Highlander fights back

Jul 8 2008 by Andrew Welsh

BIG County rally star Jamie Stewart told PA Sport how he almost came to grief in the latest Brick and Steel 205 Ecosse Challenge – but recovered to finish second.

Blair Atholl fencer Stewart and his Alyth co-driver Kevin Mollison were the winners of the previous Challenge round in May, but their Scottish Rally nearly came to a premature end on the first stage at Dumfries when they slid into a tight right-hand bend that had already caught out several drivers.

Fortunately, their 205 came to a halt before it left the road, and from then on the duo were right on the pace of eventual winner Euan Duncan, trading top times throughout and finishing around half a minute behind their rival.

“It was the first stage that lost it for us,” was Stewart’s verdict. “Our times weren’t too bad after that, so if the first stage had been better we would have been closer.

“We might not have beaten Euan, but we would have been closer.”

Jamie has closed the gap to the Challenge leaders to a mere eight points at the halfway stage of the season – an impressive feat considering he was forced to retire from the first round with electrical problems.

Perth lift engineer Scott Murray wasn’t far behind Stewart, coming home third with Borderer David O’Brien on the route notes.

The event didn’t go quite as smoothly as the former motocross champion had hoped, but a third-place finish kept title aspirations alive.

The result was all the more impressive considering Murray was battling gear linkage problems early on that left him with only third and fourth gears for several stages, then he picked up a puncture on the tough Ae North test.

“I enjoyed it, but we should have done better,” said the 24-year-old.

“There is still half of the season to go, though, and since the accident on the first round we’ve been consistent.

“We have to drop our two lowest scores at the end of the season anyway, so who knows what could happen.”

Pitlochry navigator Jozef Stuchlak, who partners Lanarkshire driver Graeme Schoeneville in the Saab-liveried Peugeot, had more difficulties.

After a broken driveshaft on the Border Counties Rally, overheating on the Granite City and a misfire on the Jim Clark, it was the turn of the fuel pump to give the young crew grief on the stages around Dumfries, forcing them to retire early on.

However, with the team’s service crew able to recover the car and repair it, event officials allowed Graeme and Jozef to complete the rest of the stages to gain experience behind the wheel.

The pair, who only started rallying at the beginning of 2008, are nothing if not persistent.