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Rally Report - Wednesday 30th December 2009 Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally, Sunday 6th December Armstrong’s Strong Showing Jock Armstrong and Kirsty Riddick finished the 2009 season on a high when they won the Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally. This victory should have provided the icing on the SRC cake, but that cake was snatched from their grasp on the Speyside, so they had to make do with the topping rather than the filling. And they couldn’t have done it better. They beat the Bogey on the 1st stage and again on the 4th stage on their way to victory over Craig McMiken/Christine Sanderson and Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan. There was no snow this year, or ice and frost, just cold, damp, drizzle, but the previous weeks of heavy rain had left the forests soaking. And yet, the stages and the surfaces were surprisingly good. There was grip out there, but it needed confidence to exploit it! SS1 – Fleet, 7.5 miles. Wet and Muddy. The Armstrong Subaru stopped the clocks on 6m 49s for the first stage, but even with the Bogey set at 6m 55s, Armstrong was ‘officially’ 4 seconds quicker than David Wilson/Drew Sturrock and 7 seconds quicker than Hetherington (7m 02s) and Seamus O’Connell/Sean Magee in another MkII on 7m 05s. Tam Brown and Mike Curry rumbled out of the first stage with 7m 07s in their wee Peugeot and if eyebrows were raised at their pace, they were lowered again in the next stage. They were well off in the sheuch, although they did manage to get back on again. Apparently the bold Tam “crested a rise and saw a long straight and got excited – and drove into a bog!” That meant David Hughes and Bruce Harper were sixth quickest (7m 09s) from McMiken (7m 10s) but Hughes was in trouble. The Lancer had no third gear since the third corner and there was no time to replace the ‘box. Mark Stewart was in even more trouble. The Escort hit a big stone and was wandering all over the place. He retired after the third test. SS2 – Cairn Edward, 9.2 miles. Wet and Muddy. Only four drivers dipped under 10 minutes for the second test. Armstrong now well on the boil with 9m 07s from Hetherington (9m 22s), McMiken (9m 35s) and Hughes (9m 44s). Just outside the 10 minute rule were Shane McGirr/ Stephen O’Hanlon in the wee Starlet (10m 07s) and Richard Dickson/Sanny Dobie (10m 08s), but well outside it was David Wilson! The Mitsubishi struck a rock and the impact pulled a steering arm out of the subframe. And as any fans of young Wilsion will be only too well aware, he was pretty much committed to the manoeuvre at the time. He didn’t actually roll, as a ditchside banking stopped him going over, and he still managed to coast down the road to a ‘lay-by’ to leave the road clear for the rally, but the Lancer was going no further. The second test was also the cause of the ‘Craigiebank Crunch’, or more precisely, the bright, low sunlight which dazzled a few drivers. Anyway, Ian Paterson missed a ‘Don’t cut’ called by co-driver David Bogie - and he duly cut it. He also cut a wheel off the car and sailed off into the boondocks! No real damage, but rally over. Brother Stuart was nearly off at the same place, but only because he saw Ian’s car in the long grass. Eddie O’Donnell’s rally was over almost before it started too with a driveshaft failure. Jimmy Donnelly was off, but only far enough to scatter the spects, while Tommy Brown lost time with a puncture. He wasn’t sure at first because it was so slippy, but then he smelled it! Lee Hastings had a straight on at L3 when the low sun blinded him, followed by Craig Corson who got round the first bit then clipped rock and slid off at the second bit, but got away with it. Stuart Taylor was off twice and needed spectator power to get going again the second time. SS3 – Dalbeattie, 7.95 miles. Wet and Muddy. Everybody loved the Dalbeattie rollercoaster, with its mixture of fast and technical, twisty and demanding stuff, and Armstrong danced to the Dalbeattie tune half a minute quicker (8m 24s) than anyone else. McMiken was a full 30 seconds behind him (8m 54s) but only a second slower was McGirr (8m 55s) who bent a wheel, with Hughes (8m 56s) a further second back having lost the clutch half way through and still struggling with no third gear. And despite snapping an axle link, Hetherington shared 8m 58s with Mark Donnelly/Paddy Robinson in the wee Fiesta. Tommy Brown was in the trees, but only lost 20 seconds while Mickey McGill and Alister Watson both had front punctures. SS4 – Fleet, 7.5 miles. Wet and Muddy. It was Armstrong again in the second visit to Fleet, this