The 1st loop of three stages, and it was Championship leaders Jock Armstrong and Hannah McKillop who took the early lead, fastest on stage one and two and 2nd on three to head into service with a 4 second advantage.
David Henderson & Chris Lees were 3rd quickest on the opener and 2nd on two, caught out slightly by the looseness of the roads. Stage three was more to their liking, fastest by four seconds to half their deficit to the Impreza.
Out for the 2nd loop and the battle was on. The two crews tying for fastest time on stage four before Henderson and Lees took four seconds back on five to draw level with Armstrong and McKillop with one stage remaining.
Onto the final stage and the Fiesta crew turned things up even further, taking 10 seconds out of the Impreza to take a 2nd SRC win in a row – and their 2nd successive Galloway Hills victory – to keep their 2023 title chances very much still alive going into the final round.
For Armstrong and Mckillop’s part Jock reckoned he’d been overdriving on the 2nd loop and had found himself in the wrong gear on a couple of occasions. Still, they know it’s now all to play for on the final round.
Behind the top two was a big battle for 3rd between John Wink and Neil Shanks and Michael Binnie and Emily Easton-Page. Tying on time on four of the six stages they ended the event just eight seconds apart.
For John and Neil there was a bit of a scare on the 2nd loop when one of the bonnet pins failed, John admitting to finding it a bit distracting. That didn’t stop them from taking a 3rd podium of the season as their strong 2023 campaign continues. Michael & Emily were glad to get a clean run after their Grampian accident.
Scott Peacock and Craig Wallace wrapped up the Albyn Garage Challengers title in Scott’s home forests after an excellent debut 4wd season.
It was a dramatic day in the Autoshop 2wd standings, Paddy Munro and Andrew Stevenson were fastest in stage 1 but were out after gearbox issues in 2. Stuart Egglestone and Brian Hodgson inherited the lead and were battling with John Crawford and Josh Davison up until the final stage when Stuart and Brian would unfortunately retire.
That left John and Josh to take the 2wd win but only by 2 seconds along with 12th overall. This result keeping John in with a chance of the 2wd driver’s title.
There was also drama in the Lady drivers. Reigning champion Aileen Forrest had battled a puncture and cutting out issues on the 1st loop before unfortunately damaging the front right corner of the car in a ditch and retiring.
Linzi Henderson and Sue Hynd were experiencing Linzi’s dad’s recently finished MK2 Escort and loving life despite fuel pump issues and a broken front caliper bracket. Taking advantage, Meghan and John O’Kane would take the win and an excellent 28th overall in the Fiesta.
PROVISIONAL OVERALL TOP 5 AFTER ROUND 7 – DRIVERS
1. Jock Armstrong 143pts
2. David Henderson 142pts
3. John Wink 134pts
4. Michael Binnie 134pts
5. Mark McCulloch 122pts
PROVISIONAL OVERALL TOP 5 AFTER ROUND 7 – CO-DRIVERS
1. Hannah McKillop 143pts
2. Chris Lees 141pts
3. Neil Shanks 131pts
4. Michael Hendry 121pts
5. Michael Wilkinson 120pts
