After what must have felt like an eternity for the three crews involved, the 2015 ARR Craib Scottish Rally Champions have been announced as Jock Armstrong and Paula Swinscoe, after the decision was delayed following a tribunal regarding Mike Faulkner's Jim Clark victory. The result gives Jock his first ever Scottish title. It was a season of consistency from the Castle Douglas driver, who steered his Subaru Impreza - finished in a rather nice striking orange - to victory on the opening round of the season, the Snowman Rally. Throughout the rest of the season he was frequently on the podium (often behind the dominant David Bogie in his superior R5 machinery) apart from on round 2, the Border Counties (pictured above). He put in arguably his best performance of the season on the Jim Clark in Kielder Forest, after starting with a hefty time penalty he was the quickest man on the stages to amazingly wind up on the podium! After the Speyside Stages and going into the McRae which was meant to be the final round, Armstrong was trailing Bruce McCombie, but claimed the title as the drop score rule meant Armstrong lost his worst result of 0 pts, and that was enough to propel him to championship glory. And what of Bruce McCombie? No outright victories (all but 2 were taken by 5 time champion Bogie) but a very consistent trouble free season put him at the top of the championship for most of the season. However, due to the superior finishes Armstrong had, his drop score didn't affect his total and that saw Bruce slip behind both him and Mike Faulkner in the championship table. Still a good result though! Mike Faulker and Peter Foy took second behind Jock and Paula, in their Mitsubishi Evo IX. Last season the pair got to grips with the new car, and thus this season they were much more in the groove, taking an outright victory on the Jim Clark in the man made forest complex that Mike adores. Some varied results and mixed fortune means he once again missed out on the ultimate prize, but he will be desperate to get his hands on the 2016 trophy. Given the current fragile state rallying is in in this country - which you can read about in my previous blog - nobody knows what 2016 will hold. Hopefully we will see a Bogie vs Thorburn battle once again, if Bogie decides to continue in the SRC and the latter decides to come back. Or could the best Scottish drivers head off to compete in the returning British Rally Championship? After all, three of the seven events are held in Scotland so they will have experience!
All of this remains but a mystery at the present moment, but it is nice to finally have our Champion crowned and have a difficult season drawn to a close. Let's hope that organisers can successfully run next year's events and keep as many rallies in the championship as possible!
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BRITISH RALLYINGArticles covering rally in Britain, looking at the MSA BRC Archives
September 2017
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