Mk2) +16:15
8, Shaun Sinclair/Patrick Walsh (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7) +17:25
9, John Marshall/Scott Crawford (Ford Fiesta R5) +19:49
10, Craig Rutherford/Fergus Barlow (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) +21:52
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