A year last September, Welshman Jamie Jukes was lying in Noble’s Hospital after crashing his Spencer Sport Mitsubishi off Marine Drive.
On Saturday afternoon he swapped that experience for the winning feeling, landing the PokerStars Rally battling through some of the toughest conditions ever seen in a local event.
Friday evening’s opening six-stage leg was halved by organisers Manx Auto Sport amidst torrential rain, driven by gale-force winds.
Of the three stages that did run, two had to be shortened because of flooded roads and to avoid the swollen Brack-a-Broom ford.
Nonetheless it was another Welsh driver, Kevin Davies, who shocked everyone from his start number of 42. He and co-driver Dylan Jenkins set the fastest time on each of the three stages to lead overnight in what should have been an outgunned two-litre Pinto-engined, four-door Ford Escort MkII.
The attrition rate was at an unprecedented scale. An astonishing 19 cars required recovery from special stage one over Druidale, Sartfield and Little London, while 28 crews failed to complete the shortened opening stint.
Jukes and co-driver James Morgan seized the lead on Saturday’s opening stage (SS7) The Lhen, with Davies trying too hard to keep pace and lucky to escape a big impact on SS8 Dog Mills.
The battle for podium places featured impressive comeback drives by Paul Mackinnon/Rob Fagg, whose Ford Fiesta R5 suffered power steering failure on SS2 on Friday, leaving them eighth, and expected local frontrunners Andrew Dudgeon/Joe Dooley, down in 15th after struggling with a misting windscreen and a misfire on the Mitsubishi Evo 6.5.
A string of fastest times saw Mackinnon overhaul Davies for second place on SS12 Orrisdale, on Saturday lunchtime, before being forced into a cruel late retirement with broken transmission only yards into the final test, SS15.
Dudgeon had set himself a podium target on Saturday morning and beat his own expectations, fastest time on the last stage seeing him snatch the runner-up spot from Davies by a solitary second.
PokerStars Rally results (top 10): 1, Jamie Jukes/James Morgan (Mitsubishi Mirage R5) 1hr 06min 17sec; 2, Andrew Dudgeon/Joe Dooley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5) @ 1m 42s; 3, Kevin Davies/Dylan Jenkins (Ford Escort MkII); 4, Tristan Pye/Andrew Falconer (Subaru Impreza); 5, Andy Davies/Max Freeman (Subaru Impreza); 6, Stuart Egglestone/Brian Hodgson (Ford Escort MkII); 7, Rory McCann/Paul McCann (Honda Civic); 8, Gordon Morrison /Michael Hendry (Subaru Impreza); 9, Mark Jasper/Don Whyatt (Ford Escort MkII); 10, James Munden/John Leigh (Subaru Impreza).
l A full report on the PokerStars rally will appear in this Thursday’s edition of the Manx Independent.
Visiting driver Mark James remains in a stable condition in a Liverpool hospital following a serious accident on stage eight of the PokerStars on Saturday morning.
He and co-driver Hefin Jenkins lost control of their MkII Ford Escort on the Bernahara (Bayr-ny-Harey) Road between Ballavoddan and the Rose Cottage/Ryehill crossroads.
The car ended up in some trees and the Dog Mills stage was halted while the driver was removed from the car by event emergency teams and Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service.
Mark James was initially treated in Noble’s Hospital before being flown to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool with what are believed to be head injuries.
There had been no further updates regarding his condition as the Isle of Man Examiner went to press on Monday evening.
In a separate incident on Saturday afternoon, driver Simon Summers (also of Wales) was taken to hospital for treatment and a check-up after his Ford Escort MkII collided with a house on Stage 13, The Lhen.
The incident occurred on the Rhendhoo Road heading north, when the car Summers and Dilwyn John were travelling in came off the narrow road and collided with the gable end of a Manx cottage.
The cottage was severely damage, as was the car, but miraculously there were no serious injuries.