At least there was one Scot in the top
three at the end of the Pirelli Rally, but it wasn’t David Bogie. Stuart Loudon
co-drove Matthew Wilson to second place after Bogie’s retirement. But take
nothing away from the young Swedish driver, Fredrik Ahlin. He’s a find. Despite
the celebrity queue behind him, he held his nerve over the final three Kielder stages
this morning to clinch a superlative victory by 27 seconds.
As for Bogie, lying second last night, his undoing happened
on the first stage of the day: “It was a really fast bit,” said David, “flat in
fifth down a long hill and I was just too late on the brakes. I tried to drop a
wheel in the ditch to pull me round but it caught and it spun. The car finished
up with its nose in the ditch and rear wheels on the edge of the stage. Kevin
ran back to try and keep cars on the outer line while I tried to get it out, but
it was just too quick. I was scared I would get it halfway out just as one of
the really quick boys was coming through. Much safer to stay where it was. There
was no damage to the car, just a front bumper.”
It was a point echoed by Matthew Wilson who punctured in
that stage: “In fact I think I caught a boulder pulled out by David,” said
Matthew, “I saw it, but I couldn’t miss it. It was so fast, flat in fifth doing
about 110/115 mph, I was just too busy hanging on to the wheel. It demolished the
wheel and tyre!”
Elfyn Evans was able to regain third place but ran out of
miles to challenge for anything better. Still it put a smile on Malcolm’s face,
three Fiestas in the top three places.
However, the Scots did score one exceptional result with
Donnie MacDonald winning the National Cup in 12th place overall in
the Mitsubishi. Freddie Milne did well too finishing 16th in his
Mitsubishi just ahead of the Fiesta of Alex Laffey.
And one more result to cherish, Kirsty Riddick co-drove the Jonny
Greer Citroen DS3 into sixth place, so that put two Scots in the top six
overall.
John Morrison had a miserable rally: “I got one good stage
out of the weekend,” he said, “and that was the last one on Saturday night when
we put new plugs in it. I had a spare set so I put them in ahead of this
morning. Bad move. It was not good. I’m not happy.” He finished 22nd
overall one place ahead of Nigel Feeney who was happier with the Subaru this
morning after softening up the suspension last night.
Blair Brown was happy with a finish in 26th place
but not happy with his performance: “I’m still struggling to make notes for
gravel stages,” said Blair, “I’m OK on tarmac, but it was so fast here that we
just didn’t get the notes right. Call it work in progress.”
Lee Hastings finished 31st but ruined what might
have been a good run with a maximum in the last stage yesterday: “I saw a post
dead ahead and had to decide, go left or right. I chose left, and ended up in the
boondocks!”
Euan Thorburn finished way down the order after his troubles
yesterday but just keen to put some miles on the Peugeot. An event to forget
perhaps. Ian Baumgart only did the Saturday stages and was going well while
Linzi Henderson’s rally ended in a Pundershaw ditch. As for Thaarique Fazal,
the Corsa was last seen going in to the penultimate test – but didn’t come out!
Leaderboard after 7 (of 7) stages:
1, F Ahlin, 1h 05m15.6s
2, M Wilson, 1h 05m 43.2s
3, E Evans, 1h 05m 46.7s
4, T Cave, 1h 06m 08.8s
5, M McCormack, 1h 06m 39.0s
6, J Greer, 1h 07m 10.2s
7, D Henry, 1h 08m 32.6s
8, N Simpson, 1h 08m 36.3s
9, J Anderson, 1h 08m 48.2s
10, M Vatanen, 1h 09.02.8s
12, D MacDonald, 1h 11m01.9s
16, F Milne, 1h 12m 41.7s
17, A Laffey, 1h 12m 52.2s
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