Bogie refuses to rest on laurels after stretching championship lead again

The Dumfries driver, with Kevin Rae of Jedburgh navigating, claimed his third win in four British events so far by just 17.2 seconds from Greer and Welsh co-driver Dai Roberts, his fiery red Mitsubishi Evo 9 proving it had enough through more than 130 miles of twisting Berwickshire countryside against Greer's Skoda Fabia to come out on top.

And yet he wants more. Bogie and Rae are back out today in the Reivers Rally, which is a counter in the MSA Scottish Rally Championship, albeit in Bogie's father's Metro 6R4, where he again starts the top seed and aims to press his claims to a third straight Scottish title.

While the 23-year-old acknowledged he had played the right game by getting in front and doing enough to stay there, he admitted that he had had some hairy moments as brief rain showers asked some questions of the drivers. He said: "I was determined coming here to win, but it has been a very difficult weekend. The pace has been very fast and the weather has played its part, making tyre selections crucial, but overall I'm delighted to carry on the winning streak."

Greer pushed Bogie all the way, winning seven of yesterday's ten stages to roar back into contention. But the Ulsterman rued a failure to take advantage of a spin by Bogie on Friday night and open up a gap.

He said: "I think we both showed a real fighting spirit and it was a great performance from us and David and Kevin I think. I really enjoyed the rally; it was a really good event, but, yes, the lack of pace on Friday night cost us.

"The weather made it a bit of a lottery at times today as well, with it changing in a matter of minutes on some stages from dry to wet, but it was enjoyable and I had good banter with David all day."

Bogie led the rally from the fifth stage, but he pulled it out of the bag in one stage yesterday.

After spinning on stage 11, he duly posted a phenomenal time of ten minutes and 18 seconds over the next 12.45 miles around Ayton on the east coast, a time even eight seconds better than his own second run later in the day.It was a full 12 seconds faster than Greer, which is what mattered, and though Greer was more than 25 seconds quicker over the last six stages in total, so rippling great excitement through the crowds hanging around the Berwickshire fields as he gained, Bogie hung on for the win.

Top English driver Adam Gould, with Seb Marshall on the notes, said he "hit everything there was to hit", but still came through to pip Welsh pair Elvyn Evans and Andrew Edwards for third place, which helps extend Bogie's lead in the British Championship to 12 points from Evans with Greer now third four points further back.

The bad luck that has dogged top local driver Euan Thorburn from Duns and Paul Beaton from Inverness in the British Championship continued when, having fought back from last spot to sixth overall, their Mitsubishi Evo 9 suffered a throttle problem that forced their retirement on stage 12 at Eccles.

More worrying for the Borderer's camp last night was the fact that it could force him out of today's Reivers Rally, where he was hoping to re-engage the battle with Bogie that had been simmering nicely in the early stages of the internationally rally on Friday night before Thorburn hit a pothole, which cost him over four minutes. Thorburn and Beaton lie third in the Scottish Championship, but were still hoping for engine parts to throw them a lifeline ahead of today's start to launch an attack on Bogie.