At close of play on Day 1 of WRGB
National Rally, there were 4 Scots in the top ten. At the end of Day 2 the same
4 Scots were still in the top ten. And since all good things come in threes
here’s hoping there will be 4 Scots (or more!) in the top ten in Llandudno on
Sunday.
Topping the leaderboard for the second day were Bruce
McCombie and Michael Coutts in the Mitsubishi Lancer half a minute clear of
second placed Luke Francis in a similar car: “It’s still overheating,” said
Bruce, “but there was only one really long stage today. The tyres were shagged
going into the last stage. The roads are down to bedrock in places but they’re
still great stages. We’re just doing the same today as we did yesterday and
we’ll do it again tomorrow.”
Second of the Scots and moving up from fifth to fourth are
Iain Wilson and Keith Riddick: “No moments today,” said Iain, “we were worried
about punctures after yesterday. The aim now is to hold position, the top three
are really going well. If It hadn’t been for the puncture –who knows?” He
added: “We saw the tree in Gartheiniog that we hit last year – it was looking
well! We both gave it wee wave as we passed. Bad tree!”
Scott McCombie was third placed Scot in 6th place
and happy enough: “We have a wee issue with the shift light, it doesn’t always
show the gear we’re in, or the gear we’re going into. At least the anti-lag is
now working. It was just a wiring fault that we found last night. Had we known
it was that simple earlier we could have fixed it sooner.”
Fourth Scot in the top ten is Fraser MacNicol going really
well in 8th place and happy with his handiwork from yesterday: “The
fan has been working all day - I fixed it myself last night. The low cloud
wasn’t a problem this morning, I could still see. Yesterday I couldn’t see.”
Lee Hastings had a better day: “Last night I felt sh*t, but
I can smile tonight. Conditions were better today, it wasn’t as guttery. There
was one strange thing today though. We came round one corner to find a bit of
tree on the road with a beer can on it!”
Not quite so happy was Jim McRae with the Vauxhall Firenza:
“It wouldn’t fire up at the start f the second last stage today,” said Jim,
“and we had to push it back and bump start it in reverse. By the time we got
back to the Start we were 2 minutes late and got a penalty. It did it again
when we were re-fuelling. It just turned over on the starter, but wouldn’t fire
up and we had to get a push start again.” He still managed a smile when Alex
Strathdee turned up in service. Alex used to work for SMT in Perth, one of
Jim’s first sponsors, and Alex serviced for him in his Vauxhall and Opel days.
Anyway, Alex was watching from the Hospitality area at
Cholmondley Castle where the cars had to do a 360 round a bale. The master
executed a perfect doughnut in the V8 Firenza prompting one observer to
comment: “That’s a real driver” with Alex confirming that he was better than
that chap Ogier!
Carl Tuer is just outside the top ten in his MG and has got
passed Jim but he is more concerned about his 1600 class leading position. Both
Gee Atherton and Mike Harris are just a sniff of exhaust fumes behind him.
But the guy on the move tonight, is Robert Thomson up to 13th
today from 26th yesterday: “Today was our first day. After our
problems yesterday we pushed on today. There’s still a wee bit more to come
tomorrow if we need it.” Last night the two service crew changed the gearbox
and prepped the car in 2hrs 45 mins.
Simon Hay made ground today after his drive shaft failure
yesterday and he goes to bed in 28th place but he also had a wee
problem with the gearbox last night and the boys had to drain it and flush it
twice finally getting to bed at 2am. Tom Coughtrie got his Escort’s electrics
sorted out too. Not just the ignition pack was changed but there was a loose
bolt inside the distributor which was confusing the timing light. The lads
fished it out with a magnet. Ian Forgan lost a bit more ground with a puncture
today and a cracked rear brake disc and Kevin Robertson got back out this
morning after his gear linkage was repaired. And just when things were looking
good for Geoff Goudie, a front strut collapsed on the day’s penultimate stage
and he opted to miss the last stage and come back to service.
Quote of the day came from Iain Wilson who was worried at the start of the
Cholmondley stage about how to tackle the 360 spin in front of the crowds. He
asked Keith: “Should we do a Ken Block or a Ken & Barbie?” Whatever, when
it came to the crunch he couldn’t make up his mind: “and we did a Cindy!”
Oh, and he didn’t like his fotie last night. He looked like
a meerkat caught in the headlights. So here’s a better one.
Pics show Scott McCombie chatting with Wayne Sissons and young
Luke Barry (SRC PRO) listening in, the shy and retiring Fraser MacNicol, Robert
Thomson with a pint, and Iain ‘tea-boy’ Wilson with a mug of 2 sugars and milky
tea.
