BOGIE PREPARES FOR BRC WITH NINTH SPEYSIDE RALLY WIN

RALLY REPORT But with bogie not competing all season, armstrong scores. By John fife

D

avid Bogie and John Rowan came close to perfection on last weekend’s Speyside Stages Rally. It was an emphatic and almost imperious display which resulted in Bogie’s ninth win on this event.

Over a minute behind in third place were CA1 Sport team-mates Rhys Yates and Alex Lee, but splitting the two Skoda Fabia R5s in perhaps the drive of the day were Jock Armstrong and Cameron Fair in the TEG Sport Subaru Impreza.

With the warm spring sunshine glittering on chrome and polished paintwork, the cars lined up for the first two stages, twice around the 600-metre perimeter road of Cooper Park in the centre of the cathedral city of Elgin. The kind of stage which elicits such phrases as: ‘You can’t win the rally here, but you can lose it.’ This time there was indeed some substance in such a saying.

Armstrong was a second slower than Bogie on the first run but slid across the grass on the second and dropped 14 seconds to the leader. Fellow frontrunners Garry Pearson clouted a banking, damaging a damper, and Andrew Gallacher lost over 20 seconds. The winner of the first round – the Snowman Rally – explained: “The car stalled twice on the startline and then again mid-stage, but I think we’ve got it sorted now.”

From there it was into the woods where the light-coloured sandy surface of Teindland shimmered invitingly in the sunlight, but offered little in the way of grip. Bogie was three seconds quicker than Armstrong, with Pearson a further four seconds adrift while Yates and John Wink in the Hyundai R5 shared fourth fastest.

Events changed dramatically in the seven-mile Knock More test in Rosarie Forest. Running later in the seeding order after its damper change, Pearson’s Fiesta tumbled violently off the road and the stage had to be stopped while help was sought for co-driver Paula Swinscoe. Thankfully, the current-generation R5 machine proved its strength, although Paula was detained in hospital overnight.

Notional times were issued to those yet to run as the frontrunners headed across the road into Tauchers Wood. Bogie was quickest again, but Yates was on the move relegating Armstrong to third place overall as the rally paused at first service.

Already with a half-minute lead, Bogie was still looking for improvements: “We could do with a harder tyre, but we weren’t expecting this heat today. The blocks were going soft by the end of that last stage and the car was moving around a lot.”

Only two seconds clear of third-placed Armstrong, Yates added: “I was a bit hesitant at first, but I’m slowly getting into it, these are mega stages.”

There was a flurry of activity in the fifth-placed Mark Mcculloch camp. Second time out in the Fiesta R5, Mcculloch was relishing the challenge: “It was fine at the test day yesterday but we’ve got steering problems – again, same as at the Snowman.”

It prompted the team to set about changing the rack. Just two seconds ahead of Mcculloch in a pretty impressive fourth place overall was young Lawrence Whyte.

Gartly Moor ranks highly as one of Scotland’s best stages but nobody could match Bogie, although Armstrong was only seven seconds slower over five miles. More importantly he was four seconds quicker than Yates. In the next test at Balloch Wood, Armstrong was again second quickest, another three seconds up on Yates, who admitted: “A wee mistake. I drifted wide into a ditch, but got away with it.”

A re-run of Gartly followed where Yates was only a second behind Armstrong and Mcculloch moved back up to fourth place. Freddie Milne in a Subaru Impreza WRC demoted Whyte a further place to sixth.

It was Bogie quickest again in Balloch, but Yates snatched back three seconds from Armstrong setting up a tantalising prospect for the final stage, there were now just three seconds between them.

Putting Armstrong under pressure is usually an unrewarding task, and so it proved. He was still three seconds in front at the end of it.

“Cammy [his co-driver, their first time in competition together] was really good, he gave me confidence coming back after my ‘wee rest’ and it keeps me in with a shot at the title,” said Armstrong.

Yates had to settle for third in his prePirelli International Rally test, while Milne held fourth ahead of Mcculloch, Whyte and Donnie Macdonald. Milne held on by just one second, while just 22 seconds separated Milne and Macdonald at the end of the rally.

As for Bogie, he did register for the Scottish Rally Championship and took maximum points, but added: “That’s more about supporting the championship than going for the title. I’ll do the Scottish, because that’s my home event, and then decide where to go from there.”