SPEYSIDE “HAT TRICK” EDGES BOGIE CLOSER TO SECOND TITLE
Posted: August 26, 2010 2:49 PM
Defending Scottish champion David Bogie has become the first driver to win the Gleaner Oil & Gas Speyside Stages Rally three times in a row.
The Dumfries ace dominated the Elgin-based event in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 - winning five of the eight stages - to finish with a total time of 43 minutes 46 seconds, fifty seconds ahead of runner-up Jock Armstrong in a Subaru Impreza.
Lanarkshire's Alick Kerr, also in a Subaru, secured the final podium place, a further 21 seconds adrift.
Bogie's third consecutive Speyside victory – and his fourth maximum points haul of the season - increased his lead in the Hankook MSA Scottish Rally Championship to sixteen points over Kerr, with two rounds remaining.
Co-driven by Kevin Rae – who had shared his two previous wins in Elgin – Bogie said he was “over the moon” to have achieved the “hat-trick”.
“The main thing was to get a good score for the championship, but to get three Speyside wins in a row – something no one has done before – is a little bit special, and a huge achievement when you look at the list of previous winners”.
He went on: “It was one of those rallies where everything clicked into place – there were no errors, the car went well, I was happy with my driving, Kevin was spot on with the notes – all in all it's been a great day”.
Armstrong and navigator Kirsty Riddick had been keen to bounce back after a non-finish on the previous round in Dumfries, and the frustration of his exclusion from the Speyside results in 2009 for a Group N infringement.
The Castle Douglas pair were trailing Bogie and Rae by 20 seconds after completing the SS5 Balloch, but then lost time on the following test – the five-mile Gartly Moor – when they sustained a front-left puncture while negotiating a series of tight corners.
Despite the set-back, Armstrong was satisfied with his day's work as the leading Group N driver:
“After the puncture I thought - is the day going to go right, but it all came together in the afternoon and we kept a level head. The penultimate stage – the fifteen miles through Clashindarroch - went perfectly, and it saw us through”.
Following problems earlier in the day, Bothwell's Alick Kerr was also relieved to have ended so far up the leaderboard - beating Paul Benn to third, after the Cumbrian driver picked up a puncture on the final stage.
With experienced co-driver Dave Robson standing in for Neil Shanks, who was clerk of the course for the Speyside, Kerr was fifth overall, six seconds adrift, after the two runs through the Cooper Park spectator stage, followed by the short Taucher's Wood test.
But it was apparent all was not well on SS4 Longbank, where the 21-year-old could only manage 13th fastest – 28 seconds off Bogie's pace.
“The wish-bone was loose and we were getting a bad vibration, which knocked my confidence, it meant I was lifting off”, explained Kerr: “We also had a spin in the same stage and lost more time, so after that you wonder if anything is going to go right.
However, the afternoon stages went much better – we kept the same tyres, and they seemed to work in the drier conditions. It's a bit of a steal, but a strong result for us”.
For his part, Benn was obviously disappointed to miss out on a podium spot after such a strong showing in his Ford Focus alongside co-driver Richard Cooke.
They had a thirteen second advantage over Kerr and Robson going into SS8 Whiteash but that was turned into a three second deficit following the puncture.
“Obviously it would have been something to have been on the podium on my first Speyside Stages, but that's rallying”, said Benn: “We can't be too downhearted – we've been on the pace or thereabouts for most of the day”.
Lancastrian Wayne Sisson – another Speyside “newbie” - finished fifth overall in his Mitsubishi Evo 9, just one second adrift of Benn.
The rally firm boss, with Inverness co-driver David MacFadyen, steadily improved as the day wore on and rattled off a fifth fastest time on SS6 Gartly Moor, a third quickest on SS7 Clashindarroch and equal second with Kerr on the final Whiteash test.
“I didn't feel I was in the groove early on, and we lost 20 seconds after a spin on the fifth stage”, said Sisson: “But the afternoon stages were good, and in particular, Clashindarroch”.
Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy – runners-up on the Speyside last year – saw their challenge for a top-three spot disappear when a drive-shaft broke on stage five, losing them a minute.
They pushed hard to haul themselves back up the leaderboard and were second only to Bogie on the penultimate stage, before setting the quickest time on Whiteash.
“I think our final position is as good as we could achieve in the circumstances”, said a rueful Faulkner, who now lies third in the overall standings: “It's just disappointing to think what it could have been without the broken drive-shaft”.
Barry Groundwater's seventh place finish in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 made up for his early retirement from the event twelve months ago.
The Stonehaven driver, with Daniel Paterson on the notes, ended the day 4 seconds off Faulkner's time.
Up and coming young driver David Wilson – also in an Evo 9 - was just a second further back in eighth overall.
Early on, Wilson and co-driver Drew Sturrock had shared the honours with Andy Horne for fastest time on the second run through the Cooper Park spectator stage.
Oban's Shaun Sinclair battled fuel-pump problems throughout the day to bring his Evo 9 home in ninth place alongside navigator Chris Hamill.
The top ten was rounded off by John Morrison and Peter Carstairs, who won the bragging rights over fellow “Highland” Evo 9 competitors Donnie MacDonald (“I didn't have a great day to be honest, just didn't have the commitment”) and Keir Beaton in eleventh place.
Yet again, one of the fiercest battles featured Calum Mackenzie and Steve Bannister in their respective Mk2 Escorts.
In the event, the Inverurie-based Mackenzie, with Alan Clark on the notes, took both class and 2-wheel drive honours, finishing thirteen seconds ahead of the Yorkshireman, who was co-driven by Louise Sutherland.
