Speyside winner David Bogie was aiming for an unprecedented 8th win on his home event, the Polo pilot teaming up with another local and former Scottish Champion Kirsty Riddick.
What followed was the definition of a consistent run, only fastest on 2 stages but never outside of the top 3 all day. A puncture in stage 5 didn’t really cost them any significant time and they romped home to both the overall win and maximum points in the Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship.
It was much tighter for 2nd in the SRC. 3rd quickest on SS1 and 2nd quickest on SS2, Championship leader Euan Thorburn and co-driver Keir Beaton hit trouble in SS3 with a puncture which dropped them to 3rd at the midway point of the event.
The 2nd loop was equally difficult, the Polo suffering from another 2 punctures. They stayed in the mix, heading into the final stage just 5 seconds away from 2nd place. 3rd quickest over the final stage was enough for them to grab 2nd in the points by just 1 second.
This was from Finlay Retson & Paul Beaton. Despite thinking they had driven the last stage as hard as they could while staying safe, they dropped 6 seconds to Euan & Keir to take the final step on the podium.
For the 2nd event in a row the Albyn Garage Challengers and the G&M Mechanical Services 2wd wins went to the same crew. Taking yet another Haddo Energy Super Seniors win, Gordon Murray & Peter Carstairs battled with their big Escort all day in the slippy conditions.
Just 1 second behind the Escort came the top Groundwater Lift Trucks Subaru Cup crew Rob Cotton & Ethan Kidd who were experiencing the Scottish gravel for the 1st time.
Taking both the Moates Offshore Juniors and top Lady driver, the Scottish was another good day of learning for Meghan & John O’Kane in their R2 Fiesta.
