Crail Was a Blast..... - About the Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge

Brick and Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge
Junior Crail Win for Vassallo….
Alexander Vassallo/Neil Colman put all their experience of Crail to good use to top the Junior podium on the second round of
the 2014 Brick & Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge.
The 2014 Summer Stages Junior Rally on Saturday 14th June 2014 featured 4 stages of almost 8 miles each. This length of
stage was a first for many of the Juniors but being young they all took it in their stride. Conditions at Crail Raceway were
perfect all day after a bit of a dull, damp start. The Junior Rally started about 10.30 on stage 3 of the “senior rally” and the
track had mostly dried out. The Juniors did stages 3,4,5,6 whilst the “seniors” did 8 stages.
Vassallo started very strongly in his Citroen C1 on the fist stage and opened a healthy 16 second lead over second placed
crew Dylan O’Donnell/Garry Muir (Nissan Micra). And he built on this lead on every stage of the day with O’Donnell
coming second on all but the last stage to take second overall – his second of the year. The gap at the end was just over 1
minute. But Dylan, with “reserve” co-driver Garry Muir calling out the instructions, never stopped trying all day. His
comment at the end was – “I think I was overdriving a bit on a couple of stages”!!
Michael Dickie/Martin Forrest (Toyota Aygo) held third place all day and did post a quicker time than O’Donnell on the last
stage. They finished 10 seconds behind O’Donnell but reported no major dramas during the day.
Sitting in fourth place for the first 3 stages, Sandy Fairbairn/Colin Reay (Nissan Micra) entered the last stage with a 9 second
lead over Michael Robertson/Phil Sandham (Toyota Aygo). But Robertson managed to find that little bit extra and was faster
than Fairbairn by 10seconds in that last stage to take fourth place by 1 second. But the beautifully liveried Aygo of Robertson
was sporting some “rippling” of the bodywork on the co-driver’s side after an argument with a tyre chicane on the second
stage.
Sixth up was the revelation of the day – new boy Finlay Retson with “out of retirement” Fraser Jones calling the route. Fin
and Dad Dave spent the past year preparing for this day and Fin put in a text book performance on this his first ever rally.
And after starting from last position (and carrying number 13 on the car) we must have another real prospect to watch.
And in seventh we had Mr Cautious – Brandon Walsh with Ian Sheills co-driving!!! Sporting a very unusual 2 tone Citroen
C1 – with blue panels showing where the new body shell was and white panels from the wreck that came away from Kames!!
But it was a real credit to the team that the car appeared at all after Kames. And Brandon almost brought it back the way it
started – apart from the co-driver’s side window which took “a wee knock” in a brush with a bale on the last stage!!!
Hot on Brandon’s heels all day was Harry Chalmers with new co-driver Lisa Watson sitting with him in his Nissan Micra.
They finished the day 9 seconds behind Brandon and there was “Great Joy” in the Lawrence of Kemnay camp. That makes 2
brilliant results in as many weeks for the Chalmers family with Mum Lyn completing the gruelling Moonwalk Scotland in
her bra in Edinburgh on 7th June.
Next up in ninth, and delighted to have completed another rally with all bumpers attached to the car, was Dale Kelly/Peter
Weall (Nissan Micra). Now that the exams are over and the summer holidays will soon begin, 15 year old Dale will be
concentrating on building his driving experience. But that is much better than repairing the car.
And rounding off the list of finishers was Cameron Russell/Martin Murray (Nissan Micra) in 10th. Cameron was on his
second ever rally and is another driver who needs more seat time to develop. So the plan for the day was to learn and take the
car home in one piece. And new front tyres for the second loop of stages showed a big improvement in times.
And the unfortunates – thankfully we did not have as many dramatic exits as we had on round 1 at Kames.
First to go was local boy Brodie Balfour with Ian Nicol in their very tidy Toyota Aygo. Just as they were about to start the
second lap of the first stage, the wee Aygo ground to a halt with no drive. Later inspection pointed to a gearbox failure. This
was a bitter blow for Brodie who regularly practices at Crail.
It was Andy Struthers/Andrew Falconer’s turn to grind to a halt out on the stage during stage 3. A broken drive shaft in their
Nissan Micra meaning end of show. Andy had been sitting in sixth place up to that point.
And learning just how cruel rallying can sometimes be was Harris Wilson whose car started spluttering and then stopped out
on the last stage. Co-driver Craig Wallace eventually found and fixed a problem with the fuel feed but by the time they got
going again they were OTL.
The gap to the next round will not be as long as between rounds 1 and 2. The “Junior Circus” (including big tent!!) will be
back at Kames for the Albar Rally on 13th July.
Final Positions Summer Stages Junior Rally 13/6/2014
O/A
Driver
Driver
Home Town
Co-Driver
1
Alexander Vassallo
Corbridge
2
Dylan O’Donnell
3
Mikey Dickie
4
Michael Robertson
5
Sandy Fairbairn
6
Finlay Retson
7
Brandon Walsh
8
Leven
Co-Driver
Home Town
Car
Total
Time
Neil Colman
Stockton
37.36
Garry Muir
Mintlaw
Cotroen
C1
Nissan
Micra
Toyota
Aygo
Toyota
Aygo
Nissan
Micra
Nissan
Micra
Citroen
C1
Nissan
Micra
Nissan
Micra
Nissan
Micra
Toyota
Aygo
Nissan
Micra
Nissan
Micra
Banchory
Martin Forrest
Aberdeen
Dunfermline
Phil Sandham
Carnforth
Earlston
Blairgowrie
Colin Reay
St Boswells
Fraser Jones
Edinburgh
Kirkcaldy
Ian Shiells
Aberdeen
Harry Chalmers
Inverurie
Lisa Watson
Inverness
9
Dale Kelly
Dunblane
Peter Weall
Lenzie
10
Cameron Russell
Ayr
Martin Murray
Glasgow
Brodie Balfour
Kirkcaldy
Ian Nicol
Forfar
Andy Struthers
Carnwath
Andrew Falconer
Inverness
Harris Wilson
Pitlochry
Craig Wallace
Kirriemuir
38.38
38.48
39.00
39.09
40.21
40.59
41.08
43.45
44.24
DNF
DNF
DNF