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Snowman: 2004 - The end result...
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MUNRO BAGS SNOWMAN RALLY VICTORY II
Raymond Munro got the defence of his County Saab Scottish Championship
off to a winning start when he completely dominated the opening round, the
snow-free Arnold Clark - Thistle Hotel Snowman Rally in Inverness. Ninety
cars started the 49th running of the event but it was Munro, who won his
home event 12 months ago by just one second, who was in blistering form as
he set fastest times in all six Highland stages to beat the Ford Escort
WRC of Aberdeen's Dave Weston by 15 seconds. "I waited 22 years to win it
the first time and now, 12 months later, I've won it again," Munro,
victor's champagne dripping from his nose after clambering out of his ex-Juha
Kankkunen Subaru Impreza, said. "Today went perfectly and to be honest, it
feels even better this year than it did last time. I didn't feel under any
pressure this year and I just settled into a nice rhythm and kept it going
all day. "And surprisingly, we had no dramas at all," Munro, partnered for
the first time by Glasgow co-driver John Bennie, continued. "The day,
literally, was problem and incident-free. And I have to acknowledge the
condition of all the stages. They were perfect and blisteringly fast. A
real credit to the organisers, the Highland Car Club." Weston pressurised
Munro through the opening two stages when they were separated by just two
seconds, but the gap opened to seven seconds after the 12-miler at
Tarlogie and after that the Aberdonian, co-driven by Elgin's Neil Shanks,
backed-off. "I knew we'd never catch Raymond, so I concentrated on getting
the points for finishing second," Weston, driving his ex-Carlos Sainz
Escort and who recently received driving tips from World Rally
Championship contender Alister McRae, said.
"The few hints Alister gave me when we went testing has certainly made
a difference to my whole approach, and especially the way I attack the
corners and manage to carry more speed out of them. This result certainly
augurs well for the rest of the year." Comeback man Gary Adam finished a
frustrating third in his first competitive outing in the championship
after taking a 12-month sabbatical, but the Tillicoultry driver admitted
he'd suffered a blow to his confidence after pranging his Subaru. "We
clattered a tree and badly damaged the rear offside wheel," Adam,
runner-up in the 2002 championship and co-driven by his dad Gordon,
admitted. "We just miscalculated the approach to one corner and that was
that. "Naturally an incident like that, careering into trees at high speed
backwards, dunts your confidence a bit so after that I slowed down just a
wee bit. But to finish third is a pretty solid way to start the season."
Busby's Alan Dickson finished fourth in his Subaru 15 seconds ahead of the
Mitsubishi of John Morrison from Conon Bridge. Elderslie's Jim Carty
finished sixth, just four seconds further back. Englishman Steve Bannister
narrowly pipped Aberdeen's Callum Mackenzie in the two-wheel-drive battle
between the two Ford Escort MkIIs. After leading most of the day,
Mackenzie, partnered by fellow Aberdonian and one of Scotland's leading
young female co-drivers Heather Connon, fell just four seconds adrift over
the closing stage.
Thorntonhall's Chris Wagner and Malcolm Proudlock from Dumfries rounded
off the top 10. The two Subaru Impreza drivers were separated by just five
seconds. Aberdeen's Lorna Smith, the defending Scottish Ladies Champion
and co-driven by Jedburgh's Dave Robson, powered her way to just outside
the top 10 finishing 13th in a time of 45mins 27secs. In the battle of the
two-wheel-drive 1300cc cars, Larkhall's Colin Main dominated the class
comfortably cruising to victory in his Andrew Wood Motorsport-prepared
Vauxhall Nova. The youngster, recently identified as a pupil in the New
Pig Junior Rally Academy, was in impressive form right through the event.
The rally though claimed the early scalps of three maim contenders in the
battle for the overall championship. It wasn't the best of days for 2002
Scottish Rally Champion Barry Johnson. The Co Durham driver got to within
sight of the flying finish at the end of stage one, the 10-miler at
Tarlogie, before sliding into a tree and damaging his Subaru Impreza. "My
co-driver warned me well in advance of the tight right-hander that was
coming up, but I just miscalculated, missed my braking point, put a couple
of wheels on to the grass and before we knew it we'd hit a tree," Johnson
explained. "It was nobody's fault but mine. Main thing is no one's
injured. But we were just a couple of hundred yards from the finish and if
we'd managed to get the car out of the stage, I'm sure the guys could have
repaired it. "The big problem was we'd bellied the car in the ditch, had
no traction from the wheels and there was no one to give us a push back on
to the track. It's a hugely disappointing end to a rally I really felt we
could have won." Another driver left licking his wounds was '99 champ Jon
Burn. The Bothwell driver, whose preparation of his 20-year-old Kaliber-backed
MG Metro 6R4 was first hampered by the delayed delivery of a new bodyshell
and then halted by a death in the family, only arrived in Inverness at 4am
on Saturday morning. "We'd been chasing our tales for one reason or
another this week," the former champ said, "and it all caught up with us
today. The car developed an intermittent electrical problem which we
thought we'd cured with a Kit-Kat wrapper. "We stopped midway through
stage two when the power failed and we had to change an ignition lead.
Problem was, it didn't fit, but I saw this young lad munching a Kit-Kat
and pinched the foil wrapper from him.
"Adding that to the end of the cable allowed us to get going again but
although we managed to get to the end of the stage, we'd dropped far too
much time and we called an early end to proceedings." New championship
sponsor, Ayr's Neale Dougan meanwhile, found himself getting all steamed
up midway through the second stage, the 10-miler at Rogie, when he
literally couldn't see through the windscreen of his Ford Escort WRC. "We
were well on the pace but then clipped a hay bale on the run through stage
one and we thought we'd got away with it," County Saab boss Dougan
explained afterwards, "but after starting stage two the cabin suddenly
started filling up with steam. "We soldiered on but then just a couple of
corners from the end of the stage there was another final belch of steam,
we couldn't see a thing and we missed the corner.
'Problem was we'd damaged the radiator when we hit the hay bale and
we'd lost all the water. We've damaged the engine and it's going to need a
new head gasket. But that's certainly a lot cheaper than a whole new
engine."
The next round of the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship is the
Jedburgh-based Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally which takes place on
March 20.
Arnold Clark -Thistle Hotel Snowman Rally, County Saab Scottish Rally
Championship (Rnd 1 of 8).
Results:
1. Raymond Munro/John Bennie (Inverness) Subaru Impreza WRC 42mins 27secs;
2. Dave Weston/Neil Shanks (Aberdeen) Ford Escort WRC 42.42;
3. Gary Adam/Gordon Adam (Tillicoultry) Subaru Impreza 555 43.33;
4. Alan Dickson/Martin Forrest (Busby) Subaru Impreza 44.14;
5. John Morrison/Alistair Mackay (Conon Bridge) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 44.29;
6. Jim Carty/Ian Nicoll (Elderslie) MG Metro 6R4 44.33;
7. Steve Bannister/Kevin Rae (Malton) Ford Escort MkII 44.45;
8. Callum Mackenzie/Heather Connon (Aberdeen) Ford Escort MkII 44.49;
9. Chris Wagner/Alan Stark (Thorntonhall) Subaru Impreza 45.01;
10. Malcolm Proudlock/Alan Cathers (Dumfries) Subaru Impreza 45.06.
Others: 13. Lorna Smith/Dave Robson (Aberdeen) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV.
Issued on behalf of County Saab Scottish Rally Championship by JMCG Media.
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