When Final Results were posted in Jedburgh Town Hall on Saturday night there were one or two wee tweaks to the finishing order. This was down to the wrong times being given for four crews caught up in a stramash on the final stage. Put it down to the cauld - my goad it wis bitter! However, the matter was quickly resolved once the facts had been ascertained and the full story is now on the website.
As usual, the Main Rally Report has gone up on the website first, with the Class report and roundup going up tomorrow - that's cos I'm off to the Blues Brothers stage musical in the big city tonight. Now where did I put my trilby and glasses?
http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/03/report-milne-wins-border/
Monday, 25 March 2013
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Rally - Milne wins
Quintin Milne and Martin Forrest ended their season last year with a win on the McRae Stages Rally and have started this year's ARR Craib Scottish Championship with a win on today's Brick & Steel Border Counties.
They finished 67 seconds clear of Barry Groundwater and Neil Shanks, but according to Barry, Quintin was very lucky: "I was behind him in SS4 and could see his wheeltracks, he was up bankings, down ditches and across firebreaks. He was off the road more than he was on it - but he did drive well today. Fair play to him."
As for Quintin, he was cock a hoop: "I'll need to apologise to the guys with a cameras in Stage 4," he said, "they had left their cameras on the edge of the road at the end of a long downhill, icy straight. There was no way I could stop and I went right off, but I was lucky, the car shot out the other side and back on to the road."
"As for the last stage, it was so slippy, I thought I had a puncture," he added, "the rear kept trying to overtake the front."
Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson finished third in the Lancer and just glad he wasn't out in the Focus he used on the Malcolm Wilson Rally.
Donnie MacDonald was shocked to find himself in fourth place: "I was 16th and ready for home after two stages," he said, "but I decided just to tidy it up and point and squirt this afternoon - and it worked."
Mike Faulkner salvaged 5th: "It was a bad day - and a bad week" referring to his engine rebuild during the week. I put ice tyres on for the last stage. They were great for the first 2.5 miles - then they disintegrated."
David Bogie finished sixth: "You know what?" he said, "I would have been better in a Group N car today. Just stick it in a higher gear and let the torque do the work."
Top Ten (provisional after 4 of today's 4 stages):
1 Quintin Milne, 38m 27s
2 Barry Groundwater, 39m 34s
3 Stephen Petch, 39m 43s
4 Donnie MacDonald, 41m 05s
5 Mike Faulkner, 41m 30s
6 David Bogie, 42m 09s
7 Chris Collie, 42m 16s
8 Andy Horne, 42m 27s
9 Euan Thorburn, 42m 35s
10 Dougal Brown, 43m 16s
They finished 67 seconds clear of Barry Groundwater and Neil Shanks, but according to Barry, Quintin was very lucky: "I was behind him in SS4 and could see his wheeltracks, he was up bankings, down ditches and across firebreaks. He was off the road more than he was on it - but he did drive well today. Fair play to him."
As for Quintin, he was cock a hoop: "I'll need to apologise to the guys with a cameras in Stage 4," he said, "they had left their cameras on the edge of the road at the end of a long downhill, icy straight. There was no way I could stop and I went right off, but I was lucky, the car shot out the other side and back on to the road."
"As for the last stage, it was so slippy, I thought I had a puncture," he added, "the rear kept trying to overtake the front."
Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson finished third in the Lancer and just glad he wasn't out in the Focus he used on the Malcolm Wilson Rally.
Donnie MacDonald was shocked to find himself in fourth place: "I was 16th and ready for home after two stages," he said, "but I decided just to tidy it up and point and squirt this afternoon - and it worked."
Mike Faulkner salvaged 5th: "It was a bad day - and a bad week" referring to his engine rebuild during the week. I put ice tyres on for the last stage. They were great for the first 2.5 miles - then they disintegrated."
David Bogie finished sixth: "You know what?" he said, "I would have been better in a Group N car today. Just stick it in a higher gear and let the torque do the work."
Top Ten (provisional after 4 of today's 4 stages):
1 Quintin Milne, 38m 27s
2 Barry Groundwater, 39m 34s
3 Stephen Petch, 39m 43s
4 Donnie MacDonald, 41m 05s
5 Mike Faulkner, 41m 30s
6 David Bogie, 42m 09s
7 Chris Collie, 42m 16s
8 Andy Horne, 42m 27s
9 Euan Thorburn, 42m 35s
10 Dougal Brown, 43m 16s
Rally - Milne leads
All change at the top after 3 of today's four stages on the Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally, with Quintin Milne now leading from David Bogie by 42 seconds.
