At the end of 89 very wet, misty and exceptionally challenging stage miles, the tired crews returned to Douglas – no doubt very pleased to have left the bleakness of Jurby behind for the time being as they looked forward to a decent meal and a hot shower. Final overall top ten Leg 2 positions were: Higgins, M; Milner; Nesbitt; Higgins, D (leading group N by over four minutes); Eamonn Boland (Impreza WRC); Justin Dale (leading the 1600s by five and a half minutes); Cathers (second Group N); Ginley (just two seconds behind); Irishman Dick Curran (Group N Evo6); and local resident Robert Watson (Group N Impreza).
So to the final Saturday showdown, starting from Douglas at 8.30am, and (surprisingly) dry. The early news filtering through the rather disappointing event information system concerned the retirements of the unfortunate Simon Hughes, getting quicker and quicker in his always impressive 2002-spec Super 1600 Renault Clio but dropping out with a damaged engine after hitting an errant water trough; and Harold Morley, who crashed badly and briefly blocked the Baldhoon stage. More drama concerned Championship leader Jonny Milner's gearbox. After experiencing selection problems, he arrived in service to find that not only the gears, but also the gearbox casing itself, had been damaged. Whilst the service crew stripped and rebuilt the box, Jonny himself reground the gears in the service van's work-shop, and team manager Duncan McMath repaired the casing. The repairs proved only temporary, however, because after a couple of quick stage times he lost fifth and sixth gears.
