3 weeks after the Scottish Rally the KNC Groundworks Scottish Rally Championship crews descended on Milton of Crathes for the Grampian Forest Rally.
After a puncture in SS3, Garry Pearson & Niall Burns thought their chances of a win had gone. However a really good run in stage 5 would see them close to within 2 seconds of the SRC leaders and they charged over the final stage to snatch their 1st win in the SRC as a team.
Leading all the way to the final stage Jock Armstrong & Cammy Fair took their third 2nd place of the season. A fairly major off road excursion in stage 3 burst the radiator and bent the suspension. That was fixed in service but a final stage puncture would see them slip back to 2nd behind Pearson & Burns.
In a ditch in SS1, Freddie Milne & Jamie Edwards then lost all their brakes in stage 4 after a rear caliper worked loose. They entered the final loop 20 seconds behind Michael Binnie & Claire Mole. 2 storming runs saw Milne & Edwards snatch 3rd on the last stage.
Armstrong & Fair have extended their lead at the top of the championship standings but with 4 scores out of 5 events to count, it’s still all to play for.
Mark McCulloch & Michael Hendry once again topped the 2wd standings at the end of the event. Despite a couple of driver induced moments in the morning the Hardie MK2 ran faultlessly all day.
After a tough Scottish, championship sponsor Kevin Crawford & co-driver Andrew Stevenson had a much better day in their home forests, grabbing their 1st Albyn Garage Challengers win of the season.
Ewan Tyndall & Andrew Roughead would lose 2 and a half minutes with a turbo problem in SS1. After that they fought back to overhaul junior rivals Johnnie Mackay & Emily Easton-Page on the last stage to take a 2nd junior win of the year.
Taking their 2nd Andrew Wood Motorsport Subaru Cup win, Michael Renton & John Shepheard had a great day out. Enjoying a good laugh on the stages their only issue was an overshoot in the afternoon.
The next round of the KNC Groundworks Scottish Rally Championship will be the Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally in South West Scotland on the 11th of September.
