Evans overcomes punctures to win Jim Clark Rally

The 50-year-old Welshman proved he still has the hunger for victory by bouncing back from a double puncture on Saturday evening, the 1996 British Rally Champion also surviving a high speed moment on Saturday afternoon.

At the finish in Duns he offered his thanks to a strategically placed telegraph pole, which while damaging the rear of his JR Motorsports Mitsubishi Evo 10, helped keep both car and crew on the road at around 100 mph.

While Evans was the eventual victor, four different drivers led the event throughout its 130 miles of ultra fast asphalt. First blood went to Craig Breen and Gareth Roberts who had proved their ability in the Fiesta S2000 on the previous round in Cumbria, topping the time sheets in the fantastic Duns town centre spectator special stage.

Reigning BRC champ Keith Cronin had other ideas though, and along with Barry McNulty set about showing their pace in the Pirelli TEG Sport Impreza on the technical Abbey St Bathans stage. Breen responded, but Cronin held him off with a repeat of Abbey, although all his good work was undone in the darkness of the final test. Cronin clipped a bank, losing a spotlamp and puncturing his left front wheel, leaving Breen to hold an overnight lead of a whisker under 13 seconds.

It was a lead he would not relinquish until the tenth stage when reports came in from the stages that he was stopped with a sick engine. This was confirmed as terminal and the youngster recorded his second non finish of the season, obviously very disappointed.

Another Irish youngster tipped for BRC victory inherited the lead from Breen, Alastair Fisher, ably guided by double British Rally Champion Rory Kennedy, was sadly unable to hold off the advances of a charging Evans. Fisher managed to keep the eventual winner within his grasp on stage 11, less than half a second splitting the pair, but a misfire put paid to Fisher’s hopes and although disappointed, he equalled his best ever result, taking second from a distant Cronin in third.

A delighted Jonny Greer and Dai Roberts took fourth and with it extend their lead of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship by one point from Evans and Patterson, who have now had back-to-back perfect scores.

There was disappointment for local hope Euan Thorburn from Duns who was unable to start the event after his Pirelli TEG Sport Impreza developed engine problems prior to the start and he was unable to make the start line.

The Challenge Rally was won by Richard Archer (Downham Market) and Tom Ward (Brentwood) in a Vauxhall Corsa with Callum Black and Paul Wakeley second in an MG ZR.

In the Historics event the winner was Darren Moon from Leeds in a Ford Escort with the Duns crew of Walter Aitken and Jane Nicol fifth and second in class with the Ford Escort Mk 1. Aberdeen driver Adrian Stewart, co-driven by Richard Simmons from Duns, were tenth and first in class with their Mini Cooper S.

And finally Ewan Christie and Curtis McKerlie won the the fiercely contested Land Rover Rally, keeping it upright to win by a margin of 2 minutes 45 seconds.

NATIONAL

DUNS driver Douglas Brydon notched a career best fourth overall in the Jim Clark National Rally at the weekend.

Co-driven by Dave O’Brien, Douglas set some blistering times in his Subaru Impreza during Friday and Saturday and was challenging for outright victory throughout the two days.

After the street stage in Duns, Douglas set the second fastest time on the long and twisty Abbey St Bathans stage and at the end of the first day was lying in third position.

On Saturday he kept up the pace and was delighted to finish top Scottish driver, fourth overall and second in class.

“The car never missed a beat,” explained Douglas.
“We caught and passed four cars on the Abbey St Bathans stage which was a bit scary and we had a spin on Eccles during the rain but other than that we had no trouble.”

“To finish fourth behind two World Rally cars and Simon Mauger was more than we could have hoped for and the local support we received on the stages was tremendous.”

The rally was won by Hereford’s Damian Cole and Craig Drew in their Ford Focus WRC with Simon Mauger (Bicester) and Ashley Trimble (Ramsay) second in a Ford Escort Mk 2 and John Stone (Blackburn) and Lee Carter (Tamworth) third in a Skoda Felicia WRC third.

Borders crews were well to the fore with Duns driver Dale Robertson and his Tranent co-driver Paul McGuire finishing an excellent seventh overall and first in class in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.

Dale said: “We had a great tussle with Doug all day but suffered problems with the diff and gearbox which cost us a bit of time. Other than that the car went well.”

Jedburgh co-driver Jude Wylie partnered Stonehaven’s Barry Groundwater to eighth place overall in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.
In ninth place, making it three Duns drivers in the top ten, was former Scottish champion Mike Horne and co-driver Robbie Mitchell in their Ford Escort Mk 2.

Mike certainly entertained the large crowd watching the Duns town stage on Friday night and was third quickest on that test.

Earlston’s Colin Reay was 16th overall and second in his class with his very quick Peugeot 206 16v while Lauder plumbers, father and son Nigel and Keith Atkinson, took their Metro 6R4 to 22nd overall.

The Kelso crew of Kevin Dunn and Fiona Douglas won their class in a Vauxhall Nova finishing 25th overall.

Ross Hunter from St Boswells, co-driven by Jedburgh’s Eildon Hall finished 40th overall in their Honda Civic.

Hawick’s Martin Elsdon was forced to retire his Subaru Impreza on Friday’s Polwarth stage to mechanical problems while Robbie Pearson (Duns) and Michael Wastling (Ladykirk) retired their Subaru Impreza after Friday’s stages with a blown turbo.

