Aberdeen’s Dave Weston jnr completed his build-up to this weekend’s opening round of the British Rally Championship by cruising to a 27-second victory in the Jedburgh-based Border Counties Rally, the second round of the Hankook Scottish Championship.
The 19-year-old, who was quickest through two of the five stages which wound their way through the daunting Kielder Forest, admitted he used the 45-mile event essentially to get more test miles in his new 2010 Subaru Impreza.
“Winning today is really a bonus,” Weston jnr, whose father Dave Weston is a former Scottish champ, admitted. “Our priority this year is the British Championship, and that’s what we’re concentrating on.
“But it was fantastic to come out today, push the car almost to its limit at times, and just get a real feel for what the car’s capable of. In the end, we’ve won here today without having to really push too hard.”
With Weston jnr not registered for the Scottish Championship, Oban’s Shaun Sinclair took maximum points after finishing second overall in his Mitsubishi Evo IX.
Defending Scottish champ David Bogie, who like Weston jnr will tackle the opening British round next weekend, finished second highest SRC points scorer in his Mitsubishi Evo IX.
“Yeh, it was good to blow the cobwebs away today,” the 22-year-old from Dumfries said. “This was my first time in the car under competitive conditions since we crashed in RallyScotland last November, so I’m well pleased to finish second in the points.”
Castle Douglas driver Jock Armstrong, who dominated the opening round, the Snowman in Inverness last month, was forced to retire just three miles into the opening stage when his Impreza suffered a gearbox failure.
Bothwell 22-year-old Alick Kerr, who finished fifth overall and fourth-fastest Scottish Championship-registered driver, now leads the title race in his Impreza, four points ahead of the DAM GTi of Invernessian veteran Andy Horne.
JM