Leaving the Ballamoar campsite at 9.30 on Saturday morning and starting in pairs at one-minute intervals, the first riders away were numbers 1 and 2 Robert Quayle and Dave Leach, followed by Doncaster’s Jon Weir and Duncan Sanderson. The conditions were perfect. The first special test was at St Judes and was untimed, the riders then went made their way to Laxey for the first check. After some refreshments at the beach café the riders made their way to Snaefell via the Windy Corner track. Then on to Ballaugh for a special test which was also untimed. This completed the first loop of 48 miles. After another check at Ballamoar the riders headed south for a check and fuel stop at Earystane plantation. A good run followed through Corlea and South Barrule plantations before heading back to Ballaugh for the first timed test of the day.
Fastest in the test was Robbie Wallace from Northallerton on the big Husqvarna 500 with a time of 423 seconds. Jordan Corkill from Douglas followed with a time of 431 seconds. Once back at Ballamoar this completed the southern loop with a mileage count of 51.
Riders were then sent out on a shortened northern loop (30 miles) to take in 2 timed tests at St Judes (run back to back) and a timed test at Ballaugh.
With an earlier start time of 9am, the riders awoke to mixed conditions on Sunday. After the first test at St Judes the rain became heavy and the temperature dropped. The test times were slower than on Saturday due to the overnight heavy rain making the stubble field very slippy. Riders were finding the conditions tough before getting to the check at Laxey. Heavy rain and wind over the Glen Mona track made it very difficult. Once at the check in Laxey and after refreshments things started improving.
By midday conditions were much improved although some of the riders did get caught in heavy hail stone showers. But by the time they reached the Earystane check the sun was out and riders were rewarded with beautiful views over the south of the Island.
After 9 tests over the two days the overall winner on 2575 seconds was Jordan Corkill, Robbie Wallace was 51 seconds behind on 2626 seconds. Robert Quayle from Andreas rode really well to finish third behind the young guns, with a time 2763 seconds. Jon Weir from Doncaster was 4th, last year’s ATRC champion Nigel Beaumont was 5th followed by Dave Leach who just pipped Mike Wells from Gloucester by 13 seconds. 8th place went to Robbie’s Dad Duncan Wallace.
All the riders enjoyed a full 2 days of riding with over 250 miles of rallying.
