Bird and Riddick win title; Quine and Skinner in second spot

Paul Bird has retained his Manx Telecom Rally title.

He and co-driver Kirsty Riddick won in comprehensive fashion by three minutes 20.3 seconds.

The reigning champion, competing in a Ford Focus World Rally Car, was pushed all the way by British Rally Champion Keith Cronin.

However, the Irishman slipped out of contention and didn’t finish in the end.

That meant an excellent second place for local crew Steven Quine and Richard Skinner.

They and Bird were both delighted with their efforts:

Other local finishers were:

Andrew Leece and Graham Fargher sixth
Martyn Jones and Maurice Snell 10th
John Cope and Rob Fagg 11th
Shaun Fox and Sam McMullan 15th
Carine Walker and Danni Matthews 16th
Lee and Dave Batty 17th
Dave Corris and Paul McCann 19th
Adrian Kermode and Maurice Beckett 20th
Guy Simpkiss and Debbie Parry 24th
Andrew Holmes and Stephen Fox 25th
Keith Bernard and Nigel Morris 26th
Ian Corkill and Eunice Cubbon 27th
Matthew Davison and Natasha Ellison 28th
Kevin Vondy and Sarah Fargher 29th
David Jones and Mark Bumfrey 33rd
Dean Quayle and Seb Turner 34th
Rikki Proffitt and Graham Wild 35th
Tomos Roberts and Mark Brew 37th
David Mylchreest and Roy Sweetman 38th
Cathy Craine and David Craine 39th
Will Rand and Barrie Ford 41st