ARMSTRONG WINS GALLOWAY HILLS
JOCK Armstrong and Kirsty Riddick from Castle Douglas kept it in the family when they won their third Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally Championship when they raced to victory in the five-stage went based at Castle Douglas on Sunday.
For the popular December event which attracts a host of entries from Northern Ireland is sponsored by the Armstrong Family and has been since 2000.
Jock and Kirsty had a successful day out on the event which started and finished at Castle Douglas. They won the Galloway Hills in 2006, 2008 and again this year, after being fastest on all five forest stages, including stage 4 where he had a rear puncture in his Subaru Impreza and a bad start to the final stage.
Armstrong's time for the event was 40.34 minutes, almost two minutes in front of his nearest rival, Craig McMiken.
Craig McMiken and Christine Sanderson (Newton Stewart) finished second in their Mitsubishi Evo 9 in a time of 42.19m with Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Ford Escort Mk2) from Dungannon in third place, only 12 seconds adrift.
Entries this year were down, partly blamed on the economic situation and also the high cost of rallying nowadays.
But the entry from 'Across the Watter' was still strong for the event and they went home with a number of the leading awards.
Heavy overnight made conditions on some of the special stages at Gatehouse of Fleet, Dalbeattie and New Galloway difficult.
Jock said after his victory: "I really enjoyed the day and only had a few problems. We had a rear punction on the second last stage but we managed okay and then at the start of the fifth stage I was sitting revving the engine and nothing happened - because I hadn't put the car in gear.
"Other than that it was great to win the local rally and to see so many taking part."
The event was organised by the Solway, East Ayrshire and Machars Car Clubs and the presentations took place in the town hall at Castle Douglas in the late afternoon when Jock's mother, Mrs Joyce Armstrong presented the trophies and awards.
David Hughes and Bruce Harper from Dumfries (Mitsubishi Evo 9) took fourth place while Richard Dickson/Sanny Dobie from New Abbey (Subaru Impreza) finished in 7th place, four places in front of Stuart Paterson/Colin Maxwell from Collin in another Subaru.
RESULTS:
1, Jock Armstrong/Kirsty Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 40.34m; 2, Craig McMiken/Christine (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 42.19; 3, Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Ford Escort Mk2) 42.31; 4, David Hughes/Bruce Harper (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 42.38; 5, Seamus O'Connell/Sean Magee (Ford Escort); 43.37; 6, Shane McGirr/Stephen O'Hanlon (Toyota Starlet) 43.42.
Other local finishers: 7, Richard Dickson/Sanny Dobie (Subaru Impreza) 44.01; 11, Stuart Paterson/Colin Maxwell (Subaru Impreza) 46.18; 14, Lee Hastings/Brian Findon (Subaru Impreza) Collin 46.54; 16, ALister Watson/Billy Dickson (Ford Escort Mk2) Girvan 46.59; 17, Iain Haining/Mairi Riddick (Vauxhall Nova) Dumfries 47.19; James Robertson/George Myatt (Citreon C2R2) Penpont 47.54; 20, Niall Cowan/Marcel Freling (MG ZR) Dumfries 48.10; 23, Scott Murdoch/Ewan Murdoch (Ford Escort) Stranraer 49.44; 28, Ian Bendall/Richard Barber-Fleming (Vauxhall Corsa) 51.18; 32, David Rutherford/Garry Russell (Vauxhall Nova) 60.44; 34, Darren Martin/Martin Steele (Peugeot 205) 69.30.
Click picture for the full photograph
