Rally finishes don’t come much tighter than this. Dave Weston and David
Bogie were tied on identical total times as they crossed the finish line of the
Granite City Rally in Aberdeen. A faster time on the final stage gave the win
to Weston making it two wins in two weekends at opposite ends of the country
having won the Somerset Stages Rally (near France) last weekend.
Jock Armstrong
was a lonely third but was lucky to claim the final podium position: “It was a
Crest into Left,” said Jock, “But I thought it was Crest into Right, and I was
all set up for the right when Paula shouted at me. We went well through the
tapes, but it was OK. Call it a brain fade moment.”
Mike Faulkner was
fourth “with one trip down a firebreak trying to catch Jock” and Steven Clark
and Bruce McCombie rounded off the top half dozen. Sadly Mark McCulloch lost
out on a possible top six when the Lancer broke its transmission: “Just going round
a hairpin going from third to second, it lost drive. No warning.” Clark was
luckier though: “We lost brakes 3 miles from the end of the last stage,” but
made it while McCombie was looking better pleased with himself after a good
afternoon run “we pushed on a bit better, it wasn’t the cleanest or tidiest of
runs, but it was quicker!”
Resorting to the
Rally Regs revealed that in the event of a tie, the faster time on the final
stage would resolve it. and Dave Weston are continuing their nail biting duel
at the head of the Granite City Rally and with 6 (out of 9) stages gone, there
is still just ONE second between them.
John McClory
finished with a big stick poking out of the radiator: “Don’t pull it out,” he shouted,
“we’re scared it will leak!” but claims he doesn’t know how it got there.
Not quite last
driver home but Sue Hynd finished her first forest rally as a driver: “On the
first forest stage, six corners in I got wedged on a log pile, said Sue, “I
hated all the forests stage after that – but I loved the last one. I’ll be back
out on the Jim Clark.”
The voice of a long
suffering husband (who prepped the car) was heard from the co-drivers seat: “First
I’ve heard of that!” Marital strife, doncha just love it.
(Note: Didn’t
manage to get into the winners circle to interview the winners hence no quotes,
but will try later!)
Leaderboard after
9 (of 9) stages:
1, D Weston, 40m
27s
2, D Bogie, 40m
27s
3, J Armstrong, 42m
12s
4, M Faulkner,
42m 36s
5, S Clark, 42m
53s
6, B McCombie, 43m
13s
7, S Sinclair, 43m
45s
8, B Groundwater,
43m 49s
9, A Horne, 44m
27s
10, F Wilson, 44m
51s
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