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Kingdom Stages 2008: Thanks for coming!
That''s it over for another year, 104 started, 75 finished, some went home with trophies and some went home with a lot of work to do before next season.
Congratulations to all those who finished; to Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs on winning their first Kingdom, though it was just a matter of time; to Iain and AngusMackenzie who not only won class 3 in their 106, but kicked that poor wee car into the top ten with all the big bangers; to Ian and Kathryn Forgan who phoned to cancel on Thurday night because the fabulously expensive new engine had run for 10 seconds and broken, but they made another one out the bits lying around the garage, a squeezy bottle, some sticky-backed plastic and a pair of Val''s old knickers, and took the First GMSC Crew trophy, and 7th overall; To Stewart Morrison, who finally finished a rally on the 15th attempt (17th overall, by the way, you couldn''t make this stuff up, could you?), and to 17 year old Kenneth McRae, passed his driving test last Friday, started last but brought it to the finish still shiny side up, on four wheels and car shaped on his first rally. He’ll not be last next year.
Commiserations to those who didn’t make it; like the 2006 and 2007 winners, John and Jim Rintoul, whose gearbox self destructed on SS5; like Brian Fraser and David Moodie, who rolled the Avenger Tiger on the first stage; Bruce Edwards and Jim Smith, who lost a front wheel (and hub and disc and caliper) from the Darrian-Honda when a stub axle broke, maybe an after-effect of nose diving into the waterfalls on Mull, but it didn’t seem to slow them down much as they finished the stage before retiring; or Graeme Rintoul and Stuart Wilshire who rolled the Fiesta into a ball at the control tower, a quarter of a mile from the end of the rally. Bad day for the Rintoul clan, Bobby was navigating Neil Thompson and they didn''t make it either.
Thanks to all the marshals who risked sunburn and heat-stroke in the balmy autumn weather of the Fife Riviera, and to the set-up crews who dug holes, laid several tons of concrete, and dragged tyres and bales around in horizontal rain and sleet, comforted only by a cup-a-soup and a pot noodle (and you have to be pretty desperate before a pot noodle counts as comfort).
Thanks and also apologies to the radio and safety crews who were cruelly deprived of goody bags and a place in the prize draw by an administrative cock-up. Stupidity is our only excuse, but we’ll try to make up for it next year. Maybe we can get some adults to supervise us.
Finally, we’d like to acknowledge the many contributions to the marshals prize draws, including those from Andrew Wood Motorsport www.woodsport.co.uk , WheelsAround www.wheelsaround.com , MAC Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn-z6OkbxUk , and of course Graham Clark, Ian Mackenzie and Ian Forgan, who were chauffeurs on the marshals guided Tour of Crail
That’s it, see you all next year for
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