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THE
EUROCABLES AND EXCEL
Metro 6R4 of Denis Biggerstaff and Robin McCandless
emerged victorious at the fourth running of the
UK Rally Challenge in Scotland.
Based
at Knockhill Race Circuit, Denis and Robin were
up against some tough opposition including no
less than 14 of the all conquering Subarus. With
Kenny McKinstry, Barry Johnson and Raymond Munro
in WRC versions, Denis knew he was going to have
a tough battle with the state-of-the-art machinery.
Nonetheless, the Kinallen rally ace wasn’t
deterred and he went on to emerge victorious by
11 seconds:
“On
stage one Kenny was quickest and we were third
but on stage two we really got going. We had a
good run and we were quickest or joint quickest
on stages two, three, four, five and six!”
It
was a fantastic display of driving skill and onlookers
realised that the Millers Oils 6R4, which is 20
years old next year, can still mix it with modern
day rally cars. With two stages remaining, Denis
was leading the event by 13 seconds from the Impreza
WRC of Kenny McKinstry. However, the event was
far from over and Denis thought he had lost the
lead on the following stage:
“On
stage seven we relaxed a little bit and made a
few mistakes. We spun, she was jumping out of
fourth gear and I think we took the wrong road
at one point. We thought we had lost the lead
but Kenny, who was second at that point, made
a bigger mistake than us! I think he stalled her
at a hairpin on the handbrake and couldn’t
get her started so he was further behind. That
let Raymond Munro into second but we were still
going into stage eight with a 13 second lead.”
With
one stage remaining, Denis looked set to take
his first victory in just over a year. Problems
with the 6R4 have hindered his progress in recent
events but she was on song for the Scottish event,
and so was Denis!
“On
the last stage we decided not to try to do too
much because we knew they wouldn’t take
13 seconds off us. We ended up third quickest
and won by 11 seconds. I was just happy that the
Metro won with nine Subarus behind it!”
Denis
and Robin were ecstatic after winning the event
and the success has done wonders for Denis’
confidence after such a lacklustre year. The Kinallen
man is now looking forward to this weekend’s
Lurgan Park Rally. It is an event which he came
close to winning in 1998 but he his playing down
his chances of taking the spoils this year:
“I
don’t think we have as good a chance to
win the event as some of the Subarus. They do
have the edge so it’s going to be 100% driving
and 100% professional. If we can do the times
early on and if it doesn’t rain then I think
we will have a small chance but I’ll not
be going out thinking I can win it."
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