… Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally, 25 October 2015 …
Class Roundup …
Class 1
Andy Struthers was a convincing winner in the Rally 1st class for newcomers – his Barry Lochhead built Citroen C2 was the only entry!
Class 2
Top 1400 runner was Scott Sloan in his Corsa with his brother David reading the Notes for the first time: “He was alright on the twisty stuff,” said Scott, “but he couldn’t keep up with me on the fast stuff!” Angus Lawrie retired his Corsa with low oil pressure and first time out in his new Proton, Thomas Gray lost all drive on the final stage and got stuck at the foot of a hill. Niall Cowan retired his MG in the final stage.
Class 3
Simon Hay won the class in his Peugeot 205 despite feeling unwell all day due to a dicky tum but at the finish added: “I’m knackered, but I’m a lot happier now that I’ve won the 205 Challenge – I’ll sleep all the way home.” Allan Mathieson was second in his Mk2 ahead of the Avenger of Alan McMorran. Thaarique Fazal finished 4th in class, but second Peugeot 205, and just missed out on winning the 205 Challenge. Main 205 rival Donald Peacock was left with three wheels on his wagon when he knocked a wheel off on the first stage.
Class 4
Alex Curran was top 1600 runner in 21st place overall in his Nova with Alex Pirie (with a split exhaust downpipe), Jim Robertson and Jordan Black second, third and fourth in their Citroen C2s – and Murray Coulthard wasn’t. He retired his Citroen C2 after an argument with a log pile. The log pile won.
Class 5
Paddy McToal was delighted with a class win in his Mk2 ahead of Andy Chalmers second time out in his ‘new’ Mk2 which had a bit of a misfire by the finish. Alan Atcheson and Eamon Doherty failed to finish in their Mk2s.
Class 6
John McIlwraith won the class in his Mk2 despite: “One ‘straight-on’ a couple of miles into the final stage – but I got away with it.” David Goose was second in his Mk2 having a practice run-out ahead of the Roger Albert Clark Rally and Ian Milne was third and beaming from ear to ear, second time out in the car following his return to the sport, after some 39 years, on the recent Speyside Rally.
Class 7
Kevin Burns was the sole starter and finisher in Class 7 first time out in the ex-Ross MacDonald Honda Civic.
Class 8
After a slow-ish start, Greg McKnight got into the thick of things in his Mk2 eventually finishing 11th o/a, 2nd 2WD and first in class. David Crossen retired on SS3 and although Paul McErlean finished the rally he was declared OTL after an ‘off’ in the final stage which damaged the front and rear n/s quarters – but don’t tell anyone, spectators pushed them out!
Class 9
Seamus O’Connell finished 9th o/a, 1st 2WD and won his class in his Mk2 despite finishing the rally with only 4th gear when the gear linkage broke in the final stage. Gareth White was second in the DS3 R3T despite having: “A couple of ‘goes’ at the same corner in SS1 and 3 – but I got it right the final time in SS6!” God loves a trier, eh? Robert Harkness, Gordon Murray and Kieran O’Kane all failed to reach the finish.
Class 10
Fraser Wilson won the class from John McClory with Alasdair Graham third all in Lancers leaving Ross McFadzean fourth and Spencer Wilkinson fifth in class both in Subarus.
Class 11
Mark McCulloch was the winner here from Chris Collie and Rory Young, and despite the fact that he only gets out in his car about twice a year, Richard Dickson’s fourth place and 12th overall in his Subaru was pretty impressive. John Wink was fifth in his Lancer ahead of the Lancer of Keith Morris despite a wee ‘off’ in the last stage. Billy Thomson was fifth complete with a Lancer which misfired its way through SS5 and then cleared itself in the final test and Jan Budge rounded off the finishers in his Subaru. Amongst the non-finishers was Linzi Henderson but a navigation error cost her dearly and she was classified as a non finisher. A great pity, her times were getting better with each stage.
Class 12
Armstrong and the two Henrys, Desi and Niall, claimed the top three positions in Class 12 from Scott McCombie who admitted to a couple of half spins in the morning stages and then lost a door mirror somewhere in the afternoon. Ross MacDonald admitted to a ‘Donnie moment’ on a bridge in SS4, a reference to Donnie ‘The Ditch’ MacDonald’s propensity for ditches! James Gibb didn’t finish, the AG Fiesta stopping at the end of SS2 with co-driver Jan Nicol overcome with fumes. Petrol fumes that is, James uses Old Spice I understand, and Jane was too ill to continue and Derrick Jobb tipped his Lancer into a Craigencallie ditch.
Class 13
The final class winner was David Bogie from Jonny Greer and John Rintoul in the Hyundai.
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