Friday 24 April 2015

Rally - Merrick cancelled

The Merrick stages Rally scheduled to run on 5th September has been cancelled. The Organisers of the penultimate round of the Scottish Rally Championship have cited declining entries over recent years as the cause.

More recently, plans were underway to change the venue this year and talks had been held with sponsors and the Forestry Commission at Aberfoyle.  It would appear that uncertainty over the contents of the impending ‘Rally Safety Guidelines’ due to be published by the Motor Sports Safety Review Group were a consideration during discussions.

It has to be remembered that the Forestry Commission in Aberfoyle has little in the way of recent experience with forest rallying – and I include the Rally of Scotland (last held in 2011) in that! – and its some 25 years since the Trossachs was part of the national Championship. Whilst there was goodwill all round, the timescale defeated plans for this year. As you are no doubt aware, the Trossachs is an awfy busy place even in the middle of autumn.

Naturally, we would all expect that the Galloway Hills would slot into place and become the final round of the series, as it has over the past two years, but apparently that might not be the case. The prospect of a 7 round national championship is now a distinct possibility. Further developments and announcements are awaited with interest.

The full text of the Merrick organising team News Release is here:

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