Jim Clark Reivers Rally – Sunday 27th May 2007
Location: Kelso
Rain was the order of the day at the start of the Jim Clark Reivers Rally held
on the closed public roads north of the border town of Kelso. This event was
the 4th round of both the Scottish Rally Championship and the Ecosse 205 Challenge.
When the rain did eventuallystop, the crews were presented with quickly drying
roads and a rally full of incidents: The first of the 6 tarmac stages was cancelled
due to an accident and the crews were directed to the second stage where the
rally continued.
Bothwell teenager Alick Kerr (18) made it through the first 11.5-mile test
leading Class 5 for cars between 1600cc and 2000cc by 5 seconds. His Leaker
Direct and Bags Online backed 1.9 Peugeot 205 GTi was 32nd of 98 finishers through
the stage.
The 2nd test took in the notorious Swinton Crossroads where a sequence of dips
and cambers present an unusual challenge to competitors. “We approached
the crossroads cautiously,” explained Tom Hynd, Kerr’s long standing
co-driver, “I had thought we were going too slow but the car left the ground
and the rear kicked high into the air. If we’d been going any faster we’d
have had a problem controlling the car on the landing.”
Despite dropping a few seconds in the 2nd stage, Kerr arrived at the service
area leading the by 3 seconds. “We were pleasantly surprised to come into
the service area knowing we had the lead,” said Kerr, “This was always
going to be a difficult rally since we’re in the backyard of the local
border crews and to be leading at that stage of the rally was a real bonus.”
Whilst leaving service and making their way to the final 3 stages, the clutch
cable on their Peugeot 205 snapped leaving Kerr to nurse the car through the
stages and on to the Kelso finish. “We made and attempt to repair the car
going into Stage 5 but we didn’t have the time to get the job done,”
explained Kerr, “We lost a load of time and dropped down the standings
by the end of the rally. We knew that a finish was vital and we had to make
it to the end of the rally to pick up as many championship points as we could.”
Despite the problems, Kerr managed to finish 3rd in Class and 2nd in the Ecosse
205 Challenge. In doing so, he retains his series lead in both championships.
The next outing for the crew will be the Scottish Rally being held on 30th June
where the Championships move back to gravel in the Dumfries and Galloway forests.
Further information on the team can be found at www.alickkerr.com
