While the destination of the Overall Drivers title may well have been decided, there remains plenty still to play for elsewhere on the final round of the 2022 KNC Groundworks Scottish Rally Championship, the Carlisle Stages on October 22nd.
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In the first of several posts covering some of the upcoming battles, let’s first take a closer look at the Overall Co-drivers’ Championship where 4 competitors are still in with a chance of winning the title.
As a result of his win on the penultimate round, Chris Lees from Waterfoot near Glasgow moved to the top of the standings for the first time this year. Since a first-round retirement, Chris has scored points on every subsequent round and moved into contention following County Durham driver David Henderson’s switch to a Rally2 Fiesta midway through the season.
However, with just 6 scores from the 8 events to count towards a final score, Chris can only add another 15 points to his total with a victory on the Carlisle Stages. Even that wouldn’t guarantee the championship, but more of that anon.
Currently lying 2nd overall, Brechin’s Drew Sturrock has also emerged as a contender with a strong 2nd half of the season alongside Arbroath’s Hugh Brunton in their Fiesta R5. Like Chris, Drew already has 6 scores and so can only claim the title by a single point if Chris fails to improve his score and Drew takes what would be his and Hugh’s first forest rally victory.
The final 2 contenders for the Co-drivers currently only have 5 scores to their name and so can count a full tally of points gained on the final round.
Sitting 5th overall, Duns’ Claire Mole led from day 1 after her and Michael Binnie’s victory on the first round, until their 2nd consecutive non-finish on the Hills following another big off in the newly rebuilt Lancer as they tried to claw back time after problems on the first loop. Despite these 2 recent setbacks, Claire could still claim a first Scottish Rally Championship. If Chris were to win the event, Claire would need to finish no lower than 3rd.
Just to add a further bit of intrigue, although both Drew and Claire are on the unseeded entry list, their vehicle is not!
Finally, despite a bit of an up and down season alongside 2-time Scottish Champion Jock Armstrong in the venerable orange Impreza – including missing a round after sustaining an injury in a mountain bike accident – Mull resident Cammy Fair remains in contention for the title. Nevertheless, if Cammy were to take maximum points, Claire would still take the title with a top 4 finish.
Or none of the above could come to pass of course. The permutations are almost endless but at least we know for definite that one of these four will claim the title in a couple of weeks’ time.
Suffice to say, it ain’t over till it’s over and it’s likely to be flat out from the word go.