time 8 seconds (6m 47s) under the 6m 55s Bogey with everyone else taking more than 7 minutes for the test – and he had a punctures as he crossed the FF line. Hetherington was mighty impressive again (7m 01s) from McMiken (7m 02s) and Hughes (7m 06s). Fifth quickest was O’Connell (7m 12s) from Dickson (7m 22s). Hughes was having a bad day. On top of everything else, a brake pipe burst and he finished the test with no brakes, while both Jimmy Donnelly and Colin Gemmell had a puncture. SS5 – Cairn Edward, 9.2 miles. Wet and Muddy. Four drivers beat 10 minutes the first time through Cairn Edward, but five beat it this time. Armstrong again headed the charts with (9m 13s) from McMiken (9m 38s), Hughes (9m 43s), McGirr (9m 48s) and O’Connell (9m 51s) with best of the rest, Dickson on 10m 02s. Hetherington could only manage 7th quickest (10m 08s) when he punctured a tyre and dropped 30 seconds to McMiken, which cost him the runner-up position, but at least he hung on to third. Raymond Donnelly spun and had to reverse out to get going again but still managed to finish in the top ten – just! Gordon Murray lost 2 bolts from the gear linkage and had trouble finding gears, and he had no clue what he was getting when he found them. So nothing new there then, eh? It was an emphatic performance from Armstrong, five fastest times on five stages, and should put him back on course for that long overdue Scottish title next season, although a certain Bogie and Girvan might have other ideas! The Classes Niall Cowan was a solitary runner and winner of Class 1 in the MG but still managed to have his biggest ‘near-accident’ in ten years when the car clipped a rock and tossed him up on two wheels. Mark Donnelly won Class 2 in the Fiesta from co-driver Allan Smith’s first ever event as a driver in the ex-Nigel Feeney Focus. Peter Stewart failed to finish when his Fiesta cut out on the start line of S1 and he took a maximum there and again on the second stage. After years of 2WD, Cecil Minford appeared in Galloway with a Subaru and despite limited experience of the new car, scored the Class 3 win from Jimmy Donnelly. Paul Benn won Class 4 in the Ford Fiesta R2 which Kris Hall drove on Rally Scotland although he took the co-driver’s door mirror off after he thought the car was narrower than it actually is. After changing tyres and softening the suspension, James Robertson found the wee Citroen transformed and he finished 2nd but must have been getting a bit too cocky by the finish. He clipped a tree in SS5, “cutting where I shouldn’t have been cutting!” Joseph McGonigle failed to score when electrics failure sidelined his Citroen. Darren Martin managed to win Class 7 despite losing 4 mins in SS1 when the gear linkage came loose but managed to stick it in 3rd to reach the finish. He then punctured in SS4 and had the gear linkage fail again in SS5. Callum Bendall lost a wheel off the Ka, Fraser Wilson lost oil pressure (the big ends were chappin’) and Charles Blair was off in SS1 and off again in SS3, this time for good. Shane McGirr was the Class 8 winner from Iain Haining who was having severe trouble at first service trying to remove a driveshaft which had snapped an end off it. Mind you, methinks he would have been better expending his energy on the big pinch bar than on the exhaustive range of expletives that were seeping out from under the Nova. Ross McLeish was third in class despite an ill handling Peugeot after he bent the front subframe following a heavy landing which damaged the steering, and George Bryson was fourth after a puncture in the MkI TC in the final stage. Steven Smith was off in SS2 when the steering rack came loose although spects pushed him out and Blair McCulloch spun and stalled in SS1 and was off for 10 mins in SS2 so that ruined his class chances. David Rutherford had a puncture in the first stage and Ian Bendall had more moments today than he had all year. Either he’s found a new turn of speed or he was just feeling more confident on home territory. Raymond Donnelly won Class 9 from Alister Watson who slid off backwards in SS2 and smacked the co-driver’s rear quarter and lost the bumper. Alan McMorran was off in the water in SS2 although Scott Murdoch managed to finish despite a worsening propshaft vibration by the end. And Duncan and Janice Ferguson finished despite needing spectator power on the last stage to upright the rolled Escort, and both of them rolled over the finish line in Castle Douglas beaming widely through the December dismal gloomery. Final Results: 1 Jock Armstrong/Kirsty Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 40m 34s Class 1: Niall Cowan/Marcel Freling (MG ZR) 48m 10s **** |