Scottish championship battle for points
Scottish Championship competitors battle for points on RSAC Scottish Rally Running ahead of the international field on the second day of the RSAC Scottish Rally a week this Sunday (June 9) is a one-day national event which is a counter in the New Pig Scottish Rally Championship and the Scotkart AWSMSC Stage Rally Championship. Top seed on this section of the RSAC Scottish Rally, which starts at 6 am on Sunday morning from High Street in the centre of Dumfries, is former Scottish Champion Brian Lyall. Driving his Ford Escort WRC, the Aberdeen helicopter business owner will lead some 70 competitors as they set out on a route to the east of Dumfries with six stages totalling 61 competitive miles. Four places behind him is the outright winner of the 2001 RSAC Scottish Rally. This year Aberdeen¹s Dave Weston is contesting only the Scottish Championship round, with co-driver Dave Robson from Jedburgh, in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. Dave is currently 11th in the Scottish series, having retired from the previous round the Argyll Rally. It is Callum Guy, from Edinburgh, who will be defending his Scottish Championship lead as the competitors head to this, the fourth round of the series. Also driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, he and co-driver Neil Dashfield (Burnham-on-Sea), started the season in fine style with a win on the Snowman Rally in Inverness, then took second place on the Border Counties. After damaging the car on a tree on the third-round Argyll Rally, they will be keen to consolidate their current 10-point lead in the championship. The man who is looking to close that ten-point gap is Aberdeen¹s Gordon Smith. With co-driver Peter Carstairs from St Andrews, he has been a consistent top runner in the first three rounds, finishing well within the top ten on two of the three rounds to date. But for a retirement on the first round Snowman Rally, Argyll Rally winners Gary (Dollar) and Gordon Adam (Tyllicoultry) would surely be challenging for the championship lead in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4. They will be seeking to make up lost ground on this event. Another driver to watch is former Vauxhall team driver Andrew Wood from Melrose. He and his co-driver wife Ann missed the early events this year as they couldn¹t get suspension parts to fettle their venerable Audi Quattro S2 Coupe. However, their return to the sport earlier this month (May 18) was a victorious one the husband and wife team scored a win on the SAIC Granite City Rally. In all there are more than 175 crews the largest entry since 1998 entered in the two-day Royal Scottish Automobile Club event. Supported by Dumfries and Galloway Council the international section of the RSAC Scottish Rally is the third round of the seven-round Pirelli British Rally Championship. The weekend action begins at 8 am on Saturday (June 8) from High Street, right in the centre of Dumfries. Details, results and news of the New Pig Scottish Rally Championship can be found on their website at http://www.newpigsrc.co.uk. New Pig are providing environmental spill kits for all competitors. More details can be found on the RSAC Scottish Rally website at http://www.scottishrally.co.uk, or by contacting the Royal Scottish Automobile Club (Motor Sport) Ltd, 11 Blythswood Square, Glasgow G2 4AG. Telephone 0141 204 4999. Fax 0141 204 4949. E-mail rsac_motorsport@compuserve.com. DUMFRIES FORECAST FROM WEATHER.COM Fri hi lo Jun 7 Partly Cloudy 61°F 50°F UV Index: 6 Moderate Sat Jun 8 Partly Cloudy 61°F 51°F UV Index: 6 Moderate Sun Jun 9 Mostly Cloudy 61°F 51°F UV Index: 5 Moderate - Ken McEwen Director The PR Partnership (Scotland) Ltd Bon Accord House Riverside Drive Aberdeen AB11 7SL Scotland Telephone +44 (0)1224 588900 Fax +44 (0)1224 588200 e-mail ken@prpartnership.co.uk http://www.prpartnership.co.uk This e-mail is intended only for the addressee and may contain information that is confidential or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this e-mail. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail. Any e-mail attachment may contain software viruses which could damage your own computer system. Whilst reasonable precaution has been taken to minimise this risk, we cannot accept liability for any damage which you sustain as a result of software viruses. You should therefore carry out your own virus checks before opening any attachment.