At the end of stage six, they were on identical overall times with the spectators out in the forests enjoying the “nip and tuck” between the two talented rivals.
However, neither had had their troubles to seek as the day unfolded:
Said Mackenzie: “We hit a curb on the first run through Cooper Park and bent the steering. Then on stage five we spun at a hairpin and stalled, went into Gartly and did exactly the same thing at the last hairpin – in fact we were really lucky there, because it was a big one. Same at the chicane in the middle of Gartly as well. Braking has been really difficult today – I just don't think the set-up of the car has been right”.
“It was very close all day”, agreed Bannister: “But on stage seven the throttle jammed open about four miles from the end, we came over a crest and straight into a big hole. Fortunately we managed to free the throttle, and got out of the hole, but we must have dropped more than thirty seconds. Then on the last stage, I couldn't get first or second gears, so we dropped more time. After all the dramas we've had today, I'm very pleased to finished second of the 2-wheel drives”.
Among the notable retirements was the aforementioned Andy Horne, who with Jim Howie navigating, had set a blistering pace earlier in the day in his DAM 4100GTi.
They set the fastest times through Cooper Park – the second run shared with Wilson – and by first service were third overall – thirteen seconds adrift of Bogie.
Two second fastest stage times followed through SS5 Balloch and SS6 Gartly Moor, and Horne declared at second service how pleased he was to be “back on the pace”, while at the same time, he did not feel he was driving “on the ragged edge”.
Unfortunately, the challenge for a podium spot ended on stage seven making it Horne and Howie's first non-finish on a Scottish Championship round this year.
Earlier, SRC veterans Walter Henderson and Jim Kinloch crashed out heavily in their Subaru Impreza on the fifth stage – resulting in its cancellation and nominal times being given to following competitors.
Following reports that co-driver Kinloch had been knocked unconscious in the accident, there was relief all round when news filtered through that he had been given the all clear after a hospital check-up.
There were 90 classified finishers from a start-list of 116 competitors.
Photos
Posted: August 26, 2010 2:48 PM
Full Results
Posted: August 26, 2010 2:43 PM
1 David Bogie/Kevin Rae (Hawick) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 43 mins 46 secs
2 Jock Armstrong (Castle Douglas)/Kirsty Riddick (Haugh of Urr) Subaru Impreza WRX 44.36
3 Alick Kerr (Bothwell)/Dave Robson (Jedburgh) Subaru Impreza 44.57
4 Paul Benn (Cockermouth)/Richard Cooke (Keswick) Ford Focus 45.00
5 Wayne Sisson (Burton-in-Kendal)/David MacFadyen (Inverness) Mitsubishi Evo 9 45.01
6 Mike Faulkner (Kirtlebridge)/Peter Foy (Bingley) Mitsubishi Evo 6 45.16
7 Barry Groundwater (Stonehaven)/Daniel Paterson (Stonehaven) Mitsubishi Evo 9 45.20
8 David Wilson (Alness)/Drew Sturrock (Laurencekirk) Mitsubishi Evo 9 45.21
9 Shaun Sinclair (Oban)/Chris Hamill (Kilmore) Mitsubishi Evo 9 45.43
10 John Morrison (Conon Bridge)/Peter Carstairs (St Andrew's) Mitsubishi Evo 9 45.59
Seeded Entry List
Posted: August 6, 2010 7:47 PM
Entries Received to date
Posted: July 20, 2010 9:38 AM
Rally launches into new decade!
Posted: June 25, 2010 11:25 AM
The 63 Car Club (Elgin) Ltd. are delighted to announce that the Speyside Stage Rally will once again run as part of the highly acclaimed Scottish Rally Championship in 2010.
The organisers launched their 14th event at the Search and Rescue Fundraising Dinner on Saturday the 29th of May which the car club will be helping to raise money for. The relationship with the charity – Search and Rescue Trust - stems from event sponsor Gleaner Oil and Gas, which for 6th year running will once again be the main sponsor of the event.
With the countdown of week’s already started before Scotland’s Rally elite takes to the Moray forests the event will once again start with the famous blast round Elgin’s Cooper Park before heading out to sample some of the best forests in the North of Scotland and with this years Scottish Rally Championship looking as close as ever coming into the final four rounds it will certainly be a fast paced, nail biting event here in Elgin!
As with previous years, Gleaner Oil and Gas’ Andrew Laing has nominated a charity in which Gleaner’s and The Speyside Stages raise money for. This year Gleaner’s have chosen The Search and Rescue Trust, which is a charity that help’s raise money for the RAF Search and Rescue, Royal Navy and Scottish Air Ambulance service.
As part of the fund raising The 63 Car Club Elgin Ltd. will be holding a prize draw in which members of the public can win the chance to sit alongside one of Scotland’s top rally drivers at the Speyside Stages Press Day, prior to the event. Other prizes include a signed model Ferrari F1 by Michael Schumacher, and McLaren F1 items signed by Lewis Hamilton. To enter visit the Club’s stand at the Motorfun on the 6th of June at the Cooper Park Elgin, and also Rrrrallye which will be held at Keith Grammar School on the 13th June. There are also plans to have a display at the plainstones in Elgin on the 24th of July.
More Details:
Regulations / Details / Event Website
Posted: January 1, 2010 12:01 AM
Supplementary regualtions and entry forms for the 2010 Gleaner Oil & Gas Speyside Stages are now available from the competitors page on:
News Stories
Classifieds
Shop
TV Guide
Links
Upcoming 
Most