Phil Scholes, winner of the John Easson Award ’08

The 2300 Club, organisers of the legendary Tunnock’s Tour of Mull closed road tarmac rally, is proud to announce 19 year old Phil Scholes as winner of the 2008 John Easson Award for young rally drivers.

The award, now in its fifth year, is named after rally driver John Easson, a regular competitor on the Isle of Mull and a generous supporter of the 2300 Club before tragically losing his life in an air accident in 1999.

As winner of the John Easson Award, Phil will be awarded with a free entry to the Tunnock’s Tour of Mull rally, a free ferry to the Isle of Mull from Scotland, free fuel for his rally car during the rally and 8 Kumho tyres to use on the event.

As the icing on the cake, Phil also wins the trip of a lifetime to the world famous John Haugland Rally School on a frozen lake in Norway next winter. The Norway trip will include 4 days of tuition on advanced rally driving technique from John and his expert team, worth over £3,000.

The tyres for the prize drive have very kindly been provided by Kumho Tyres, whom the award organisers 2300 Club would like to sincerely thank for their support. Thanks are also due to Tony at South Shore Tyres for his assistance in putting the tyre deal together.

After a slow start, 2008 saw the biggest ever entry application for the award, with 16 crews chasing the prize and three attending the final interview process. With Phil Scholes winning the award, the unlucky finalists Kris Hall and Matt Smith should be congratulated on their efforts being good enough to see them selected for the final three.

John Easson Award Manager Dave Bateson commented:

“We had a difficult time just deciding which of the entries should make the final, as the quality of entry this year was superb. All three finalists would have been worthy winners; in the end, and after much deliberation, we decided on Phil Scholes. We were very impressed with his attitude toward the sport and in particular what he has achieved in a relatively short period of time and with a small budget.”

All at 2300 Club wish Phil the best for his attempt at the 2008 Tunnock’s Tour of Mull rally and for his trip to Norway.

The award will run again in 2009 and organisers would like to encourage all this year’s entries to try again next year for a chance to win the biggest free prize in British rallying, the John Easson Award.

Further information:

The John Easson Award Manager, Dave Bateson
Email: daveb@2300club.org
Phone: 07968 349779

Published October 10, 2009

2009 – Murmur Chapter 7

MullMurmurs – Chapter 7

Provisional Leaderboard after SS14 (of 17)

1 Duffy/Duffy                1 Hr 53 Mins 01 Secs
2 MacGillivray/Fraser            1h 53m 46s
3 Cope/Fagg                1h 53m 54s
4 Harper/Campbell            1h 53m 56s
5 Bardy/Smith                1h 54m 39s
6 Pye/Falconer                1h 55m 43s
7 Sisson/Stone                1h 56m 07s
8 Sinclair/Hamill            1h 57m 06s
9 Sherrington/Bould            1h 58m 04s
10 Hall/Hall                1h 58m 11s

He's been there before so often and he was there again tonight. Dougi Hall was leading this 40th Tunnock's Tour of Mull Rally, but tragedy struck, not once, but twice. The red Lancer punctured on the long 23 mile Tuath/Calgary test and then it punctured again on the Mishnish Lochs stage, and he dropped from the rally lead to 10th place. It looks very much as though this event has denied him yet again.

That however was good news for Calum Duffy who has swept into the lead with two stages to go. James MacGillivray is up to second John Cope was looking a bit dis-chuffed at the end of the Lochs “What did I do? I put slicks on for the Lochs, the wettest stage of the night!”

Daniel Harper is up to 4th now: “If I can get to the end 'll be happy. I'm sick of not getting to the end. The last two or three stages always seem to get me.”

And for those of you wondering why Stage 16 at Gribun was cancelled, it's easy to answer, but not so easy to understand why. After trouble last night with cows wandering on to the road, the farmer was contacted ahead of tonight's re-run of that stage. Despite pleas from the organisers to move his cows to higher pasture he said he was unable to guarantee that his cows would not be left to their own devices tonight again. On that basis, and on the grounds of safety, the organisers really had no choice but to cancel the stage.

And finally, an apology to those eagle-eyed viewers who spotted a slight geographical error in the previous two MullMurmurs when I mistakenly reported my location. Put it down to long hours, lack of sleep, or stupidity, but it's correct this time!

That’s yer lot for now,
Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Saturday, 11.00 pm, Riverside, Tobermory

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