Ian Broll Merrick Stages Rally, Saturday 1st September ….
Round 7 (of 8) – Scottish Rally Championship ….
Preview
David Bogie could clinch his fourth Scottish title this weekend, or he might not. With the best six scores from 8 events counting towards the national title, he already has four wins and one second place. His main rival is Euan Thorburn who has two wins and a second place, but with two rounds remaining and given Euan’s recent form, another two victories could leave him tied with David depending on how well David does this weekend, but they both have to finish! So there’s a lot riding on this weekend’s Ian Broll Merrick Stages.
David missed the event last year because he already had his third title sewn up and was instead concentrating on some rally business further south, which also turned out rather well.
However, David nearly came a cropper on the Speyside when he ran seventh on the road through the opening stage of the day and encountered a car in trouble. He lost a few seconds avoiding the car, and lost his rhythm a wee bit too, so it will be interesting to see who employs what tactics on this penultimate round of the national series.
Compounding the maths will be last year’s winner Mike Faulkner and the 2009 winner Jock Armstrong. The performance of these two could unwittingly play a role in Saturday’s outcome.
Saturday should also see a resumption of the battle between Barry Groundwater, Donnie MacDonald and maybe even Chris Collie who was promised a run out in Brian Watson’s Lancer this weekend. A bet was apparently made that if he managed to finish three events in a row in his own ‘old nail’, a feat accomplished on last month’s Speyside, he would get a wee shottie of Brian’s EVO9.
Adding a bit of ‘international’ flair to proceedings are a couple of visitors from the far south and some from across the water. David Wright is bringing his Subaru up from Lancaster while Bishop Auckland’s Tristan Pye makes a welcome return to Galloway. The event will also provide rally fans with the chance to see Liam Regan’s unique and exotic, 4WD turbocharged Peugeot 206 again, the Belfast driver a firm favourite with the Scottish fans.
Rally Start, Wigtown Town Hall – 08.30 Hrs (1st 2WD car, an hour later for the 4WD cars)
SS1, Craignell – 09.10 Hrs
SS2, Glentrool – 10.53 Hrs
SS3, Drigmorn – 12.41 Hrs
SS4, Poultrybuie Hill – 13.06 Hrs
Rally Finish, Wigtown Town Hall – from 14.01 Hrs
SS1 and SS4 go in at the old Black Loch test on the north side of the A712 and come out at Clatteringshaws dam, but the Polis will be active on the day and frown upon silly and selfish parkers. SS3 is not really conducive to spectating as access to the test is on single track road, but it does exit on to the A712 a couple miles south of the Black Loch road. SS2 runs alongside the west of the unclassified road north of Glentrool village, and again, the Polis will be on the lookout for the numpties.
Full Entry List:
1 Mike Faulkner/Peter Foy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) 12
2 David Bogie/Kevin Rae (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 12
3 Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton (Ford Focus WRC) 12
4 Jock Armstrong/Kirsty Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 12
5 Barry Groundwater/Neil Shanks (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 12
6 Donnie MacDonald/Andrew Falconer (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 12
7 Quintin Milne/Martin Forrest (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 12
8 John McClory/David Hood (Subaru Impreza N15) 10
9 David Wright/Michael Wilkinson (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 12
10 Alick Kerr/Claire Mole (Subaru Impreza) 12
11 Chris Collie/Lisa Watson (Mitsubishi Evo) 12
12 Bruce McCombie/Michael Coutts (Subaru Impreza) 12
14 Tristan Pye/Stewart Merry (Subaru Impreza) 12
15 Dougal Brown/Lewis Rochford (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 10
16 Jimmy Christie/Iain Thorburn (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo) 6 12
17 Liam Regan/Damien Duffin (Peugeot 206) 12
18 Craig McMiken/Craig Wallace (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 10
19 Fraser Wilson/Steven Broll (Mitsubishi Evo 6) 10
20 Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Ford Escort MkII) 8
21 David Wilson/David Robson (Ford Escort MkII) 8
22 Keith Robathan/Ian Nicoll (Ford Escort MkII) 8
23 Stephen Baillie/TBA (Subaru Impreza) 12
24 John Rintoul/Jim Rintoul (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 12
25 Douglas Gilbert/Brian Anderson (Mitsubishi Evo 8) 12
26 Brian Watson/Caroline Will (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 12
27 Lee Hastings/Brian Findon (Subaru Impreza) 12
28 Colin Hay/Chris Lees (Ford Escort MkII) 8
29 Geoff Goudie/Calum Jaffray (Subaru Impreza) 12
30 John Payne/Stuart Whitfield (Subaru WRX) 10
31 Roy Eide-johansen/Mark Simpson (Ford Escort Mk1) 8
60 John Boyd/Chris Williamson (Ford Fiesta R2) 4
61 Graeme Schoneville/Michael Hendry (Honda Civic) 4
62 Andy Kelly/Doug Redpath (Ford Escort Mk1) 6
63 Alasdair Graham/Laura Stuart (Vauxhall Corsa) 4
64 Craig Rutherford/Ross Hynd (Honda Civic) 7
65 Graeme Smith/Laura Marshall (Honda Civic) 4
66 Malcolm Robertson/Katie Stimpson (Talbot Sunbeam) 4
67 Willie Stuart/Neil Ewing (Talbot Sunbeam) 3
68 Timothy Cathcart/Barry McNulty (Ford Fiesta) 4
69 Iain Haining/Mairi Riddick (Vauxhall Nova) 3
70 Blair McCulloch/Alex McCulloch (Vauxhall Nova) 3
71 Lachlan Cowan/Stuart Bell (Ford Fiesta ST) 7
72 Sean Robson/Fenny Wesselink (Ford Fiesta ST) 7
73 Mark McCulloch/Elliott Edmondson (Peugeot 205 Gti) 3
74 Tom Hynd/Sue Hynd (Peugeot 205 Gti) 3
75 David Killin/Clive Black (Opel Kadett Coupe) 6
76 Grant Inglis/Robert Gray (Honda Civic) 4
77 Duncan Campbell/Gavin Chisholm (Honda Civic) 4
78 Alexander Curran/David McGeoch (Vauxhall Corsa) 4
79 Kieran Renton/TBA (Ford Fiesta ST) 7
80 Tam Brown/Mike Curry (Peugeot 205 Gti) 3
81 Callum Atkinson/Kevin Mathers (Peugeot 205) 3
82 Jordan Black/Ewan Leeming (Peugeot 205 Gti) 3
83 Roy MacLennan/Robin Nicolson (Peugeot 205) 3
84 Ross MacDonald/Matthew Johnstone (Vauxhall Corsa) 2
85 Hamish Campbell/Peter Weall (Peugeot 205 Gti) 3
86 Scott Peacock/Keith Riddick (Peugeot 205) 3
87 Adrian Stewart/Richard Simmonds (Peugeot 205 Gti) 3
88 David Cameron/Douglas Cameron (Ford Escort) 5
89 Rob Ashwell/Stephen Marshall (Citroen C2 GT) 4
90 Norman Crighton/Terry Mallin (Vauxhall Nova) 3
91 Tony Thompson/Paul Hudson (Vauxhall Chevette HSR) 6
92 Paul Sharp/Michael Sharp Wigtown/Dunlop Peugeot 206 2
93 Ian Bendall/Ruari Barber-fleming (Vauxhall Corsa) 4
94 Douglas Watt/Richard Polanski (Ford Escort) 3
95 Rachel Medich/Katherine Begg (Nissan Micra) 2
****