Higgins jubilant after 'gruelling' rally triumph

Published on Monday 11 July 2005 00:12

MARK Higgins surprised even himself by completing a hat-trick of victories in the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship when he led the all-tarmac Jim Clark International Rally in Kelso from start-to-finish.

The Welsh-based Manxman - confronted by a posse of Irish tarmac specialists eager to conquer the 160 miles of blindingly quick Border country lanes - last won the title back in 1997 and dominated this event to win by 37.6-seconds.

Watched by tens of thousands of spectators who enjoyed the sultry and hot conditions which turned the normally uninspiring Scottish roads into an ever-flowing sheet of polished, slippery tarmac, Higgins was in blistering form as he set a series of fastest times in his Eddie Stobart-backed Ford Focus World Rally Car.

"That was one of the most gruelling rallies I've ever completed," Higgins, who last month won the RSAC Scottish International Rally in Dumfries weeks after winning in Carlisle, said yesterday.

"The stages were so fast you just couldn't afford to make even the slightest mistake or have the smallest loss of concentration. And staying ahead of these Irish guys was always going to be a severe test, but somehow we managed it."

Co Meath driver Tim McNulty, who chased Higgins all the way home in his Subaru Impreza, finished second despite battling a severe case of food poisoning right through all 14 stages of the second leg.

Eugene Donnelly from Co Derry brought his 1999 Toyota Corolla WRC home in third while Wexford's Eugene Boland was fourth in his Subaru.

And while Co Antrim's Derek McGaritty was fifth in his Subaru despite tying on time with Boland, Austin MacHale, who started the two-day event leading the British Championship, was forced into early retirement when the collapsed oil filter on his Focus caused terminal damage. That opened the door to Higgins whose haul of 20 points puts him six points ahead of the driver from Rathcoole.

In the Scottish Championship, Co Durham's Barry Johnson won his fifth event in a row ahead of the local hero Alistair Thorburn from Duns and Glasgow's Alan Dickson. All three were in Subaru Imprezas.