The RSAC Scottish Rally was a day of 2 halves, dry and warm weather in the morning giving way to wet conditions by the end of the 6-stage event.
Speyside winner David Bogie was aiming for an unprecedented 8th win on his home event, the Polo pilot teaming up with another local and former Scottish Champion Kirsty Riddick. What followed was the definition of a consistent run, only fastest on 2 stages but never outside of the top 3 all day. A puncture in stage 5 didn’t really cost them any significant time and they romped home to both the overall win and maximum points in the Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship.
It was much tighter for 2nd in the SRC. 3rd quickest on SS1 and 2nd quickest on SS2, Championship leader Euan Thorburn and co-driver Keir Beaton hit trouble in SS3 with a puncture which dropped them to 3rd at the midway point of the event. The 2nd loop was equally difficult, the Polo suffering from another 2 punctures. They stayed in the mix, heading into the final stage just 5 seconds away from 2nd place. 3rd quickest over the final stage was enough for them to grab 2nd in the points by just 1 second.
This was from Finlay Retson & Paul Beaton. Off the pace on SS1 – some 10 seconds slower than Thorburn & Beaton – Retson & Beaton were then quickest on SS2 and leapfrogged the blue Polo into 2nd after SS3. That left them 11 seconds clear before the afternoon loop of repeated stages. They promptly lost 8 of those seconds in SS4 but were fastest again in SS5 to hold a 5 second lead with one stage to go. Despite thinking they had driven the last stage as hard as they could while staying safe, they dropped 6 seconds to Euan & Keir to take the final step on the podium.
For the 2nd event in a row the Albyn Garage Challengers and the G&M Mechanical Services 2wd wins went to the same crew. Back in the SRC for the 1st time since the Speyside Robert Proudlock & Steven Brown were delighted to be back on the loose after a tough time on the Irish tarmac as part of their Stellantis campaign. On it from the start, the 208 crew lead the 2wds and were battling Johnnie Mackay & Rachel Matheson’s Evo for top challenger. The final loop saw them put on a charge and leapfrog the Evo by just 2 seconds at the finish, doing the double in both the Challengers and 2wds.
Taking yet another Haddo Energy Super Seniors win, Gordon Murray & Peter Carstairs battled with their big Escort all day in the slippy conditions, Gordon finding it to be a proper handful. They saved their biggest drama for the 2nd loop, flying off the road towards the end of stage 5 and just scrabbling back on to the stage without damage. 6th 2wd car home and 23rd overall was another good result for the big MK2.
Just 1 second behind the Escort came the top Groundwater Lift Trucks Subaru Cup crew. After 2 wins on the tar, Rob Cotton & Ethan Kidd were experiencing the Scottish gravel for the 1st time. They took to it like a duck to water, building pace all day even when they had to deal with a small electrical issue that restricted the car 5000 rpm in the afternoon. 24th overall in amongst the quick Evos and big Escorts was a solid result.
Taking both the Moates Offshore Juniors and top Lady driver, the Scottish was another good day of learning for Meghan & John O’Kane in their R2 Fiesta. The morning was blighted with a puncture and a repeat of the issue that plagued their Speyside, stones locking the right rear wheel making it the car very hard to drive in a straight line. The afternoon was better, 3 decent stage times despite being held up briefly on the final test. They were in the right place at the right time as well, Meghan grabbing the Ladies win when her big rival Aileen Forrest hit trouble with late punctures.
images courtesy of AF Motorsport Media
