The Isle of Mull will once again play host the roaring of engines & screeching of tyres as the Beatson’s Building Supplies Mull Rally is finally back!
Following on from a forced two year hiatus, due to insurance-related reasons, this ever popular event has returned for 2019 & is set to be bigger than ever.
As always the entry list is full of a diverse mix of makes, models & years of vehicles, with around 9 Minis entered to compete.
Hoping to grab another Mull victory is Mini Sport’s Engineering Director, Daniel Harper, who with Chris Campbell are out competing in Team Mini Sport’s MINI JCW-01c World Rally Car, seeded 4th!
2019 Mini Sport Cup Open Class Winners, John Cressey & Martin Cressey are running number 33 – at the head of the field of all the Minis. Firm favourites to dominate the Classic Minis, this is John’s 37th Tour of Mull, however his first time at the helm of a Classic on the event. Noting he’s “competed in both front & rear wheel drive, I’ve even finished every position in the Top 10, except for 1st place or 6th place. I’d love to win the 1300 Class!” Son Martin will be navigating on the event for John, having attended the event every single year since he was born (with the exception of 2017 & 2018 when it was cancelled), and has competed 8 times.
We also have this year’s Mini Sport Cup Champions, Clive King & Anton Bird running 1 place behind the 2018 Cup Champs – Ray Cunningham & Jared Gill. Both newbies to the island, Clive & Anton’s Mini is the only one running in Historic, this means that the Mini must also use period lighting – this may be a challenge with Stages 1 – 3, covering around 44 1/2 miles, will be in darkness! Clive added, “It’ll certainly be a Baptism of Fire! It’s all about survival, so as long as we keep well within ourselves & don’t get in to any battles, it should be great! We’re also hoping to retain our 100% reliability from this year, we’ve finished & won our Cat on every event so far in 2019!”
Category 3 Winners, Jack Hartley & Gary Dawes are running about 3/4 of the way down the field, with Jack having spectated several times, but neither have competed before.
All 3 Mini Sport cars have been thoroughly checked over by Mini Sport’s Workshop Technician Michael Anderson, usual spanner man – who is swapping his tools for a set of notes this year… Having serviced the last 20 years for Daniel, Michael has been offered the opportunity to compete with Martin Page in a BMW MINI that the pair have completely stripped & rebuilt together, so for this event Clive, John & Jack will have fellow Mini Sport Cup competitor Peter Ellerby & Rob Eastwood looking after them on event.
One thing is for sure, all of the Minis entered will be trying to get their hands on the Mini Sport award, with a total of £5oo of parts from Mini Sport up for grabs!
Good luck to all crews competing & keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates live from Mull!
Track the results here.
Team Mini Sport:
Daniel Harper & Chris Campbell – #4
John Cressey & Martin Cressey – #36
Clive King & Anton Bird – #79
Jack Hartley & Gary Dawes – #105
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