Border Counties Rally 2026
Round 3 of the 2026 HRCR MOTOSCOPE Northern Historic Gravel Rally Championship took the registered contenders to the Border Counties Rally based in Newtown St Boswells in the Scottish Borders.
Stages in Craik (only used once), then Yair, Cardrona and Elibank all of which were used twice giving a total of just under 50miles.
Anthony Hanson took 1st Overall Northern Historic in his Vauxhall Chevette by 4 seconds from Nick Kitching/Steve Pugh in their Ford Escort Mk 2. Nick also took 1st Overall Class H8 Driver with navigator Steve taking 1st Overall Northern Historic Co-Driver as Brian Hodgson (Hanson’s navigator) was not registered for points.
Carl Stuttard/Richard Wise-Ford Escort Mk 2 took the final podium spot.
John Millington, navigating for Steve ‘Korky’ Ward in their Ford Escort Mk 2 took 1st Overall Class H8 Co-Driver. The only non finisher was David Brown-Ford Escort Mk 2 who was a late addition, having only entered on the Thursday, but unfortunately hit a deer and rolled very close to the end of the final stage with thankfully no injury to the crew.
Final Results: Rd: 3 Border Counties Rally
1st : Anthony Hanson-Vauxhall Chevette HSR 52m.55
2nd: Nick Kitching/Steve Pugh-Ford Escort Mk 2 52m.59
3rd: Carl Stuttard/Richard Wise-Ford Escort Mk 2 54m.23
4th: Douglas Menzies/Graeme Menzies-Ford Escort Mk 2 55m.36
5th: Steve ‘Korky’ Ward/John Millington-Ford Escort Mk 2 55m.38
6th: Robin Shuttleworth/Malcolm Smithson-Ford Escort Mexico 56m.04
7th: Ian Heard/Jack Amos-Ford Escort RS2000 1h.02m.20
8th: Ian Hildreth/Sarah Wetton-Ford Escort Mk 2 1h.02m.20
RTD: David Brown-Ford Escort Mk 2 Did Not Finish: Rolled-SS7
Award Winners:
1st Overall Northern Historic Driver: Anthony Hanson-Vauxhall Chevette HSR Photo: Mark Casey
1st Overall Northern Historic Co-Driver: Steve Pugh-Ford Escort Mk 2 Photo: Mark Casey
1st Overall Class H8 Driver: Nick Kitching-Ford Escort Mk 2 Photo: Mark Casey
1st Overall Class H8 Co-Driver: John Millington-Ford Escort Mk 2 Photo: Colin Smith
1st Overall Class H6: Carl Stuttard/Richard Wise-Ford Escort Mk 2 Photo: Mark Casey
The next round of the championship is the Kielder Forest Rally taking place on Saturday 18th April. A full report from the Border Counties Rally will appear in the next edition of the OldStager magazine.
