EASTER proved to be a scorcher of a bank holiday weekend for Scottish motorsport.
Firstly, rally crews battled it out in unseasonably hot weather on Saturday in the Speyside Stages. Then Sunday saw a record number of entries for the first round of Super Lap Scotland at Knockhill Racing Circuit, with more than 50 cars competing.
On the dusty Morayshire stages, Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton made it two wins out of two in the Scottish Rally Championship.
But the Ford Focus WRC05 crew, who won the opening Border Counties round, had to work hard for their victory in Speyside.
For a long while, it looked as if Skoda Fabia R5 driver David Bogie and co-pilot John Rowan were going to top the podium. But when their steering rack broke on stage eight, they had to retire, leaving Thorburn clear to take the No1 spot.
Meanwhile, Subaru Impreza duo Jock Armstrong and Cameron Fair came second, some 41 seconds behind the Focus.
They benefited both from Bogie’s mechanical failure and the crashing out fairly late on of Ford Fiesta R5 pilot Garry Pearson and co-driver Dale Bowen, who had been running third. Mitsubishi Evo VII driver Freddie Milne, with Patrick Walsh on the notes, took the final podium spot.
Victorious Thorburn said: “The car was amazing, it’s just a privilege to drive. And the stages were amazing, as they always are here.”
On Sunday, attention switched to Fife, where the heat was on for both Super Lap Scotland time-trial challenge drivers, with classes based on a power-to-weight ratio, and the Scottish BMW Compact Cup competitors.
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In the SLS, Caterham racer David Long, competing in Class A, recorded the fastest lap in the final with a time of 53.064 seconds.
That was just 0.003 seconds quicker than second-placed and Pro Class winner Colin Dorward. The 2017 King of the Hill was making his return in his heavily revised black Mitsubishi Evo.
Third place went to Class B winner Craig Nicol in his yellow and silver Caterham, who had set a blistering lap of 53.004 seconds during qualifying.
Class C victory went to Subaru Impreza racer Ian Pitman, while Ian Bonthrone took Class D honours in his BMW M3. Last year’s King of the Hill, Martin Brown, continued his winning form by topping Class E in his Impreza.
In Class F, Renault Clio driver Paul Bell narrowly beat newcomer Marc Kemp, who travelled from Lincolnshire to take part. Meanwhile, Adam Kindess won the new Class G in his distinctive pink MINI Cooper that he also races in the SMRC series.
And in the BMW races, Annie Paterson took the chequered flag in race one, with Steven Dailly earning a brace of victories in races two and three.
