Paul Bird won today's Malcolm Wilson Rally the second round of this year's BTRDA Championship, but it was a mixed day for our lot. Just 19 seconds behind the winner at the finish was Euan Thorburn with Steve Petch third and David Bogie fourth.
Thorburn wasn't too dischuffed at the finish though: "At least I got some points on the board," said Euan, "after this morning, to finish second is good, but there was just too much to make up on Paul (Bird) this afternoon. I did manage to take 2 seconds out of him on the final stage but it wasn't nearly enough. The stage didn't suit the car, there were too many long straights and I just didn't have the power."
Lying second at half way, Bogie went backwards this afternoon: "I slid off at the start of SS5 and got a puncture and after that the car wasn't handling well at all. It was all over the place." At service the crew found the rear diff had failed. "That was what probably caused my off earlier," said David, "just after the stage start, the car slid wide when I was leaning on it and we went into the ditch. The diff had probably given way at that point. We didn't have a spare so we couldn't do anything and I just carried on, It was squealing like a pig in that last stage."
For his part, Bird was pleased: "I'm chuffed to bits with that," said Paul at the finish, "especially against them two. I knew I could run with them and that just proved it."
Wayne Sissons finished 8th and Andrew Gallacher scored an excellent 4th in Group N and 10th overall. He might even have done better had it not been for a puncture on both stages 6 and 7.
Jon Burn was 14th after 2 punctures on the driver's side of the Subaru this afternoon, and Lee Hastings finished 22nd. Young Ryan Weston finished 50th overall and 9th in class despite the wee Proton ending up on its napper earlier this morning.
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