FOUR hundred miles to the north of Silverstone, far removed from the
hype and glamour of Formula 1, the Scots were remembering one of their
most favoured sons in traditional fashion.
The good folk of Duns had closed off the road in Newtown Street for
the start of the annual Jim Clark Memorial Rally. More than a hundred
cars and crews packed the street for this sixth round of the Burmah
Scottish Rally Championship.
It was perhaps fitting that a local Duns man won this event, Michael
Horne and co-driver Monty Pearson scoring their first national
championship victory. This led to an emotional scene at the rally finish
in Kelso, where the realisation that they had finally achieved one of
their personal goals started to sink in.
It had been a fierce battle from the start. Gordon Boyd set the pace
until he crashed out on the fourth stage, but gone already was Chris
Wagner. The previous Burmah round winner had gone out on the opening
stage.
Going into the final stage, Horne had three seconds in hand over near
neighbour and long-time rival, Dom Buckley, but, with the scent of
victory tantalising his nostrils, Horne rose to the challenge. Over the
final nine-mile high-speed blast in the Kielder forest stage, Horne took
another five seconds out of Buckley.
Others were in trouble too. Five times British champion, Jim McRae
broke his gearbox and yet, despite only having third and fifth gears,
managed to finish in fifth place overall.
George Gauld suffered two simultaneous rear punctures, Neale Dougan
had one while also hitting a tree, and Gordon Smith sheepishly admitted
to sliding well off the road just when he thought he was home and dry.
Fortunately, the sheer strength of co-driver Ian MacIvor pushed the
stranded car back on to the track.
It was enough to salvage eighth place, but more importantly, Smith now
leads the national championship in place of the absent Donald Milne but
it looks a tenuous lead. Horne's win, Dougan's third place, and Gauld's
sixth merely have sharpened the battle for outright victory. Results:
1, M Horne/M Pearson (Ford Sierra Cosworth) 52min. 31sec.; 2, D
Buckley/D Redpath (Mitsubishi Lancer) 52-39; 3, N Dougan/S Merry (Ford
Escort Cosworth) 52-41; 4, K Dorans/G Baillie (Ford Escort Cosworth)
53-10; 5, J McRae/B Wilson (Ford Escort Cosworth) 53-14; 6, G Gauld/R
Campbell (Ford Escort Cosworth) 53-30; 7, P Vassallo/A Cathers (Ford
Escort Cosworth) 53-50; 8, G Smith/I MacIvor (Ford Escort Cosworth)
54-00; 9, D Jaffray/A McGowan (Ford Sierra Cosworth) 54-20; 10, A
Dickson/G Bisset (Ford Escort RS) 55-19.
* THE British Touring Car and Formula 3 Championship races supporting
the British Grand Prix at Silverstone yesterday did not provide much
luck for Scots drivers John Cleland and Dario Franchitti.
Cleland, driving a Vauxhall Cavalier in the closely fought touring car
round, only got as far as the first corner when he was an innocent
victim as a collision between former Grand Prix driver Julian Bailey's
Toyota and Alain Menu's Renault triggered off a multi car accident
causing the race to be stopped. Cleland's car was among those involved
and was too badly damaged to take the restart.
The race, reduced to 12 laps, saw a tremendous battle between German
driver Jo Winkelhock's BMW and Italian Gabriele Tarquini's Alfa Romeo,
with Winkelhock claiming his first victory of the year after a thrilling
battle.
The Herald-backed Dario Franchitti was defeated by fuel problems after
having held on to third place.
Franchitti's engine faltered on the very last lap and he was passed by
three cars leaving him to take sixth place in his Dallara. The race was
won by Belgian Vincent Radermecker in a similar Dallara.
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