FINAL-STAGE DRAMA ALLOWS INGLIS BROTHERS TO SHINE
Mach1 Stages
Organiser: Dunfermline Car Club When: July13-14 Where: Machrihanish, Argyll Championships: Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship Stages: 12 Starters: 61
Brothers Alistair and Colin Inglis were surprise winners of the two-day Mach1 Stages Rally at Machrihanish in Argyll.
Going into the final stage, their Lotus Exige was lying nine seconds behind the Darrian T9 GTR of last year’s rally winners Bruce Edwards and Jim Smith.
Inglis had already taken six seconds out of the leader on SS9, another six on SS10 and four more on SS11 to close down the gap, with the final test of the weekend across 13.5 miles. A tall order perhaps, but the Inglis brothers were up for the fight and it was to be
Edwards who lost out.
Under braking for a sharp 90-degree right-hander, taken almost at walking pace, the Darrian rode up on a tyre marker and as Edwards hit the throttle the car didn’t so much roll, as simply fall over. With the car upside down the stage was red flagged and later cancelled.
Both Edwards and Smith were unharmed but victory was handed to the Inglis brothers.
Equally surprised was second-placed John Rintoul/ross Hynd in their Ford Fiesta R5. The duo had started the second day of the rally in fourth place behind Gordon Morrison/calum Macpherson, but when the rear suspension on Morrison’s Subaru Impreza broke, Rintoul/hynd were promoted to third position.
And just as Inglis had been taking time out of Edwards, so too had Rintoul been taking time out of Inglis, but with the cancellation of the last stage the gap between first and second stayed at 17s.
First time out in his new Fiesta R5, Tom Blackwood completed the podium line-up alongside Gordon Winning, although he found his new car to be quite a handful compared to his Ford Escort Mk2-millington.
Colin Gemmell was fourth in his Escort Mk2 ahead of Greg Inglis, who had the rear brake and hub of his Exige repaired overnight, with Donnie Macdonald rounding off the top six in his Mitsubishi Lancer E9.
Alan Oldfield was delighted with seventh overall in his Darrian T90 GTR on his first visit to the venue, which he reckoned was well worth the 353-mile trip north, and Alan Wallace continued his strong run of top-10 finishes with eighth in his Lancer E6.
The 1600cc class-winning Escort Mk2 of Kyle Adam/fiona Moir scored an impressive ninth overall just ahead of the Impreza of Murray Grierson which had broken a prop shaft on day one.
Those who lost out included top seeds Ian/alan Paterson with a burst brake pipe on their Impreza, Richard Sutherland’s Opel Manta broke a CV joint and Andy Horne retired his T90 when he lost compression on one cylinder.
Colin Gemmell still leads the Scottish Tarmack Championship at the midway point of the season, but Kyle Adam’s class win means the gap between the two is now down to just one point.
Results
1 Alistair/ Colin Inglis (Lotus Exige) 1h28m32s; 2 John Rintoul/ Ross Hynd (Ford Fiesta R5) +17s; 3 Tom Blackwood/ Gordon Winning (Fiesta R5); 4 Colin Gemmell/ Richard Crozier (Ford Escort Mk2); 5 Greg Inglis/steven Brown (Lotus Exige); 6 Donnie Macdonald/ Chris Hamill (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); 7 Alan Oldfield/ashleigh
Morris (Darrian T90 GTR+); 8 Alan Wallace/ Darren Robertson (Lancer E6); 9 Kyle Adam/ Fiona Moir (Escort Mk2); 10 Murray/ Mark Grierson (Subaru Impreza).
Class winners: Innes/ Kirsty Mochrie (Rover Metro GTI);
Adam/ Moir; Inglis/ Brown; Inglis/ Inglis; Rintoul/ Hynd.