The PJ Planthire and Groundworks Junior Charterhall Stages Rally on 31st March will go down as the date that Junior rallying came to Scotland in the form of the Brick & Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge. 10 young drivers aged from 14 to 16 from Scotland and the North of England climbed into their 1000cc rally cars and, accompanied by their more senior co-drivers, drove up to face the first of 6 miles of frantic driving around the old Charterhall airbase where Jim Clark had developed his driving skills back in 1957/8.
5-4-3-2-1 – Go and 10 rally careers were under way after 12 to 18 months of preparation.
After 6 stages it was 14 year old Alexander Vassallo (14) from Corbridge in Northumberland who recorded victory on this the first of 6 rallies that the youngsters will compete in during 2012. Alexander’s pace in his Citroen C1 was startling and he quickly moved up from 6th Junior car on the road to first and finished the day almost 5 minutes ahead of his nearest rival. The Juniors compete on their own rally which runs side by side with a rally for “seniors”. If Alexander had been in the “senior’s” rally, he would have been placed 31st out of 65 starters. A magnificent result. This was Alexander’s second rally.
But the other 9 crews had a very valid excuse. None of them had ever driven over 40mph in their rally cars and had never experienced anything above 3rd gear. They were all pure first time novices. Everything was new. To slow cars down on the very long runway straights of old aerodromes, the organisers erect barriers called chicanes. These youngsters found themselves approaching the first chicane made up of large tyres at about 70mph on a damp track with their co-drivers shouting “100 metres – chicane – left – right”. The fact that all but one negotiated all the chicanes safely says a huge amount for their car control and courage. Only one driver had a “big moment”. Georgia Shiels – one of our 2 lady drivers – left her moment until she was passing where a large crowd – including her Mum and Dad – were standing watching. She took a good line in and when she applied the brakes, everything locked up for a second and sent the car heading for the tyres making up the chicane - instead of the opening. End product was that the car mounted the tyres and was beached. Help was soon on the scene and several burly Borderers lifted the car back on to the track and sent her on her way with a big cheer.
Over the day more youngsters had their moments but they all finished safely apart from 2. One went out with damaged suspension after hitting a big rut and the other had to retire when his clutch expired.
But there was a ding dong battle at the front of the “novices” between Michael ****ie (14) from Banchory and Harry Marchbank (15) from Thornhill, Dumfries. They were separated by seconds over the first 4 stages but Harry managed to ease a 2 second lead out on the 5th stage. The 6th and final stage saw the 2 youngsters give it their all and they stopped the clocks on exactly the same time. So Harry was second from Michael in third by 2 seconds. This was nail biting excitement for the parents, service crews and organisers. But the boys were applauded and delighted.
The full Junior results were:
1. Alexander Vassallo (14) from Corebridge Northumberland and Howard Patterson 47mins51secs
2. Harry Marchbank (15) from Thornhill, Dumfries and Mark McCulloch from Newton Stewart 52mins43secs
3. Michael ****ie (14) from Durris, Banchory and Euan Duncan from Aberdeen 52mins45secs
4. Andy Struthers (14) from Carnwarth and Malcolm Robertson from Edinburgh 53mins27secs
5. Blair Brown (16) from Powmill and Monty Pearson from Duns 54mins29secs
6. Scott Murray (14) from Inverurie and Craig Wallace from Kirriemuir 55mins32secs
7. Linzi Henderson (16) from Lanark and Tracey Louise Muir from Mintlaw 55mins32secs
8. Georgia Shiels (16) from Preston and Phil Sandham from Carnforth 61mins40secs
Retired
Alex Adams (16) from Kilbarchan, Paisley and Pete Weall from Lenzie - No clutch
Stephen McClory (15) from Coatbridge and Steve Turnbull from Dunfermline – Damaged suspension
Other rounds of the 2012 Brick & Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge are:
Round 2
D&W Brown (Mull) Junior Stages, Ingliston (near Edinburgh) – 5th May 2012.
Round 3
Junior Summer Crail Rally (Crail, East Fife)– 16th June 2012.
Round 4
AlBar Junior Kames, Kames (near Ayr) – 15th July 2012.
Round 5
Solway Coast Junior Rally, Kirkcudbright – 12th August 2012
Round 6
Kames Junior Rally – 15/16th September 2012.






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