MULLMURMURSMULLMURMURSMULLMURMURS – Chapter 6
– published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet
Provisional Leaderboard after 8 Stages:
| Posn | Driver/Co-Driver | Car | Mins:Secs |
| 1 | Callum Duffy/Hugh Duffy | Ford Escort | 63:48 |
| 2 | Neil MacKinnon/Mike Stayte | Subaru Legacy | 64:44 |
| 3 | James MacGillivray/Brian Kennedy | Opel Corsa | 66:27 |
| 4 | Chris Griffiths/Stephen Griffiths | Subaru Legacy | 66:32 |
| 5 | Eddie O'Donnell/Eddie O'Donnell | Ford Escort | 68:08 |
| 6 | John Price/Mike Bowen | MG Metro 6R4 | 68:20 |
| 7 | Paul Kirtley/Jon Geldart | Ford Escort Cosworth | 69:25 |
| 8 | Richard Thompson/Reg Smith | Nissan Sunny | 70:25 |
| 9 | Gordon Boyd/Stella Boyles | Ford Escort Cosworth | 71:16 |
| 10 | Stewart Hymas/Kevin Wilson | Peugeot 205 GTI | 71:50 |
What a dramatic Philips Tour of Mull this is shaping up to be. With Neil MacKinnon learning how to drive the Subaru over the first three rain lashed stages last night, Callum Duffy seized the opportunity with his right foot to quickly build up a lead of over a minute as they booked into first service at Craignure. With the rapid learning curve now over, MacKinnon fought back but only managed to take 12 seconds out of Duffy who still had over a minute in hand. Over the final two stages, MacKinnon was fastest on Loch Scridain but Duffy was fastest over Gribun. Phew! … Behind these two Chris Griffiths, like MacKinnon, was on a steep learning curve with his Subaru and after 6 stages had snatched third place from James MacGillivray. Then on the final mad dash of the night over Gribun, MacGillivray stole 19 seconds from Griffiths to move back into third. More Phew!! … The O'Donnell twins are goin well too upholding island honour with 4 local crews in the top 5 places while lurking in 6th place is the mighty Metro. John Price will undoubtedly go well in the daylight stages, "At least I can see where I'm going then" … It looks as though John Cope is out. The Sierra lost all its water on the 6th stage last night and he was spotted parked up in the 7th. Also spotted at the side of the road (OK, he was off in the bushes) was Keith Robathan, so bang go his chances of the EARS Motorsport/ Motoring News runner-up position. That leaves Graham Dale and Michael Russell to fight it out, and they're little more than 40 seconds apart at the moment … We've also had reports that Stephen Macrae (135) is out after a serious bump during the night, Frosty Smart (29) also appears to be out of the running following an accident in the Lancia and Geoff Wright (32) appears to have joined the growing list of retirements (see earlier Mullmurmurs).
But you know, I can't help thinking someone should take Duffy and MacGillivray aside and point out that people in 2 wheel drive cars should not be knocking the stuffing out of the turbocharged, four wheel drive brigade in these terrible conditions. Have they no respect for their elders? And what about the 1300s? Daniel Harper is in the top 20 in his Mini, on ten inch wheels, that's not right either, is it? But Duggie Ingram's Mini and Jim Fergusson's Peugeot aren't far away.
That's yer lot for now, till later, Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, (Tobermory, Saturday morning)
