Jack grabs first place at Golspie after wiring problems in J1000 rally
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Caithness teenager Jack Ryan had contrasting fortunes at Arbroath and Golspie in an eventful weekend of motorsport action.
Jack and his navigator Robin Nicolson were among 13 Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge crews in the Memorial Garden Stages Junior Rally at RM Condor, round six of the 2022 season.
Jack (16), from Castletown, and Robin have made a habit of grabbing podiums from behind after steady starts in the Volkswagen Up. However, it didn't work out on the mixture of sealed and loose surfaces at RM Condor on Saturday, September 24, as the pair endured one of those character-building days all rally teams have on occasion.
Suffering with blown fuses and melted wires behind the dash from stage two onwards, they were indebted to Simon Perkins in service who helped sort the wiring and get them back out for the final loop. Pushing hard to try and set some good times, they slid wide and ended up beached on the sump guard just metres from the stage.
This hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm and the car will be sorted for the next round as they try and keep their J1000 title hopes alive.
They drove back up to Golspie for karting on Sunday in the fifth round of the MSUK championship. It was Jack's last race in juniors and he went out with a bang.
In heat one he started in pole position and finished first, but was given a 10-second penalty for overtaking on a blue flag. In heats two and three he started third and finished first in each case.
Jack started in pole in the final and didn’t put a foot wrong, taking first place. He won the club and the open championship for juniors at Golspie.
The Memorial Garden Stages Junior Rally saw a fifth win of the season for Sam Pattison and co-driver Paul Whittaker, with Kalum Graffin and Josh McErlean having to settle for second place.
Next up for the juniors will be the open spaces of Crail at the beginning of November.
