After eight years of trying, Penrith rally driver Paul Bird eventually got his hands on the winner's trophy at the Manx Telecom Rally.

Bird and co-driver Ian Windress took the honours converting a 21 second overnight advantage to just under a minute at the end.

Melvyn Evans and Sean Mulally were second with Roger Duckwroth and Mark Broomfield third.
George Craine and Janet Collister were the best locals in an impressive sixth place.

After a difficult week in which he nearly didn;t travel to the Island due to a family illness, Bird was delighted.

There were a number of other good local showings:

Noel and Carol Kelly 12th; Andrew Leece and Graham Fargher 13th; Nigel and Michaela Cannell 14th; Connor Corkill and Howard Allison 18th; John Kirkpatrick and Martyn Quine 21st; Shaun Fox and Matthew Owen 22nd; Richard Curphey and Andrew Holmes 25th; Kevin Vondy and Nicholas Kaighin 29th (class win); Dave Corris and Dave Rawling 33rd; Keith Bernard and Graham Wild 34th; Pete and Jo Johnson 35th; Guy Simpkiss and Debbie Perry 37th; David Jones and Martin Burns 39th; Rob Callin and Fay Harrison 40th; Neil and Steven Durcan 41st; Christopher Stewart and Steven Rough 44th; David Mylchreest and Allan Cathers 45th (class win); Stephen Higgins and Dave Corlett 46th; Cathy and David Craine 49th.