Speyside Stages - (Sat) 23 Apr 16

Video Clips

Posted: January 11, 2017 11:18 AM

PEARSON GRABS MAIDEN WIN ON SPEYSIDE STAGES

Posted: January 11, 2017 11:13 AM

Duns driver Garry Pearson edged out 2015 ARR Craib Scottish Rally Champion Jock Armstrong by eight seconds to win the 2016 McDonald & Munro Speyside Stages Rally in Elgin.

Pearson, co-driven by Robbie Mitchell, won his first ever SRC event at the wheel of his Ford Fiesta R5, extending his championship lead in the process. Pearson was always in amongst the top times, and despite a puncture on SS5 and a near rally ending spin on the final stage he came home to take the win. At the finish in Elgin, he said: "Really good. It was pretty close, we spun it in a fourth gear corner, a bit lucky but we're happy to be here!" The conditions on the 20th running of the Speyside stages were challenging for the competitors, especially in the opening Cooper Park tests where a pre-stage rain shower had made the tarmac stage very treacherous. However, despite the odd scattering of hail stones, conditions were predominantly dry albeit quite slippy.

SS8 Gartly Moor 2 seemed to be a particular favourite, with plenty of drivers exiting the stage with beaming smiles. Jock Armstrong managed a maximum speed of 112mph through the test, so it's not hard to see why.
Quintin Milne described SS8 as "the best stage he had done in five years," while Ross MacDonald likened it to a "near death experience", saying it was one of "the best stages ever."

Coming home in second place overall and continuing their battle with Garry Pearson from the Border Counties rally were Jock Armstrong and Paula Swinscoe. However, if it weren't for a spin in the second Cooper Park stage, it could have been another win for the defending champions.

Armstrong fought back up the leaderboard in his Subaru once the crews headed into the forests, winning the first gravel stage Knock More. However, the Castle Douglas driver had his work cut out to keep up with the more competitive R5 of Pearson, but came within eight seconds at the end after Garry's high speed moment. Jock said: "It's been a good event for us really. Garry got carried away with himself [with the SS10 spin]! Glad to see I'm putting somebody under pressure!"

Finishing third overall, 33 seconds back from Armstrong and Swinscoe were Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Faulkner once again gave it everything the car could give, but unlike on the Borders this time it paid off with a podium finish. No real dramas befell the pair, who took another strong haul of points home to aid their championship hopes.
Mike said: "It's good to be back on the podium. We gave it everything we've got, and had a good battle with John [MacCrone] towards the end there."

John MacCrone and Rhianon Gelsomino finished the Speyside fourth overall in their Ford Fiesta R5, fighting right at the sharp end straight from the off. After two difficult events on the Snowman and the Border Counties, MacCrone was more confident in the car, particularly in the fast sections, and was finally showing what he and the R5 Fiesta were capable of.
However, he lost 50 seconds on SS5 Gartly Moor 1 whilst running in third overall when his Fiesta's front driveshaft broke and he had to complete the remainder of the stage with just rear wheel drive.
John put in a spirited drive though and fought back to finish a mere six seconds from Faulkner's third place, taking a stage win on SS7 and one on the final test to outline his pace.

Fifth place was once again a fine finish for Banchory driver Bruce McCombie and co-driver Michael Coutts in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, although McCombie was left bemoaning his consistency after being at the sharp end on some stages and not so quick on others.
McCombie was loving the stages though, remarking at several stage ends that he "just had to push."
He loved SS10 so much, he simply said: "F****** brilliant!" His biggest scare came in SS5, where he exited the stage with just one fully inflated tyre on his Mitsubishi.
He eventually finished 49 seconds back from MacCrone in fourth.

Dale Robertson with Stuart Loudon alongside took his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX to sixth place overall, another strong finish for the Duns driver. His rally was not without problems though, with his Evo trailing his rear bumper at the end of SS4. The rear diff also let go at the end of the rally, but luckily for Robertson it was in the final stage which was only 2.79 miles long.

