Friends Paul Beaton and Donnie Macdonald go head-to-head on Speyside Stages
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PAUL Beaton hopes his friendly rivalry with fellow Invernessian Donnie MacDonald will fire him to victory on the Speyside Stages this weekend.
Off the course, co-driver Beaton and MacDonald are good friends and have driven together before, however Beaton and driver Euan Thorburn will be going for glory themselves this weekend.
After a disappointing round of the British Rally Championship at the Circuit of Ireland, where front differential problems forced them to retire, Beaton and Thorburn have entered the third round of the Scottish championship to get some much-needed mileage under their belts.
Culloden Car Sales’ MacDonald has had an up and down start to the season, winning his home rally, the Snowman Rally, in February but puncture problems in the second round at the Border Counties, where Beaton co-drove for him, saw him finish eighth. But a win in the National class of the Circuit of Ireland Rally has raised his hopes once again.
Beaton, who won the Scottish championship with Thorburn in 2014, expects to finish ahead of MacDonald – but dreads the reaction if he does not.
“There’s no reason why he can’t challenge at the top end this weekend but I can’t see him being close to us,” said Beaton, who works for IRN Security. “I would be disappointed in ourselves if he was. I would get such a slagging from him in the pub – perhaps I ought to sabotage his car!
“The car he’s running is really good and he’s really excited about it. He’s my mate but I don’t want him to do well against me.”
MacDonald will be rejoined by co-driver Andrew Falconer tomorrow in his Mitsubishi Evo and joked that Beaton held him back during the Border Counties Rally. He does concede however that it will be a tall order to get close to his good friend.
“If I’m quicker than him it’ll be my best result ever,” said MacDonald. “You’re talking the difference between a £50,000 and a £150,000 car. But I’m a lot closer than I have been.
“Paul is a fantastic guy and as much as we are serious competitors, we have a lot of banter. I genuinely believe Euan is one of the best drivers in Britain but it always comes down to someone having better machinery – like everything it comes down to money.”
Thorburn and Beaton are yet to decide whether to register for Scottish championship points in Elgin and Beaton said the focus is on finding the right setup for their Peugeot 208, ahead of the Pirelli Carlisle Rally next weekend.
MacDonald hopes they do register for points because it could help his own championship hopes if they can take some off his rivals.“They could be quite helpful if they get out in front,” he said, adding that his own hopes for the weekend are to get on the podium, even if competing in the National class of the British championship is proving taxing.
“It is at my age!” said MacDonald. “After the rally on Saturday I’m doing the Étape the following day, then myself and Andrew have got to go through the notes for the Pirelli stages. If you’re having bad luck you do think about kicking it all into touch but the cycling has really helped with my endurance in the car.”
The event has moved from its traditional summer date, but that has done nothing to deter the drivers away, with a strong 120-car entry for the event.
Beaton and Thorburn will go out in car one and are hoping for better luck than at the Circuit of Ireland.“When the diff went we were essentially down to rear-wheel drive, rather than four-wheel drive,” said Drakies-based Beaton. “It’s an expensive toy to trash and it would have been stupid to carry on.”
