BORDERCHAMP

Smith and Hamill Claim HASS Drive of the Day Double On Mourne Stages Rally

David Smith and Austin Hamill won the HASS Border Championship Drive of the Day Award on the Mourne Rally on Saturday. In doing so the Monaghan crew became the first double recipients of the much sought after prize following their earlier success on their home event, the Monaghan Stages Rally in April.
Competing in a Peugeot 106, Smith and Hamill clinched the Drive of the Day Award by setting the fastest time for a Border Championship class 6 registered crew on special stage 4 of the Newry based rally. Stage 3 - Dead Man Hill - had originally been selected as the test to determine the winner of the special award, but with that stage cancelled early following a blockage, Border Championship organisers re-scheduled the challenge to the following stage, the second run over the 8.5 mile Big Gullion. A time of 8 minutes and 59 seconds was good enough for the Monaghan men to claim their second HASS Drive of the Day trophies in 2010, ahead of the Citroen Saxo of Sligo's David Leonard and Adrian Foley.
The Drive of the Day Award is presented at each of the six rounds of the 2010 HASS Border Rally Championship. Open to all registered championship competitors, a class and stage are selected at random before the start of the rally, with the winner being the fastest crew in the class on that stage to finish the rally. If the preselected stage is cancelled, the organizers can use their discretion to move either to the previous or following stages.