Seventh was the best Mark McCulloch could manage, which was disappointing considering how much more comfortable he was getting in his new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. It could so easily have been sixth, as he trailed Robertson by a mere five seconds come the finish outside Moray College in Elgin. His run was not helped by a cooling issue with the engine at the end of SS8 Gartly Moor 2, or an off road excursion on SS4, but he managed to get the car to the end safely.
Mark said at the end of SS5: "We have been changing things with the car stage by stage. The car has been excellent, it's just the driver that needs improving!"

Grabbing their best finish of the season in eight place were Mitsubishi Evo IX crew Andrew Gallacher and Jane Nicol. The pair managed to get through the ten special stages relatively unscathed, and were rewarded with a strong points haul for the championship. Gallacher was well up for the fight, even when he only had a few stages left to do.
At the end of SS8 he said: "Of course we're going to push!"

Taking a fantastic ninth overall on their first event of the season were Freddie Milne and Canadian co-driver Charley Sayer-Payne. Milne's Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX was going strong, and was locked in a very close battle with Gallacher, Barry Groundwater and John Wink towards the end of the rally despite a flat tyre on SS4.
At the end of SS9, Freddie was showing no signs of holding back. He sent a warning to his rivals: "The car is fully insured for this event!"
Gallacher won the battle, but Milne was left delighted with his performance.
Freddie said: "I'm very, very happy. If you'd have told me I'd have been top 20 let alone top 10 this morning I would have been buzzing! That last stage was something else."

Rounding out the top ten were Barry Groundwater and Sean Donnelly, who beat the struggling Donnie MacDonald and Andrew Falconer to the top ten by just two seconds.
Groundwater had a trouble free run, although at times was perplexed by the times as he felt like he was going faster. Nevertheless, he enjoyed himself and took another solid points scoring finish.
Top seeds that struggled included Donnie MacDonald, who picked up a puncture on both runs through Gartly Moor and suffered car problems in the last couple of stages, meaning the Snomwan winner could only salvage 11th.

After his strong podium place on the Border Counties in a Focus WRC, Shaun Sinclair was back out in his Subaru Impreza WRC with Kirsty Riddick on the notes. Sinclair could only manage twelfth on the Speyside, after his Subaru suffered from an intermittent engine throughout the morning loop.

2014 Scottish Rally Champions Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton were also out on the Speyside in their Peugeot 208 T16 R5 although weren't scoring SRC points. The duo were leading the way after eight stages but after SS9 were complaining with issues at the rear of the Peugeot, which eventually was diagnosed as a broken differential, which led to their retirement.

