Rally - Galloway Hills

David Bogie and Kevin Rae won yesterday’s Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally with Jock Armstrong and Paula Swinscoe finishing second. As ever, Jock had a unique view on proceedings: “I’ve won it seven times before and David’s only won it once so I thought I’d be nice to him!”

As for David, he was lucky to be there at all let alone win the rally. On Friday morning he was confined to bed, in his hotel room – in Spain. And no, it wasn’t drink. He reckons it was something he ate. He missed his flight home on Friday but caught one on Saturday to be back for Sunday’s rally, but he looked fair wabbit first thing on Sunday morning: “I'm still not good. I feel drained, but at least there's no sickness."

Jock cocked an eyebrow at the times: “He cannae be that sick!” as David reeled off six fastest times over the six Special Stages.

Desi Henry and John Rowan finished third as they acclimatised to their new Skoda Fabia S2000 although they dropped a bit of time over the final two tests: "She's a bit 'floaty' at the rear over those last two," he said, "I think I've broken the rear anti-roll bar."

The best fight of the day was for fourth place where 12 seconds covered Jonny Greer, Mark McCulloch and Chris Collie. At the halfway point, McCulloch was holding fourth place but a problem with the exhaust forced him to switch off the ALS and Greer was able to close in despite trying out 'close pattern' tyres on his DS3 R5 ahead of next month's Rally Wales GB: "I would have been better on 'mud' tyres today,” he said.

After the season he’s had, Chris Collie was happy enough with sixth: "I had a good run and I'm pleased with the car. It's back to what it should be!"

Fraser Wilson finished in seventh place with a stump of wood jammed between the rim and a front tyre, but no air loss, while Niall Henry was a very lucky eighth: "A rear tyre went soft as I approached the Flying Finish of the final stage. I was in full flight on full lock and nearly in a ditch."

Ninth was the first of the 2WD cars with Seamus O'Connell lucky to finish when the gear linkage broke in the last stage and Rory Young rounded off the top ten back in his Lancer after a couple of outings in a Fiesta R5.

Final Results:

1,  David Bogie / Kevin Rae  (Ford Fiesta R5) 41m 09s 

2,  Jock Armstrong / Paula Swinscoe  (Subaru Impreza) + 0:34 

3,  Desi Henry / John Rowan  (Skoda Fabia S2000)  +1:00 

4,  Jonny Greer / Kirsty Riddick  (Citroen DS3 R5)  +3:06 

5,  Mark McCulloch / Michael Hendry  (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9)  +3:12 

6,  Chris Collie / Neil Shanks  (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6)  +3:18 

7,  Fraser Wilson / Craig Wallace  (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9)  +3:54 

8,  Niall Henry / Damien Duffin  (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10)  +3:55 

9,  Seamus O'Connell / Andy Richardson  (Ford Escort Mk 2)  +4:03 

10,  Rory Young / Allan Cathers  (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5)  +4:06