SCOTS RALLY ACE David Bogie returned to Dumfries today leading both the Scottish and British Rally Championships, but admitting he'll need to find extra funding of he's to maintain his bid for a historic title double.
Seven days after dominating the Snowman Rally in Inverness, the 23-year-old travelled to the south coast for the Bournemouth-based Rally Sunseeker, the opening round of the BRC.
"That, of course, means I'm going to have to find a fair bit of cash to fund the increased number of rounds, but we'll do everything we can to make sure we can push for both championships."
But after surviving a fuel scare — after a miscalculation saw him limp his Mitsubishi Evo IX back to first service on fumes — and an unscheduled excursion into a field three stages from the end, he clinched his first BRC victory.
Bogie though, while confirming he's now preparing for both the Border Counties and the Bulldog — the second rounds respectively in the SRC and BRC — knows funding will become a concern.
No one should under estimate the challenge
"The funding's in place to do one of the championships right through the season," he explained as he took a break from the long drive back to Dumfries today, "but after such a strong start to the year, it definitely looks like we'll go for both titles.
"That, of course, means I'm going to have to find a fair bit of cash to fund the increased number of rounds, but we'll do everything we can to make sure we can push for both championships."
No one should underestimate the challenge facing Bogie. Not only is he aiming to become just the second driver to claim a hat-trick of SRC crowns, having won back-to-back championships in 2009 and '10, but he would be the first Scot to lift the British Championship since Lanark's Alister McRae in 1995.
Indeed, Bogie's win in Bournemouth was the first time a Scot had won a round of the BRC since McRae won the Dumfries-based Scottish Rally in 1997.
"But boy, we had a bit of a scare"
"Yeh, being the first Scot to win a BRC event since Alister is something a wee bit special," Bogie, who again was partnered by his Hawick co-driver Kevin Rae in the Evo IX, continued. "We've had a pretty perfect couple of weekends and we're in an unbelievable position now leading the two championships."
But Bogie — who finished the 67-mile event 21.8-seconds ahead of Aberdovey's Tom Cave driving another Mitsubishi, with another Welshman, Elfyn Evans from Machynlleth, third in his Subaru Impreza — admitted it could all have gone wrong on stage nine of the 11 stages.
"It's easy to laugh now, but boy we had a bit of a scare," he laughed. "We came downhill to a right-hander and the bumper went down into a hole as we took the corner.
"The impact threw a pile of mud and crap on to the windscreen; accelerating up through fifth gear, I flicked on the wipers and the washer, but all that did was smear the windscreen even more.
"Not seeing where we were going, we ended up off the road in a field for a bit before we were able to get back on the track and negotiate the gate-opening we had to go through. It's funny now, but believe me, it wasn't at the Time."
"David was the class of the field"
After returning to Bournemouth for the presentation, Bogie attended a charity evening in aid of the Richard Burns Foundation where he received the inaugural Richard Burns Trophy for being the highest-placed Group N runner on the rally under the age of 25. The trophy, in honour of the former world rally champ who died from a brain tumour, was presented by his former co-driver, Perth's Robert Reid.
“David was the class of the field on this year’s event, despite conditions that are notoriously tricky," the Scot, now an official with motorsport's world body, the FIA, explained. "That makes him a very worthy winner of the Richard Burns Trophy.”
And Bogie — fourth in last year's RallyScotland, the penultimate round of the Intercontinental Rally Champiosnhip — was understandably delighted to have won the AWARD. "Yeh, that was really very special," he admitted. "It’s a great honour for me to claim the fantastic trophy. Richard was an inspiring example to everyone, both as a sportsman and a driver.”
Now though for Bogie, it's back to work in Dumfries before heading to Jedburgh for the Border Counties on March 19. I also suspect there will be a few phone calls being made in an effort to generate the extra funds to guarantee a full-on assault on both the Scottish and British championships.
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Jim McGill