Results

Posted: January 11, 2017 6:43 AM

Speyside Stages - (Sat) 23 Apr 16 - RESULTS

Results by: flyingfinish.co.uk

Seeded Entry List

Posted: April 15, 2016 10:31 AM

1 Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton (Peugeot? 208 R5) [13]
2 Jock Armstrong/Paula Swinscoe (Subaru? Impreza) [12]
3 Garry Pearson/Robbie Mitchell (Ford? Fiesta R5) [13]
4 Mike Faulkner/Peter Foy (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO IX) [11]
5 Shaun Sinclair/TBA (Ford? Focus WRC) [13]
6 Donnie MacDonald/Andrew Falconer (Mitsubishi? EVO 9) [12]
7 John MacCrone/Rhianon Gelsomino (Ford? Fiesta R5) [13]
8 Bruce McCombie/Michael Coutts (Mitsubishi? Evo) [12]
9 Mark McCulloch/Michael Hendry (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO IX) [12]
10 Dale Robertson/Stuart Loudon (Mitsubishi? EVO 9) [11]
11 Barry Groundwater/Sean Donnelly (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO X) [12]
12 Andrew Gallacher/Jane Nicol (Mitsubishi? EVO 8) [12]
14 Fraser Wilson/Craig Wallace (Mitsubishi? EVO 9) [10]
15 Scott McCombie/Mark Fisher (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 9) [12]
16 John Wink/John Forrest (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 9) [11]
17 Quintin Milne/Paul Hughes (Ford? Escort) [8]
18 Freddie Milne/Charley Sayer-Payne (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
19 Dougal Brown/Calum MacLeod (Ford? Escort Mk2) [8]
20 Alasdair S Graham/Laura Stuart (Mitsubishi? EVO) [10]
21 Iain Wilson/Keith Riddick (Subaru? Impreza N12) [11]
22 Ian Baumgart/Mike Dickson (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
23 Martin Scott/Daniel Forsyth () [12]
24 Ross MacDonald/Matthew Johnstone (Mitsubishi? EVO 8) [12]
25 Scott MacBeth/Ian MacIvor (Mitsubishi? EVO 7) [11]
26 Jimmy Christie/Iain Thorburn (Mitsubishi? Evo) [11]
27 Brian Watson/Caroline Will (Mitsubishi? EVO) [12]
28 Fraser Louden/Abi Louden (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 9) [12]
29 Kevin Robertson/Murray Strachan (Mitsubishi? EVO 9) [11]
30 Ellya Gold/Jean Hay (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 6) [11]
31 Scott Mutch/Greg McDonald (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
32 David Ross/Kyle MacKintosh (DAM Metro? 4100) [12]
33 Keith Morris/Martin Forrest (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 6) [11]
34 Martin Craik/Steven Brown (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
35 Willie Stuart/Neil Ewing (Ford? Escort Mk1) [6]
36 Alistair Anderson/Richard Sutherland (Subaru Impreza) [11]
37 Calum M MacLeod/Claudia MacLeod (MG? S2200) [12]
38 Grant Inglis/Robert Gray (Ford? Escort Mk2) [8]
39 Steven Smith/Daniel Johnstone (Ford? Escort Mk2) [4]
40 Gordon Murray/David O?Brien (Ford? Escort Mk2) [9]
41 Ian Forgan/Kathryn Forgan (Ford? Ka) [7]
42 Mike Grant/Graham Kelman (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
43 Simon Hay/Calum Jaffray (Mitsubishi? EVO 6) [11]
44 Angus Lawrie/Paul Gribben (Vauxhall? Corsa 1400S) [2]
45 James Gibb/Iain Robson (Ford? Fiesta) [12]
46 Billy Miller/ (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 8) [12]
47 Scott Kerr/Stephen Clark (Ford? Escort Mk2) [9]
48 Duncan MacDonald/Neil Ross (Ford? Escort Mk2) [8]
49 John McIlwraith/Scott Young (Ford? Escort RS) [5]
50 James Robertson/Colin Maxwell (Citroen? C2 R2) [4]
51 Thomas Gray/Dave Robson (Ford? Fiesta R2) [4]
52 Michael Binnie/Claire Mole (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 5) [11]
53 Matthew Thomson/Ian Graham (Subaru? Impreza GC8) [11]
54 Murray Coulthard/John Frew (Citroen? C2 R2 Max) [4]
55 Donald Peacock/Scott Peacock (Peugeot? 205 Gti) [3]
56 Scott Sloan/David Sloan (Vauxhall? Corsa) [2]
57 Geoff Goudie/Nicola Ritchie (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
