This left an intriguing battle between Tourish, Cumiskey and Ballentine, Curley exiting the chase when his car's rear suspension became deranged after a hard landing on one of the deceptive jumps in SS12.
With the fight at the front increasing ferocity as the day progressed, it all came down to the very last stage – the 15 km run through Bellaghoisin and, as cars lined up at the start line, the gap between Tourish and Cumiskey was down to just 5.7 seconds. Cumiskey threw caution to the wind and stormed through the stage, emerging with dents in the front of the car following contact with a chicane - sure evidence of a big push.
Such was his pace, Cumiskey set the fastest Group N time overall and was an impressive 13.6 seconds quicker than Tourish, his performance accrediting him with his second Evolution Challenge victory of the season by a margin of 7.9 seconds.
“That was some battle”, said a delighted Cumisky at the finish. “I decided it was win or bust on the last stage and I can't believe we did it by such a margin. I've really enjoyed this weekend: the JFR prepared car has been 100 per cent, the Pirelli tyres have worked well and the mix of competition and camaraderie in the Evo Challenge has been great.”
As this was his first event since suffering an industrial injury in January, Tourish was satisfied with second, as was Ballentine with his third place and second Evo Challenge podium finish in as many events. Carmichael ended his weekend in fourth and, in doing so, continues to lead the championship at the season's half-way point.
Both McFall and Murray were pleased – if not relieved - to make it to the finish and scoop championship points.
