BINNIE HOLDS HIS RESOLVE FOR GLORY
A huge crowd watched a tense fight for the Scottish Championship plaudits.
Michael Binnie and Claire Mole defied the pundits to take a back-to-back victory on the opening round of the 2022 Scottish Rally Championship.
Few would have bet against the five-time Scottish title winner David Bogie, but when the Mini JCW WRC suffered a puncture on the first stage, he and co-driver Kevin Rae were left to try and fight back. Even so, Binnie had to battle hard for his 19-second victory over Jock Armstrong and Cameron Fair in their
Subaru Impreza. Bogie eventually denied Freddie Milne and Patrick Walsh (Ford Fiesta R5) a position on the podium.
Clear skies and a hard frost greeted crews as they assembled for the start, but there was no snow and little in the way of ice. In fact, perfect rallying weather with the local police already having to adjust their plans as crowd numbers were exceeding the anticipated
3000 to 5000 numbers.
Binnie was up for the fight regardless and was two seconds quicker than Milne over the opening test. Bogie appeared at the stage finish with a punctured off-side rear tyre and wheel lying at an odd angle. “I didn’t see anything, I just felt the bump,” said Bogie, but the impact had also bent a rear suspension arm leaving him to run through the second stage with the car steering from the rear as well as the front.
Binnie was fastest again on the second stage but his time was matched by the Ford Focus WRC of Bruce McCombie and Michael Coutts. Only one second behind this pair was another tie for second fastest between Milne and Armstrong. Things were seriously hotting up, but Armstrong was worried about his brakes, the fluid having boiled in the first two tests and the team set about grinding the discs and changing the pads back at service.
The third test featured a visit to the nine-mile Millbuie forest stage which comprises long straights punctuated with square lefts and rights. This was high-power territory and Bogie stormed through it a full 17s quicker than Milne who was one second up on Binnie with Armstrong a further three seconds back.
Fastest through SS4 was the Mini tornado again but only four seconds quicker than a determined Milne who reflected: “I now have more confidence in the car after last year’s run of electrical problems which seem to have been finally cured now.” Of more importance was the fact that he was seven seconds quicker than Binnie which pitched him into the rally lead by five seconds with one stage to go.
Unfortunately, the stage had to be stopped. Ian Forgan’s
Ford Fiesta R5 struck a tree stump when it left the road and the crew required medical assistance. Early fears were allayed by the news that Forgan had suffered only a broken ankle while Ewan Lees emerged relatively unscathed.
A final tricky six-mile run through Boblainy lay ahead where earlier in the day mixed surface conditions had accounted for many offs ensuring the top two faced a difficult decision – just how hard to push…Binnie went for the all-out approach. He reported: “I pushed as hard as I could.”
Despite that, Bogie and Armstrong were both quicker, just not enough. Over a minute later a tight-lipped Milne appeared. “The engine just cut out and stopped dead. No lights, no warning,” he said.
Rallying can be such a cruel sport. He dropped to fourth place behind Binnie, Armstrong and Bogie.
Scott MacBeth and Daniel Forsyth were an excellent fifth in the reshelled Mitsubishi Lancer E9, which had taken a tumble on the Galloway Hills, while Scott Beattie and Paula Swinscoe were fighting for a podium finish until the Lancer E7 had to be rescued from a ditch in SS3 by the marshals. At least he got out: John Wink’s Hyundai i20 R5 was stuck fast at the previous corner and had to wait for the breakdown crews incurring a stage maximum. First time out in a left-handdrive car Donnie MacDonald finished outside the top 10.
Bruce McCombie was heading for a top-six finish until the latter two stages when the Focus’s gear selection started playing up and he dropped to seventh ahead of Hugh Brunton and Drew Sturrock scoring their best forest rally finish in the
Ford Fiesta R5 with eighth place as the Subarus of Keir Beaton/ Iain Thorburn and Duncan Campbell/Michael Cruickshank rounded off the top 10.
“I really wasn’t expecting that. I was nervous about running first car on the road, but thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Binnie at the finish, adding: “It’s the best way to start the season.”