58 Steven Fraser/Rhuaridh Campbell (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
59 Drew MacDonald/Ken Bills (Subaru? Impreza GC8) [11]
60 Sandy Arbuthnott/Ian Arbuthnott (Ford? Escort Mk2) []
61 David Martin/ (Citroen? C2) [4]
62 Donald Brooker/Rachel Brooker (BMW? 130i) [9]
63 Alex Pirie/ (Citroen? C2) [4]
64 David MacLean/Charles MacKenzie (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 5) [11]
65 Alan Kirkaldy/Garry Muir (Mitsubishi? EVO 9) [10]
66 Ian Cruden/Rory Cruden (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 4) [11]
67 Colin Baxter/Donald John Campbell (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
68 Andy Chalmers/Martin MacCabe (Ford? Escort) [5]
69 Kenny Wood/Christopher Thomson-Bialy (Talbot? Sunbeam) [8]
70 Gina Walker/Edwin Cook (Citroen? C2) [4]
71 Scott MacDonald/Stewart Hurst (Vauxhall? Nova) [3]
72 Sandy MacKenzie/Martin Fraser (Opel? Manta) [8]
73 Adrian Stewart/Tom Hynd (Peugeot? 205 Gti) [3]
74 Paddy Munro/Chris Munro (Ford? Escort Mk2) [5]
75 Graeme Sherry/Cameron Fair (Citroen? C2) [4]
76 Neil Philip/Ian Philip (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
77 Caroline Carslaw/Ross Williams (Ford? Fiesta ST) [7]
78 Ian Milne/Sandy Milne (Ford? Escort Mk2) [6]
79 Neil Redford/ (Honda? Civic Jordan) [4]
80 Michael Robertson/Gary McDonald (Peugeot? 205) [2]
81 John O?Kane/George Finlayson (Ford? Escort Mk2) [5]
82 Robbie Beattie/David Findlay (Peugeot? 205 Gti) [3]
83 Grant MacRae/Martin Bruce (Peugeot? 205 Rallye) [2]
84 Hector MacInnes/Jenny O?Kane (Subaru? Impreza WRX Sti) [11]
85 Andrew Grant/Richard Alsop (Peugeot? 306 GT16) [7]
86 Derek Duncan/Adrian Bruce (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
87 John MacLeod/Seumas MacLean (Ford? Focus) [7]
88 Scott Burness/Jodi Devine (Ford? Fiesta ST) [7]
89 Jacob Harlington/Oliver Harlington (Volkswagen? Polo) [2]
90 Darren Christie/Daniel Christie (Peugeot? 106 Cup Car) [4]
91 Allan Matheson/Neil Morrison (Ford? Escort) [3]
92 Scott McQueen/Andrew MacKinnon (Peugeot? 205) [5]
93 Iain Mutch/Orrin McDonnell (Vauxhall? Astra Gsi) [7]
94 Don Murray/Thomas Purvin (Subaru? Impreza) [11]
95 Andy Struthers/Alasdair McIlroy (Citroen? C2) [4]
96 Kevin Gray/Kenny Foggo (Vauxhall? Astra) [7]
97 Chris Duff/Matthew French (Peugeot? 205 Gti) [3]
98 Luke McLaren/Phil Kenny (Peugeot? 205) [3]
99 Calum Fraser/Andrew Logan (Peugeot? 205 Gti) [5]
100 Colin Patterson/Gary Clark (Ford? Escort) [5]
101 Graeme MacVicar/Grant MacNiven (Ford? Fiesta) [4]
102 David McLoughlin/Graham Robertson (Peugeot? 205 Gti) [3]
103 Erle Strachan/Jamie Mactavish (Mitsubishi? Lancer EVO 6) [11]
104 Christopher Murray/Sarah Dale (Ford? Escort Mk1) [5]
105 Allan Young/Sinclair Young (Peugeot? 205) [3]
106 Martin Crombie/Alan Crombie (Peugeot? 106 Gti) [4]
107 Stephen Fraser/Gareth MacMillan (British Leyland? Mini 1275 GT) [2]
108 Keith Seager/Mark Runciman (BMW? 318Ti) [8]
109 Graeme Harris/Mike Thomson (Ford? Fiesta XR2i) [3]
110 Ross Hughes/Kirsten Dallas (Citroen? C2) [4]
111 Billy Falconer/Eric Falconer (Peugeot? 205 Gti) [3]
112 Gavin Kelt/Nikki Addison (Vauxhall? Corsa Sport) [2]
113 Angus MacQueen/Jennifer MacKinnon (Vauxhall? Nova) [2]
114 Steven Ross/Rowena Hay (Vauxhall? Corsa) [4]
115 Michael Duffus/John Urquhart (Vauxhall? Astra) [7]
116 Steven Crockett/Martin Henderson (Peugeot? 205) [2]
117 Darren Littlejohn/Amanda Morrison (Vauxhall? Nova) [3]
118 Max Redpath/Jack Clayworth (Peugeot? 205) [3]
119 Calum MacDonald/Aaron Smillie (Peugeot? 205 Rallye) [2]
120 Charles Stewart/David Law (Peugeot? 106) [4]
121 Laura Kerschat/Steven Kerschat (Vauxhall? Corsa) [2]

Entries Received / Regulations / Event Website

Posted: February 6, 2016 4:25 PM

Speyside Stages