Beautiful
weather and perfect forest roads greeted the 100 competitors in the Granite
City Rally. The day started with two sealed surface spectator special stages
in
Aberdeen city centre before the crews headed off to the remaining stages in
the forests south of the city.
A fine 2nd in Class 5 of the Scottish Rally Championship, following on from
two wins on the trot, means that Bothwell teenager, Alick Kerr (18), maintains
his lead after the third rally of the season. The Leaker Direct and Bags Online
backed Peugeot 205 crew of Kerr and Tom Hynd (Inverbervie) are also leading
the Ecosse 205 1.9 Challenge after 3 rounds of the 9 series championship.
The
day started well enough through the short spectator special and the crew reported
no problems at the end of the 1st gravel stage when the came into the first
of
2 scheduled service stops after the 3rd stage.
“We were down about 20 seconds over the first three stages but we couldn’t
pin point the problem,” explained Kerr, “The car felt fine but the
times just weren’t there.” Times on the remaining 4 stages were similar.
Post event diagnosis found a faulty fuel pressure regulator and 3 cracked spark
plugs. “We’re very happy at finding the issue so quickly,” said
Kerr, “We reckon the car was under fuelling all day leading to an overall
drop in performance.”
Despite their problems, the crew were delighted with the result. “We
only dropped a few places in the overall standings so our championship hopes
are still on track,” said Tom Hynd, Kerr’s long standing co-driver,
“The car will be back in top shape for the next rally.”
The
Scottish Rally Championship and the Ecosse 205 Challenge both roll into Duns
for the Jim Clark Rally in on 27th May and Kerr will be hoping to perform well
on the sealed surface closed roads. “I’m really looking forward to
the Jim Clark though we’ll be in the backyard of some of the championship
toprunners,” said Kerr, “Obviously local knowledge will be a big advantage
for them but we’ll be giving it a real go on the day.”
Further information on the team: www.alickkerr.com
Photograph Copyright first Colin Smith: www.ecossepix.co.uk
