Duo slay Bogieman in world rally quest
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TAKING on the best in the world is the target for Paul Beaton after he and driver Euan Thorburn clinched the Scottish Rally Championship.
The duo held off the challenge of five-times champion David Bogie in Perth to win the title for the first time — and they are now eyeing up competition on the global stage.
Drakies co-driver Beaton and Thorburn endured a dramatic day at the Colin McRae Stages Rally on Saturday, only relaxing after rival Bogie went off the road on the final stage.
It was a sweet success for the pair, who saw their title challenge collapse at the same event last year when Bogie won his fifth-successive crown.
But with the inaugural title in the bag, work now begins to take on the best drivers in the world.
It is something the duo have experienced already after competing in the national section last year as a prize for winning the British championship.
"Our plan is to compete in Rally GB in November and take part against the best in the world," Beaton said. "We’re trying to sort out funding. At the moment, to do four or five rounds you’re looking at about a quarter-of-a-million, then another £150,000 at least for the car. It’s a pricey business.
"There’s no doubt in my mind that we can compete at that level. It just comes down to funding.
"You see guys you know you can beat racing in the world championships because they’ve got the funding. It’s only that stopping us from going to the next level. It’s just a case of pulling it all together now."
Beaton and Thurburn’s current car, a Ford Focus WRC, is too old to compete in the World Championships and will be sold to fund the purchase of a newer model.
The pair only plan to do four or five rounds to ensure they are not away from family for too long, but can still do enough to improve their standing on the world stage.
"I’ve got two young children at home and Euan has just had his second child, so we’re getting grief from the wives," Beaton said.
"The last round is November-December time so you do get a wee break over Christmas. But I’m usually working through Christmas to raise funds for whatever comes next." Beaton runs his own electrical contracting company in the Highland capital and was straight back to work yesterday morning, hoping to "cram about two weeks’ work into three days", before he heads to Mull to navigate for fellow Invernessian Donnie Macdonald.Thorburn and Beaton completed the six Perthshire stages in a total time of 43 minutes 51 seconds — two minutes ahead of runners-up Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy.
The duo were seven seconds up on Bogie after two stages, but the defending champion took two seconds back on the third stage in his Ford Fiesta R5+ and was seven seconds faster than the Duns driver through the near-14 miles of stage four at Allean.
Thorburn hit back on Drummond Hill, and with one stage remaining had a two- second advantage overall.
However, Bogie had a major problem — arriving at the second and final service in Aberfeldy with a bent front-left tracking rod after clipping a rock. With no spare available Bogie looked on while the mechanics went to work on the car, unsure whether he would be able to continue.
After a tense wait Bogie was given the nod and climbed back into the cockpit for a last all-or-nothing assault on the 11 miles of Craigvinean.
But disaster struck a few miles in when his car slid off the road. Thorburn and Beaton, who passed the scene as second car on the stage, had their own scare shortly afterwards when they went straight on at a junction.
"We decided we had to go for it. We had a two-second lead heading into the last stage where the first two miles are really fast, then David put his car off the road," said Beaton.
"Driving past him we tried to hold our emotions together but it knocked our concentration.
"We put the car off the road ourselves but thankfully nothing too serious. We just got our heads together and drove to the finish.
"There was drama through the whole day. We were leading through the morning but dropped to second on one of the afternoon stages.
"We then dropped another seven seconds after coming off the road. Our mindset was that we had to go as hard as we could on that last stage because David would be. There was only two seconds in it.
"Crossing the line was a massive relief, especially after last year when we lost it here. We didn’t want to take it to the last round as it’s home territory for David."
