GUINNESS rather than Champagne was the order of the day after a trio of Irish drivers filled the top steps on the podium at the end of the Kelso-based Jim Clark International Rally.
The annual Borders event, the only rally to be held on closed-off public tarmac roads on mainland Britain, is a counter in both the Irish Tarmac and the British Rally Championships (BRC). So it was no surprise the Irish tarmac specialists dominated
the event and thrilled the huge crowds who lined the narrow country roads with a dazzling display of white knuckle, but controlled driving.
After two days, 17 stages and 150 miles of intense, high speed action, Eamonn Boland pipped longtime leader Tim McNulty by just four seconds.
McNulty, driving his Subaru Impreza, started yesterday's final five stages having dominated on Saturday to build a 20.3-second lead over Boland.
However, a slow start allowed Boland to overhaul him in his Impreza.
"We didn't push hard enough in the opening two stages today," McNulty admitted. "That gave the momentum to Eamonn and he capitalised on it."
McNulty contributed to his own downfall. Twice, in stages 14 and 15, the 12-milers at Eccles and Leitholm, McNulty stalled his car at hairpins. Even in the last stage, which he started just 3.8s behind Boland, he lost time when his car cut out twice. But the winner was elated.
"We were absolutely flat out at the end," said Boland. "I knew Tim would throw everything at us in the last stage. We couldn't afford to back off.
"We were always playing catch-up after I dropped 17 seconds to Tim on Saturday's opening stage, but we kept plugging away."
Dublin's Aaron MacHale finished third in his Ford Focus WRC, 52.9s behind McNulty, but because none of the Irish drivers were registered for the BRC, maximum points in the title race went to Welsh-based Manxman Mark Higgins who finished fourth.
"It was a close call because we had problems at the end with the handbrake lever coming out," said Higgins, who won the 2005 Jim Clark and was making his debut in the TEG Sport 2006-spec Subaru Impreza.
In the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship section of the Jim Clark, Birtley's Andy Fenwick powered his Skoda Octavia WRC to victory, 75.7s ahead of the two-wheel-drive Mk1 Ford Escort driven by Malton's Steve Bannister. Championship leader Jimmy Girvan was fourth in his Subaru.
The full article contains 421 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
