The last ever rally at Charterhall proved to be a bit of a two-horse race with victory going to Kelso’s Dom Buckley in a Subaru Impreza, writes Sandy Brydon.
However, his victory was not assured until the very last special stage round the old airfield as he was pushed all the way by Duns driver Dale Robertson in his Mitsubishi Evo 9.
Buckley and co-driver Barry Hogg had a trouble-free run and were fastest on four of the six stages, while Robertson, co-driven by Paul McGuire, set the quickest time on the other two, but lost time on the fourth stage after becoming beached on a tractor tyre.
Going into the last two stages, Buckley led by 21 seconds, but Robertson clawed back 10 on the second last stage. The final stage saw Buckley beat Robertson by a second to secure the win.
Buckley also won the Richard Patterson Memorial Trophy for the highest-placed driver under the age of 25 and the trophy for first Border Ecosse Car Club crew.
Third place went to the MG Metro 6R4 of Steven Ronaldson and Ross Donald, who was half a minute behind Robertson.
The Duns crew of Garry Wilson, co-driven by his daughter Hollie, were competing for the first time in their newly-acquired Mitsubishi Evo and despite a problem or two they finished 11th overall.
In 13th place were Scott and Adam Russell from Lauder in their Vauxhall Corsa. They also won their class comfortably.
Reigning British Junior Rally Champion Garry Pearson, from Duns, used the event to give his new Ford Fiesta R2 a shakedown, ahead of this weekend’s opening round of the 2013 MSA British Rally Championship, and set some excellent times. The Border Rally Sport team were reasonably satisfied with the performance at the “test” although the car was on a gravel set-up and Charterhall is classed as tarmac.
Keith Meins and Richard Simmonds, in a Proton Satria finished 20th overall while Leitholm’s Doug Logan, co-driven by Johnny Miller, were 22nd overall in their Ford Escort Mk2.
The rally was also the opening round of the Brick and Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge and attracted an entry of 17 crews.
Honours went to Alexander Vassallo in his Citroen C1.