Early leader Barry Groundwater used ice tyres this morning but they were beginning to break up and the plan was to use gravel tyres for SS3 and keep the ice tyres for the final stage, whereas, Quintin had a full set of ice tyres for this afternoon's final two stages. We won't know till the crews get back to Jedburgh finish exactly what happened out there, but conditions are no better this afternoon than they were this morning.
Lying third after 2 stages, young Mellors has obviously been caught out this afternoon and he has dropped right out of the top ten although he's still running, while Euan Thorburn and Dale Robertson have both slipped further back outside the top ten.
Top 2WD overall was Steve Bannister in the MkII, while there was one second between Rob Tuer in the MG and Graeme Smith in the Honda. Game on.
By the way, it's still cold enough to freeze the bollards off a traffic island here!
Top Ten (provisional after 3 of today's 4 stages):
1 Quintin Milne, 30m 30s
2 David Bogie, 31m 12s
3 Stephen Petch, 31m 20s
4 Barry Groundwater, 31m 31s
5 Donnie MacDonald, 32m 46s
6 Mike Faulkner, 32m 51s
7 Andy Horne, 32m 51s
8 John McClory, 32m 59s
9 Chris Collie, 33m 09s
10 Dougal Brown, 33m 10s
Early leader Barry Groundwater used ice tyres this morning but they were beginning to break up and the plan was to use gravel tyres for SS3 and keep the ice tyres for the final stage, whereas, Quintin had a full set of ice tyres for this afternoon's final two stages. We won't know till the crews get back to Jedburgh finish exactly what happened out there, but conditions are no better this afternoon than they were this morning.
Lying third after 2 stages, young Mellors has obviously been caught out this afternoon and he has dropped right out of the top ten although he's still running, while Euan Thorburn and Dale Robertson have both slipped further back outside the top ten.
Top 2WD overall was Steve Bannister in the MkII, while there was one second between Rob Tuer in the MG and Graeme Smith in the Honda. Game on.
By the way, it's still cold enough to freeze the bollards off a traffic island here!
Top Ten (provisional after 3 of today's 4 stages):
1 Quintin Milne, 30m 30s
2 David Bogie, 31m 12s
3 Stephen Petch, 31m 20s
4 Barry Groundwater, 31m 31s
5 Donnie MacDonald, 32m 46s
6 Mike Faulkner, 32m 51s
7 Andy Horne, 32m 51s
8 John McClory, 32m 59s
9 Chris Collie, 33m 09s
10 Dougal Brown, 33m 10s
Rally - Halfway report
Barry Groundwater leads the Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally in his Evo9 but reckons its is quite slippy out there: "The secret, if there is one, is not to be savage on the brakes. If you brake off line, there is grip, but on line there is no grip. It's just polished."
Ten seconds behind is the Evo9 of Milne: "I spun it on the first stage, I was a passenger most of the time but the second stage was better," said Quintin, "I was going slow enough past Jock to shout out the window to see if he was OK!"
In third place is the 2WD Proton of young Oliver Mellors on only his fourth ever rally, but he's dinkled the nose: "No spins, but I've been in two ditches," he said. What he didn't say was that the second time he was n the ditch he was going backwards at the Flying Finish of SS2, hence he ripped off the front bumper - but he got his time!
Dale Robertson is fourth in his Evo9 from the similar car of Steve Petch with David Bogie sixth in the Focus: "I was on snow tyres and there was no snow in the first stage," said David, "it was terrible, then I switched to gravel tyres for SS2, and it was terrible. We were all over the place again. Another wrong choice."
Mike Faulkner is seventh in his Evo9: "but we did most of the second stage with a punctured rear tyre. Had it been a normal 'gravel' event, the tyre would never have lasted as long, so there was minimal damage."
John McClory is 8th in the Subaru: "There is no enjoyment out there in that," he said, "it's just a matter of trying to stay on the road."
Donnie MacDonald is 9th in his Evo9 with Euan Thorburn 10th in the Focus: "We spun on S2.It was just a second gear corner, but we couldn't get reverse gear. There's something wrong, we had trouble getting the car off the trailer this morning, so just a bit worried about the gearbox."
Jock Armstrong and Alastair Inglis are both off, and stuck, and retired!
Top Ten (provisional after 2 of 4 stages)
1 Barry Groundwater, 20m 01s
2 Quintin Milne, 20m 11s
3 Ollie Mellors, 20m 14s
4 Dale Robertson, 20m 24s
5 Stephen Petch, 20m 30s
6 David Bogie, 20m 39s
7 Mike Faulkner, 20m 51s
8 John McClory, 21m 25s
9 Donnie MacDonald, 21m 25s
10 Euan Thorburn, 21m 28s
Ten seconds behind is the Evo9 of Milne: "I spun it on the first stage, I was a passenger most of the time but the second stage was better," said Quintin, "I was going slow enough past Jock to shout out the window to see if he was OK!"
