06 August: Solway Coast Juniors

Brick and Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge ….

Historic Step for Junior 1000 Rallying ….

Next Sunday, 11th August 2013, a little bit of rallying history will be made at the “usedcarparts Solway Coast Junior Rally”. After Saturday’s ‘senior’ event for competitors in the BLUE Scottish tarmac Championship, the Sunday rally will be a Junior only event and a round of both the Brick & Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge and the McGrady Insurance Junior Rally Challenge Ireland. This will be the first time that two Junior 1000 Championships have gone ‘head to head’.

Sixteen crews are entered from the Ecosse Challenge and five from the Rally Challenge Ireland. The organisers hope that this will be the first step in regional Junior 1000 Championships coming together more often for a bit of friendly competition, broadening of horizons, and – with the Irish involved – a bit of the Craic!

The Dundrennan venue offers a distinctly unique challenge for Juniors as it uses the real military roads around the base and on the ranges and the crews are allowed to use Route Notes prepared in advance by the same supplier (Scotmaps) who supplies the Scottish (and several other international ) Championships. This adds an extra level of safety, but it also introduces the young drivers to Route Notes which are a critical part of senior rallying.

The base at Dundrennan will also provide a ‘home from home’ on Saturday night with a BBQ and sleeping accommodation in the barracks.

Whatever happens on Sunday, at the end there will be over 20 very happy young drivers who will know that they have taken another critical step forward in their rallying career and made a lot of new friends. This is just one of the factors making the Junior 1000 Rallying movement the fast growing sport it is.

So if you want to put a smile on your face ad re-discover the thrill of rallying, pop down to Dundrennan for a look at the rally drivers of tomorrow. Just watching the sheer enjoyment of the youngsters taking part will remind all us oldies of our own first forays into the sport. Smiles all round in fact.

Junior Rally
1 Alex Vassallo/Neil Colman (Citroen C1)
2 Ryan Weston/Mark McCulloch (Toyota Aygo)
3 Michael Dickie/Euan Duncan (Toyota Aygo)
4 Harry Marchbank/Jordan Black (Nissan Micra)
5 Ben Crealey/Liam Regan (Nissan Micra)
6 Dylan O’Donnell/Tracey Louise Muir (Nissan Micra)
7 Andy Struthers/Andrew Falconer (Nissan Micra)
8 Alasdair Currie/Mark Runciman (Citroen AX)
9 Stephen McClory/Steven Brown (Nissan Micra)
10 Michael Robertson/TBA (Nissan Micra)
11 Craig MacIvor/Kirsty Riddick (Nissan Micra)
12 Brodie Balfour/Dave Retson (Nissan Micra)
14 Sandy Fairbairn/Callum Atkinson (Nissan Micra)
15 Jake Anderson/Russell Kessack (Nissan Micra)
16 Dale Kelly/Peter Weall (Nissan Micra)
17 Adam Bustard/Brian Bustard (Chevrolet Spark)
18 Kyle White/Alan Purdy (Peugeot 107)
19 William Creighton/Andrew Bushe (Citroen C1)
20 Michael McGarrity/TBA (Nissan Micra)
21 James Partridge/TBA (Peugeot 106)
22 Brandon Walsh/Ian Shiels (Toyota Yaris)

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