Top two set to resume battle as season begins
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REIGNING champion David Bogie and Euan Thorburn are set to resume their battle for supremacy on the opening round of this year’s ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship in the Highland capital tomorrow.
The pair will line up their Ford Focus WRCs as first and second seeds respectively on the Arnold Clark Thistle Hotel Snowman Rally, which has attracted a bumper entry of 116 crews.
Following a successful foray south of the border, Duns-based Thorburn and co-driver Paul Beaton, from Inverness, ended last season as British Trial and Rally Drivers Association champions.
However, their Scottish campaign was dogged by various mechanical issues and problems, and they managed only two wins to Bogie’s four.
For his part, Dumfries driver Bogie, who won the Snowman in 2011 and 2012, plans to pick up where he left off alongside Hawick navigator Kevin Rae:
"To have five titles is awesome, but to have six would be even better," he said. "I want to keep on winning championships, that’s what it’s all about for me," said the 26-year-old.
Third seed Jock Armstrong, from Castle Douglas, who was winner of the season-opener in 2010, will have experienced co-driver Paula Swinscoe on the notes as he looks to put a disappointing 2013 season behind him.
It included three non-finishes in his Subaru Impreza, the one high point being a sixth victory on his family-sponsored Galloway Hills Rally.
Banchory’s Quintin Milne and Martin Forrest from Aberdeen start one place further back in their Mitsubishi EVO. The pair ended last year as runners-up to Bogie and Rae, with a win on the Border Counties, and three third-place finishes.
Meanwhile, fifth seeds Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy did not have their troubles to seek with a new-for-2013 EVO 9, but still managed to finish third overall in the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championships respectively.
"We finished the season with three podiums, so we’re hoping to build on that form", said Faulkner: "I enjoy the Snowman stages. They’re fast and challenging, with unpredictable conditions adding to the mix.
"As for the Scottish Rally Championship, the competition is fantastic. It just seems to get stronger and stronger."
Stonehaven driver Barry Groundwater, with Elgin’s Neil Shanks on the notes, will be targeting a strong start to the new season in his EVO. The pair lost out to Faulkner and Foy by just the one in the final championship points.
The home challenge will be led by Inverness duo Donnie MacDonald and Andrew Falconer, who finished in the top half-dozen six times last year in their EVO 9.
Mark McCulloch, from Newton Stewart, has joined forces with fellow Wigtownshire competitor James Haugh as he prepares to mount an all-out challenge in his Subaru Impreza, while Aberdeenshire crew Bruce McCombie and Michael Coutts round off the top ten starters in the first of five Group N EVO entries.
Inverness duo Dougal Brown and co-driver Lewis Roachford will be starting at car 14 in their EVO 9.
Also chasing Group N honours will be defending champion John Morrison, from Conon Bridge, with Peter Carstairs of St Andrews on the notes; Kilmarnock’s Andrew Gallacher, co-driven by Phil Sandham from Carnforth; Duns’ Dale Robertson and Tranent navigator Paul McGuire; and Fraser Wilson from Port William, who is paired with Edinburgh co-driver Jane Nicol.
The EVO line-up is split by one of two MG Metro 6R4s, the first crewed by Inverness pairing Steven Ronaldson and Ann Marie Fraser, with another local duo, Sandy and Ian Arbuthnott, starting further down the field.
Father and son crew from Dingwall, Charlie and Ross Jarrett, will be taking to the stages in their Escort Mk 2 seeded at car 32, while Muir of Ord driver Alasdair Reid, with co-driver Donald Urquhart (Conon Bridge), will start at car 35 in their EVO 8. Further down the field, Highland Car Club members Ross Macdonald, co-driven by Mathew Johnstone, will be trading special stage times with fellow members Keir Beaton, being navigated by Stuart Louden, both driving Honda Civics.
The first car is due off from the Thistle Hotel at 9.15am tomorrow with the winner expected to cross the finishing line at just after 2.30pm.
