Wilson pulls clear; Bean and Hemingway star
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Wilson pulls clear; Bean and Hemingway star
With a lead of well over four minutes going into the final day of the 2008 Roger Albert Clark Rally, Malcolm Wilson looks set for victory in his Ford Escort Mk2.
However, the leading margin does not tell the full story of an absorbing and tough day of rallying in the Scottish border forests through Sunday and at one point, Wilson’s lead was less than a minute.
Wilson started the day 1m42s clear of Martin McCormack, but the young Irishman stormed through the opening stages to pull the margin back to 56s by mid-afternoon. Sadly, his charge was soon to be over when a deceptive right-hander in Craik caught him out and his Escort’s axle was bent against a log.
With McCormack out, it was David Stokes who moved into a fine second place in his Escort Mk1 after a faultless day as others hit trouble. Out of a tough rally went Jeremy Easson (oil seal), Richard Lepley (gearbox) and Phil Collins after he rolled his Opel Ascona.
Instead, it was an inspired performance in the face of a catalogue of dramas that took Seamus O’Connell through to third in his Escort from Charlie Taylor. Further down the historic field, the amazing Bob Bean forged his Lotus Cortina into eighth overall among the newer machinery.
A blown diff in the Castle O’Er stage has put Mick Jones out of the Open Rally after he built a big lead, which means that the hard charging Dave Hemingway leads going into the final day. However, his margin over the similar Escort Mk2 of Marcus Noble is less than three minutes after a catalogue of problems for Noble.

Paul Lawrence

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