Scotland’s most talented young rally star, 22-year-old David Bogie, took another major step towards the successful defence of his Hankook Scottish Rally Championship when he won the Speyside Stages Rally for a third successive year.
Bogie, driving his Mitsubishi Evo IX, dominated the Elgin-based 44-mile event clocking fastest times in five of the six forest stages as he backed off to win by 50-seconds from the Subaru of Jock Armstrong (Castle Douglas).
Former champ Andy Horne, who last won the Speyside in 1998, was fastest through the opening two spectator-special tarmac stages in Cooper Park and began the penultimate stage just 23s behind Bogie.
But the Invernessian veteran, who entered the weekend just five points adrift of the youngster, crashed his DAMS out midway through the 14-miler at Clashindarroch and allow Bogie to cruise through the final test, the 4.8-miler at Whiteash.
“This was just one of these days where everything worked perfectly,” Bogie said before returning to Elgin for the winners’ champagne ceremony. “The car ran flawlessly today and, to be honest, I can’t think of anything that didn’t go right.
“We just set ourselves a pace right from the start and stuck to it. We were pretty comfortable going into Clashindarroch, but once Andy crashed then that took all the pressure off us for the final stage.
“It’s great to become the first driver to win the Speyside three times in a row. But though that’s my fourth maximum points haul in six rounds, I’m still not taking anything for granted.”
Bogie, who now leads Bothwell’s Alick Kerr — who finished third in his Subaru — by 16 points, heads to his home event in Newton Stewart next month knowing another win will all but guarantee him back-to-back Scottish Championships.
JM