The fight at the front was a fierce and furious affair between the Fords of Scott Mutch and David Bogie with the outcome not being settled till the final stage when Scott and Greg McDonald just pipped David and Daniel Forsyth for the win by 0.9 of second! But surely the star of the show was Alan Scott, with Shaina Archibald, in the wee MG ZR which buzzed and flew roon the public park. Looked at in daylight the 1600cc front wheel drive machine was only a second per stage slower than the mighty Ford badged monsters ahead of him.
In fourth place were Johnnie Mackay and Orrin McDonnell in the Mitsubishi, once they had found their way out of the car park that is, ignoring the ‘way out’ and ‘exit’ signs they left the service area for the rally start by leaving through the entrance. And it’s a good job the rally stage was only on the other side of the road otherwise they might not have found that either!
Nick Runcie behaved himself to finish fifth in a ‘borrowed’ Mike Moates Subaru Impreza with Michael Coutts on board, although I’m not sure if that was air escaping from a punctured tyre in the Moates’ camp or just a huge collective sigh of relief that the Subaru was returned intact! Rounding off the top six was another 1600cc motor, the Peugeot 206 of ‘Dangerous’ Des Campbell with Dawn Henderson hurling the poor wee thing roon the park like a peerie oan the end of a wean’s whip (ask yer parents).
And then there were those who didn’t. Paddy Munro was his usual effervescent self but only after the first stage. An ECU in the Escort ‘tripped’ and the car lapsed into ‘road mode’ and it took him ages to think what the fault was. Alison Horne lost out when a driveshaft in the MINI broke but wee brother Adam saved family honour by finishing 12th – and he beat his faither, so that will make breakfast in the Horne hoose interesting this morning.
Brett MacKenzie also lost out with a failed driveshaft although with the tender administration of a 14lb hammer the offending item was gently persuaded to ‘slide’ back into place. Liam Wood’s Fiesta ST smacked a kerb hard breaking two wheels and a hub and yet the team didnae give in. They set to sourcing replacements and making repairs and within half an hour the wee car was back on all four wheels. Sterling stuff.
And what about young Martin Gillespie, sat his BARS just weeks ago, and entered his first rally at the wheel of his self-built Corsa SRi. I say ‘self-built’ but whit a team effort that was building the car from scratch in two months! The wee car just looked a jewel sat there in the sun yesterday at the rally start. And not only did he finish, he and Sean Devine were 20th overall just behind the Nova of Mike Moates and Gary McDonald. Just when you start to worry about the future of the sport along comes a truckload of youthful enthusiasm like that to put a smile back on your face.
Of course there were many, many other tales to be told and shared and one can only hope that someone looking down from above fair enjoyed the frolics.
Top Ten:
1, Scott Mutch/Greg McDonald (Ford Escort Mk2) 9m 20.7s
2, David Bogie/Dan Forsyth (Ford Escort Mk2) 9m 21.6s
3, Alan Scott/Shaina Archibald (MG ZR) 9m 30.0s
4, Johnnie Mackay/Orrin McDonnell (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7) 9:34.3
5, Nick Runcie/Michael Coutts (Subaru Impreza) 9m 44.9s
6, Des Campbell/Dawn Henderson (Peugeot 206) 9m 47.5s
7, Iain MacDonald/Laura Dawson (Peugeot 106) 9m 48.1s
8, Doug Weir/Stevie Brown (Ford Escort Mk2) 9m 48.7s
9, Ben MacDowall/John Shepheard (BMW130i) 9m 55.0s
10, Euan MacKay/Chelle Hunter (Peugeot 106) 9m 55.1s