THE EUROCABLES AND EXCEL Metro 6R4 of Denis Biggerstaff and Robin McCandless emerged victorious at the fourth running of the UK Rally Challenge in Scotland.
Posted: August 22, 2003 11:52 AM
Based at Knockhill Race Circuit, Denis and Robin were up against some tough opposition including no less than 14 of the all conquering Subarus. With Kenny McKinstry, Barry Johnson and Raymond Munro in WRC versions, Denis knew he was going to have a tough battle with the state-of-the-art machinery. Nonetheless, the Kinallen rally ace wasn't deterred and he went on to emerge victorious by 11 seconds:
'On stage one Kenny was quickest and we were third but on stage two we really got going. We had a good run and we were quickest or joint quickest on stages two, three, four, five and six!'
It was a fantastic display of driving skill and onlookers realised that the Millers Oils 6R4, which is 20 years old next year, can still mix it with modern day rally cars. With two stages remaining, Denis was leading the event by 13 seconds from the Impreza WRC of Kenny McKinstry. However, the event was far from over and Denis thought he had lost the lead on the following stage:
'On stage seven we relaxed a little bit and made a few mistakes. We spun, she was jumping out of fourth gear and I think we took the wrong road at one point. We thought we had lost the lead but Kenny, who was second at that point, made a bigger mistake than us! I think he stalled her at a hairpin on the handbrake and couldn't get her started so he was further behind. That let Raymond Munro into second but we were still going into stage eight with a 13 second lead.'
With one stage remaining, Denis looked set to take his first victory in just over a year. Problems with the 6R4 have hindered his progress in recent events but she was on song for the Scottish event, and so was Denis!
'On the last stage we decided not to try to do too much because we knew they wouldn't take 13 seconds off us. We ended up third quickest and won by 11 seconds. I was just happy that the Metro won with nine Subarus behind it!'
Denis and Robin were ecstatic after winning the event and the success has done wonders for Denis' confidence after such a lacklustre year. The Kinallen man is now looking forward to this weekend's Lurgan Park Rally. It is an event which he came close to winning in 1998 but he his playing down his chances of taking the spoils this year:
'I don't think we have as good a chance to win the event as some of the Subarus. They do have the edge so it's going to be 100% driving and 100% professional. If we can do the times early on and if it doesn't rain then I think we will have a small chance but I'll not be going out thinking I can win it.'
News Stories
Classifieds
Shop
TV Guide
Links
Upcoming 
Most