Duns driver John Cowe, co-driven by Colin Richardson from Coldstream was as high as tenth place overall in his Ford Escort Mk2 before gearbox problems forced his retirement,

A broken driveshaft ended the rally for Kelso driver Carin Logan and Berwick co-driver Christine Sanderson in their Citroen Saxo VTR.

REIVERS

DUMFRIES driver David Bogie dominated the Jim Clark Reivers Rally on Sunday to win the only tarmac round of the Hankook MSA Scottish Rally Championship for the second year running.

The reigning Scottish champion, driving a hired ’05 Ford Focus WRC, mastered the often wet and treacherous conditions to complete the eight Berwickshire stages in a total time of 57 minutes 57 seconds – two minutes and 32 seconds ahead of last year’s runner-up Duns driver Euan Thorburn in a Subaru Impreza N5.

Castle Douglas driver Jock Armstrong, co-driven by Christine Sanderson of Berwick while regular navigator Kirsty Riddick competed on the Sol Barbados Rally, ended the day third overall and, with Thorburn not registered for the SRC, was second in the points and first in the Hankook Group N category.

Paul Benn secured the final championship podium spot in a Ford Focus WRC, while hotly tipped young driver David Wilson from Alness and his co-driver Dave Robson from Jedburgh were in impressive form with their Mitsubishi Evo 9 to take fifth overall.

The ‘Reivers’ proved to be a day of high attrition for many – with 48 retirements out of a start list of just over 130 crews.

Among them were the Duns crew of Douglas Brydon and Dave O’Brien who were lying an excellent third overall in their Subaru Impreza before retiring with a damaged suspension after an “off” on the fourth stage.
As the rain continued to fall and conditions deteriorated, tyre choice proved critical and many crews experienced “moments”, spins and “offs” on the fast Berwickshire lanes.

Local Duns driver Dale Robertson turned in another good performance to finish seventh overall for the second successive year in his Evo 9, alongside Paul McGuire from Tranent.

“As the weather improved, we were able to push on through the afternoon stages so we’re happy where we finished up”, said Dale, adding: “The home support has been great this weekend.”

Duns co-driver Doug Redpath partnered Ian Paterson from Dumfries to 13th overall in their Subaru Impreza despite an “off” on the Blackadder stage and Hawick co-driver Louise Sutherland finished 14th on the notes for Malton’s Steve Bannister in a Ford Escort Mk2.

St Boswells driver Ross Hunter and Jedburgh navigator Eildon Hall won the 1600 category in their Honda Civic finishing 29th overall.
Des Campbell (Coldstream) and James Braithwaite (Melrose) were 32nd overall and second in class in their Peugeot 206 while Gala co-driver Cameron Fairbairn partnered Tyndrum’s Allan Brodie to 33rd and third in class in a Ford Escort Mk2.

Eyemouth’s Billy Cowe and Chirnside co-driver Robert Paterson were 39th in their Subaru Impreza while Gareth White (St Boswells) and Callum Atkinson (Lauder) were 48th in their Citroen C2 R2, and David Hope (Wigtown) and Fiona Gourlay (Duns) were 49th in a Subaru Impreza.
Hawick’s Martin Elsdon took his Ford Escort Mk2 to victory in his class finishing 51st overall while Bruce Hay (Kelso) and Scot Russel (Lauder) were second in class and 56th overall in their Vauxhall Nova.

Also second in their class were the St Boswells father and son crew of Sean and Ian Robson who finished 57th overall in their Peugeot 205 GTi and third in class and 58th overall was Duns driver Garry Pearson, also in a Peugeot 205 GTi.

Dunbar’s Steven Irwin took his Vauxhall Nova to 62nd overall while Keiran Renton (Leitholm) and Carin Logan (Kelso) were 74th in their Ford Fiesta ST.Nick Thorne (Jedburgh) and Scott Hunter (St Boswells) were 76th in a Peugeot 205 while Duns co-driver Richard Simmons partnered Aberdeen’s Adrian Stewart to 77th in a Mini Cooper S.

The Wooler crew of Jeff and Graham Malthouse won their class and finished 78th overall in their Peugeot 206 GTi while Sarah Hunter (St Boswells) and Gary White (Melrose) were 82nd in their Peugeot 205 GTi.
Berwick co-driver Mick Johnson partnered Thirsk’s Trevor Longhurst to 85th overall in a Rover 214SI.

The attrition rate was high and amongst those who retired during the event was Heriot’s Ian Campbell who suffered mechanical problems with his Mitsubishi Lancer.

The Duns crew of Mike Horne and Robbie Mitchell crashed out on the Blackadder stage in the Ford Escort Mk2 while the Kelso crew of Kevin Dunn and Fiona Douglas saw the alternator fail on their Vauxhall Nova. Nickolas Tasker (Hawick) and Paul Wood (Jedburgh) retired their VW Golf with accident damage on the Fogo stage.

Mechanical failure also saw the demise of the following crews: James Thomson (Melrose) and Alison Woodcock (Coldstream), Peugeot 206; Neil Thompson (Bonnirigg) and Martyn Scott (Kelso), Vauxhall Corsa; Donald McEwen (Wallyford) and Ellis Fleming (Duns), Citroen Saxo VTS; Michael Deans (Berwick) and John Straughan (Cornhill), Mitsubishi Colt; Doug Logan (Duns) and Johnny Millar (Melrose), Ford Escort Mk2.

Evans overcomes punctures to win Jim Clark Rally