In third place is the 2WD Proton of young Oliver Mellors on only his fourth ever rally, but he's dinkled the nose: "No spins, but I've been in two ditches," he said. What he didn't say was that the second time he was n the ditch he was going backwards at the Flying Finish of SS2, hence he ripped off the front bumper - but he got his time!
Dale Robertson is fourth in his Evo9 from the similar car of Steve Petch with David Bogie sixth in the Focus: "I was on snow tyres and there was no snow in the first stage," said David, "it was terrible, then I switched to gravel tyres for SS2, and it was terrible. We were all over the place again. Another wrong choice."
Mike Faulkner is seventh in his Evo9: "but we did most of the second stage with a punctured rear tyre. Had it been a normal 'gravel' event, the tyre would never have lasted as long, so there was minimal damage."
John McClory is 8th in the Subaru: "There is no enjoyment out there in that," he said, "it's just a matter of trying to stay on the road."
Donnie MacDonald is 9th in his Evo9 with Euan Thorburn 10th in the Focus: "We spun on S2.It was just a second gear corner, but we couldn't get reverse gear. There's something wrong, we had trouble getting the car off the trailer this morning, so just a bit worried about the gearbox."
Jock Armstrong and Alastair Inglis are both off, and stuck, and retired!
Top Ten (provisional after 2 of 4 stages)
1 Barry Groundwater, 20m 01s
2 Quintin Milne, 20m 11s
3 Ollie Mellors, 20m 14s
4 Dale Robertson, 20m 24s
5 Stephen Petch, 20m 30s
6 David Bogie, 20m 39s
7 Mike Faulkner, 20m 51s
8 John McClory, 21m 25s
9 Donnie MacDonald, 21m 25s
10 Euan Thorburn, 21m 28s
Rally - Barry's Border
Barry Groundwater leads the Border Counties Rally after two stages, but by only 10 seconds from Quintin Milne with young Ollie Mellors 3 seconds behind Milne.
Stage 3 at Craik has been cancelled by the organisers. The Marshals had to be towed into the Finish of the stage by the breakdown crews, but conditions at the Start defied all efforts.
The crews will now leave Hawick Service to do Stages 4 and 5.
More to follow.
Stage 3 at Craik has been cancelled by the organisers. The Marshals had to be towed into the Finish of the stage by the breakdown crews, but conditions at the Start defied all efforts.
The crews will now leave Hawick Service to do Stages 4 and 5.
More to follow.
Rally - Thinking inside the box
We'll bring you times from the rally as soon as possible.
Rally - Border is go
The 2013 Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally got underway on time at 08.30 Hrs this morning from Jedburgh, but already there is a 20 minute delay at the start of the first of the day's five Special Stages.
The main roads are mostly clear but more snow overnight hampered the Marshals getting into position, plus a raw and biting wind is blowing across the landscape. Snow covering is light at lower levels but it is drifting on exposed areas that is causing the biggest problems.
Aldo, please note that the Results service has had to modify its plans. Due to a lack of phone signal at the end of the first stage, times will not be collected and published till the end of the second stage. Again, weather problems appear to have affected the phone signal!
So please be patient today.
It will be interesting to see if Ian Paterson gets a start in the Gulf Oil Subaru Impreza. He's here and the car is here but co-driver Jim Haugh was stranded just outside Dumfries last night. He had to abandon the car and walk several miles back to his home only to find the village hall full of stranded lorry drivers. So he's now on teat urn duty!
Ian tried to get another local co-driver last night, but it wasn't looking likely. It makes you wonder how Santa manages every December, eh?
The main roads are mostly clear but more snow overnight hampered the Marshals getting into position, plus a raw and biting wind is blowing across the landscape. Snow covering is light at lower levels but it is drifting on exposed areas that is causing the biggest problems.
Aldo, please note that the Results service has had to modify its plans. Due to a lack of phone signal at the end of the first stage, times will not be collected and published till the end of the second stage. Again, weather problems appear to have affected the phone signal!
So please be patient today.
It will be interesting to see if Ian Paterson gets a start in the Gulf Oil Subaru Impreza. He's here and the car is here but co-driver Jim Haugh was stranded just outside Dumfries last night. He had to abandon the car and walk several miles back to his home only to find the village hall full of stranded lorry drivers. So he's now on teat urn duty!
Ian tried to get another local co-driver last night, but it wasn't looking likely. It makes you wonder how Santa manages every December, eh?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)