And so it was that Friday night’s survivors headed out in daylight on Saturday afternoon for Leg 2 which comprised 6 stages totalling some 40 miles of rain slicked, sun parched, wind swept tortuous tarmac winding its round the north end of the island.
As ever Mull claimed its expected quota of victims including Daniel Harper in the Mini, young Ruan Lowry, top ten seeds Billy McClelland and Craig Rutherford, and Owen Paterson who fell victim to a slippery right hander with the Subaru sliding off on the outside of the bend followed by David Wilson in the BMW. Apparently some spilled/dropped oil added its own multi coloured slick to the watery wetness. They joined a list which already contained the likes of notables such as Ian Chadwick, Stewart Morrison, ‘Montana’ Morrison, Cole Hastings, and very sad to say, Fergus Barlow. Unfortunately, John Stone was amongst those early casualties on Friday night and had to be hospitalised for further checks following a crash. We can only wish him well.
Meanwhile back at the front, Hugh Hunter is getting into his stride, the Fiesta2 closing the gap on leader John MacCrone’s Escort Mk2 to just over half a minute while Colin O'Donoghue has dropped back from the runner-up position to 7th place. He dropped over 2 mins on the Hill Road/Kilninian stage, a treacherous sliver of tarmac winding its way over the hill and down the glen between grassy banks and dry stane dykes. Behind the leading duo, Jonathan Mounsey/Richard Wardle have moved into third place having passed Stephen Thompson/Larry Higton but the gap at the end of this Leg is a mere 2 seconds. And you know what? Dangerous Des and Luke Constantine are still in the top ten!
Unfortunately Ross Hunter has dropped out of the top ten with a Maximum on the Calgary Bay stage but wee sister Sarah has moved up to 18th place overall (gaun yersel girl) and equally impressive is young Ollie Forrester’s pace as he lies 16th after the daylight run. Another spectator favourite has also lost out, the bellowing Triumph TR7 V8 of James Wilson while it also looks like Mike Storrar is out- that notorious Morris Marina pilot! And what of car 129, the 1 litre SEAT Mii? Well Marc MCubbin is still going as is ‘Phooey the Fireman’, well to be truthful ex-fire brigade officer!
And it ain’t finished yet, the final Leg through Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning of one of the longest and toughest club rallies in the UK takes the survivors back into the darkness and uncertainty of this magical, mystical place where spectators stand in fear of a light touch on the shoulder never knowing what lurks behind them in the trees and the heather – was it human or animal - or neither?
Provisional Top Ten after Leg 2:
1, John MacCrone/Kirsty Riddick, 1h 23m 19.1s
2, Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank, 1h 23m 51.8s
3, Jonathan Mounsey/Richard Wardle, 1h 26m 04.2s
4, Stephen Thompson/Larry Higton, 1h 26m 06.1s
5, James Hall/Tom Murphy, 1h 26m 47.0s
6, Scott MacBeth/Andrew Falconer, 1h 26m 50.4s
7, Colin O'Donoghue/Evan MacBride, 1h 28m 01.0s
8, Hugh Brunton/Richard Crozier, 1h 28m 09.9s
9, Des Campbell/Rhys Donaldson, 1h 29m 10.8s
10, Luke Constantine/Ifan Devine, 1h 29m 32.1s
Note: There has been an officially accepted change of co-driver for James Hall.
