… Kames October Rally & Kames Junior Rally, 18 Oct …
Nigel Feeney and Shona Hale scored a comfortable victory at the weekend’s Kames October Rally but Colin Gemmell and Derek Keir were never far away – until they took themselves out of the competition! That allowed James Gibb and Taylor Smith to nip in and grab the runner-up position.
After 8 of the day’s planned 16 stages, Nigel Feeney had a 20 second lead over the tying Gemmell and Gibb so there was little in the fight. Then on the tenth stage, Gemmell hit trouble,or to be more accurate, he hit another competitor!
Chris McCallum had spun his Escort on the tenth stage with the result that he dropped a bit of time getting back on the road. As Gemmell rounded the final corner, McCallum was still on the Stop line and Gemmell was unable to pull up in time. The Subaru braked but was carrying just a bit too much momentum and smacked the back of the stationary Escort. Damage was confined to primarily to lights and bodywork, but it put both crews out.
That left Feeney in charge at the head of the field with James Gibb in the Mitsubishi engined Fiesta grabbing second place. Had it not been for a one minute penalty, Gibb might have made more of a fight for the lead.
Two seconds separated the final podium position from fourth place with Alister McArthur taking the place in his Sunbeam from the rather more exuberant Stevie Hope in his Escort. Ross Carbry scored sixth place and took the 1400cc class win in his Vauxhall Corsa while two newcomers rounded off the top six.
First time out in a Ford Fiesta ST, Taylor Gibb finished fifth while another first-timer Gareth Dalgleish was sixth in his Subaru with Dad Kenneth in the co-driver’s seat who did a bit of driving 25 years ago. Newcomer Norman McGlaughlin was seventh in his Subaru ahead of Lindsay Taylor’s Peugeot 205.
In ninth place was Iain Haining but not in the Kermit flavoured Nova. He has sold the car and bought Michael Dickie’s Toyota Aygo for the boy Lewis who turns 14 in January and has his heart set on the 14-17 year Junior series. Iain therefore gave the new car a shakedown and was quite pleasantly surprised by the performance although he did mention once or twice, at least, that it lacked a bit of grunt. Rounding off the top ten was Bill Hamilton in the Opel Kadett who was spotted adjusting the tracking with a hammer: “It’s carrying a bit too much understeer for some reason,” said Bill.
Steven Smith debuted his new Fiesta R2 engined Escort Mk2, but suspension problems forced his retirement, while Gordon Winning’s rally ended against a tyre wall when the Escort’s diff broke. Brian Pringle was delayed when he had to get the welding gear out to repair a fractured exhaust manifold in his Subaru.
Peter Bennett and Arthur Kierans scored an equally comfortable victory in the Kames Junior Rally although Finlay Retson was never more than 2 seconds per stage behind him all day. Completing the Citroen line-up was Ewan Tindall with Harry Chalmers’ Nissan Micra taking fourth place.
The last two stages of the day were cancelled when one of the Junior drivers had an accident approaching the finish of the 14th test. Elvin Smith’s Nissan clipped a banking which tipped the car into a roll with the car coming to a halt on its side. Both Smith and co-driver Steven Hay were thankfully declared fit and well after their inversion.
However, there was a note of disappointment in the ranks. No tablet tin. Normally Rhona Dickie makes two large tins of absolutely succulent tablet for the provision of an instant sugar-energy rush at the Junior events. She failed to deliver the goods this weekend claiming holidays and lack of time. Tears and distress all round!
Kames October Rally:
1, Nigel Feeney / Shona Hale (Subaru Impreza) 17m 33s
2, James Gibb / Taylor Smith (Ford AG Fiesta) +0.47s
3, Alister MacArthur / Chris Robertson (Talbot Sunbeam) +0.55s
4, Stevie Hope / Dale Stag (Ford Escort) +0.58s
5, Ross Carbry / Charley Sayer-Payne (Vauxhall Corsa) +1m 31s
6, Taylor John Gibb / Jane Nicol (Ford Fiesta ST) + 1m 51s
7, Gareth John Dalgliesh / Kenneth John Dalgliesh (Subaru Impreza) + 1m 55s
8, Norman McGlaughlin / Russell Kessock (Subaru Impreza ) +2m 11s
9, Lindsay Taylor / Chris Ryan (Peugeot 205 Gti) + 2m 18s
10, Iain Haining / Sophie Haining (Toyota Aygo) +2m 21s
Kames Junior Rally:
1, Peter Bennett / Arthur Kierans (Citroen C1) 20m 39s
2, Finlay Retson / Andrew Falconer (Citroen C1) +0m 13s
3, Ewan Tindall / Paul Hudson (Citroen C1) +0m 58s,
4, Harry Chalmers / Lisa Watson (Nissan Micra) +1m 03s
5, Brodie Balfour / Ian Rae (Toyota Aygo) +1m 06s
6, Lewis Winder / John Frew (Nissan Micra) +1m 33s
7, Josh Hislop / Ellya Gold (Peugeot 107) +1m 42s
8, Cameron Russell / Ian McRae (Nissan Micra) +2m 08s
9, Johnnie Mackay / Gordon Reid (Nissan Micra) +2m 18s
10, Dale Kelly / Steven Brown (Nissan Micra) +2m 42s
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