Alick Kerr – Jim Clark Reivers Rally

Lanarkshire teenager Alick Kerr (19) is preparing for his first asphalt outing of the year as he looks to keep up the challenge for the Scottish Rally Championship Junior title. Kerr and Aberdeenshire co-driver Drew Sturrock (18) will take their Leaker Direct Rangemaster Fiesta ST to the Scottish Borders this coming weekend for the Jim Clark Reivers Rally, where they will tackle the country lanes around Kelso in the internationally renowned event.

On the back of a solid outing on last month’s Granite City Rally that saw Alick and Drew move into the lead in the Scottish Junior title race as well as getting some reliability back into the car after a difficult start to 2008, the young crew are hoping to build on their success as the Scottish season approaches its midpoint.

'The aim is obviously to go for the class win and the Junior win. I usually go well on tar, so hopefully we can push harder,' explains Bothwell-based Kerr, who earned a hard-fought finish on the Reivers last year despite having no clutch for much of the day. 'The stages the rally will use this year are good – I’ve done most of them before, and I’m glad they’ve put the stages in the north back into the Reivers because they are much more fast and free-flowing.'

The change in the Scottish championship calendar from gravel to tar after three rounds usually throws up a few surprises and catches a few drivers out, but Alick reckons he will be able to cope with the change of surface as he takes the ex-Fiesta Sporting Trophy winning car out on the black stuff in anger for the first time.

'I did the Tour of Mull in a Ford Fiesta last year. Admittedly it was a different car, though, and the steering wheel was on the other side!' recounts the foundry engineer. 'There isn’t too much we have to change to get the car ready for tarmac, though. The front springs, dampers and brakes will be changed round for tar, but the car I used on Mull last year had the same rear suspension setup as the one I’ll be using on the Clark.'

Running parallel to the main Jim Clark Rally, which plays host to the Irish Tarmac and British Rally Championships, the Jim Clark Reivers crews are in action on Sunday, 25th May. With some of Britain and Ireland’s top competitors in attendance, the Reivers offers an excellent opportunity for the Scottish crews to rub shoulders with the country’s leading drivers. For Alick Kerr and Drew Sturrock, however, the aim will be to head away from the Borders on Sunday night with a consolidated lead in the Scottish Junior series and a good haul of class points in the highly-competitive two-wheel drive battles.

Further information on the team can be found at http://www.alickkerr.com