There were only two crews under 2 hours for the 140 mile, 20 Special Stage event and that was 4 times (now 5) winner Paul MacKinnon and Paul Beaton over a minute and a half clear of twice winners Daniel Harper and Martin Cressey, but Paul will have some way to go to equal his Dad’s record of 12 Mull victories!
Third place fell to last year’s winner Fergus Barlow with Darren Thompson in the hot seat. Of course all three crews were expected to go well whereas early leaders John MacCrone and Kirsty Riddick lost out first with a puncture and then a wee bit of an ‘off’ whilst James Ford and Neil Shanks were mighty impressive till they too dropped out on the Final Leg. But I tell you what, that puts rallying’s relative newcomer Neil Roskell’s fourth place into perspective with he and Daniel Barritt holding off the Bogie Mk2 rocketship.
David Bogie and John Rowan were best of the 2WD brigade in fifth place overall but didn’t Stewart Morrison and Johnny Baird do well, just over a minute and a half behind the former multiple Scottish and British Rally Champion. In the face of such strong opposition Jonathan Mounsey and Richard Wardle did well to finish 7th especially after that horrific shunt on the Jim Clark Rally earlier this year and occasional rallyist Stephen Thompson and Larry Higton raised eyebrows with 8th.
Special mention too, to Ross Hunter and Chris Dodds first time out in the Rally4 Peugeot who were ninth while ‘little Sis’, Sarah Hunter, flew the family flag high when she and James Braithwaite finished 45th in her Fiesta R2T. Gaun yersel Sarah!
Rounding off the top ten were occasional rallyists Gordon Cunningham and Stuart McManus doing extraordinarily well, but young (not so young nowadays!) Alec Brown with Lewis Brown did an exemplary job in 11th place just ahead of the BMW Compact of David Wilson and Dave Robson – that was a result!
Further down the field there was good news for young Ally Currie. Not just a finish but he and Chris Hamill finished inside the top 20 in 18th place and 1st in class. Navigating for Joe McKeand, Charlotte McDowall was 29th beating her ol’man and wee brother, Jim and Jamie McDowall who were 61st. That’s her off the breakfast detail for a week!
Rally sponsor John Marshall made it round in one piece without inflicting too much damage on the passing scenery as he and Craig Wallace finished 56th just three places ahead of Steven O’Donnell and Dingle McDougall. And wasn’t it nice to see an O’Donnell amongst the finishers list, and also not last through Scrutineering for a change, unlike his faither and grandfaither.
Seeded at car number 100, the Autopoint Rally Team (all 13 or 17 of them, whatever!) resplendent in their eyeball smacking new rally jaikets and able to celebrate Martyn Douglas and Mark Thurley’s excellent 69th place finish second time out in the new car, and if miracles are to be believed on this sainted isle, here is the proof, Sandy and Ian Arbuthnott not only finished a rally without undertaking a major rebuild during it, they got a result with 78th.
And then there were the gallant wee Minis, the ultra professional and colourful Martin Page and Daniel Hurst 1275 GT in 87th place ahead of the Kenny Watt and Eilidh Williamson puddlejumper in a superb 95th place out of 100 finishers.
But they were the lucky ones. Dangerous Des was giving the big cars a real fright till the gallant wee Peugeot broke its gearbox, Mike Storrar cowped the unique MarinaFord, while Nikki Addison’s Honda gave up the ghost on the penultimate test (how cruel was that?) and the all-girl crew of Linda Brown and Iona Johnstone failed to finish when the Fiesta couldn’t keep up with their ‘need for speed’!
And what of the Photographers, Film Makers and even the Commentators. Having witnessed their epic efforts, Cecil B DeMille’s ‘The Ten Commandments’ was just a ‘B’ pic trailer!
And finally, the Marshals. What a huge bunch of stubborn stalwarts they all are. Little islands of humanity marooned amidst 300 square miles of rockery and greenery withstanding the elements with nary a complaint or harsh word – well, hardly any!!
Of course there were many more tales to tell, but these are just a few personal highlights, everyone else will have their own. Here’s to 2025.
Oh, and by the way, that wasn’t just mist or low cloud wafting
over Dervaig at the weekend, I’m sure there was a tincture of pipe smoke in amongst
it, courtesy of the ever vigilant spectator – thanks Brian.
