Tony Lynch was left to rue a weekend of bad luck when the Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship made the trip to mainland Europe for the fourth round of the season at the Belgian circuit of Maasmechelen.Tony went into the latest round of the Suzuki Swift Sport Rallycross knowing that a maximum score would give him the championship lead at the half way stage of the season, but instead a weekend devoid of luck left Tony and Team Geriatric with plenty of work to do before racing resumes at Lydden Hill at the end of August.The weekend didn’t start well for Tony when the service van towing his Suzuki Swift to Maasmechelen broke down just 25 miles away from the circuit.. Luckily, assistance from rival teams in the paddock enabled Tony and his team to tow the van to the circuit where repairs were carried out.With the event running to different rules compared to those on British shores, with the finishing positions of each qualifying heat deciding the starting position for those that follow, a strong performance in the opening heat was vital but Tony was in the wars when he was hit by rival Richard Norman shortly after making a move for position. Pushed off line as a result, Tony dropped back to sixth at the finish. Another incident with Norman, where Tony was forced into the barrier while running side-by-side, resulted in another tough race in heat two, leaving Tony needing a strong result in the final heat.Victory in that heat ensured pole position for the B Final, with the earlier disappointments meaning Tony failed to qualify for the main final at the first attempt. A start-to-finish victory secured his place on the back of the grid for the final but when Chris Mullen got out of shape on the opening lap avoiding an incident ahead, Tony was left with nowhere to go and was forced to retire after colliding with Mullen’s car.Having been classified in eighth place, Tony has now dropped to third in the championship standings with defending champion Dave Bellerby now 17 points ahead after he clinched his second successive victory of the year.“I thought I’d used up all my bad luck in Belgium last year, but obviously that wasn’t the case,” Tony said. “After a strong weekend at Mondello Park, I was confident we could get a good result for the championship at Maasmechelen but we were on the back foot from the moment I got hit in the first heat.“The boys did a great job to repair the damage to my car after the second heat and I had to really push in heat three and the B final to secure my place in the main event, but then I had nowhere to go when Chris got caught up trying to avoid someone else. I simply couldn’t avoid him and it was an unfortunate incident that has left us both with a lot of work to do before Lydden.“I’m disappointed because my championship hopes have taken a big hit this weekend, but I won’t stop fighting to close the gap to Dave through the second half of the season. “If there is a plus to take away from the weekend, then it was the way in which rival teams helped to get the service van to the circuit after our problems en-route and I have to thank them all for their assistance.”  BELGIAN LUCKFor Immediate Release – 15 July 2011Westhoughton-based racer LYNCH RUES BELGIAN LUCKFor Immediate Release – 15 July 2011Westhoughton-based racer Tony Lynch was left to rue a weekend of bad luck when the Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship made the trip to mainland Europe for the fourth round of the season at the Belgian circuit of Maasmechelen.Tony went into the latest round of the Suzuki Swift Sport Rallycross knowing that a maximum score would give him the championship lead at the half way stage of the season, but instead a weekend devoid of luck left Tony and Team Geriatric with plenty of work to do before racing resumes at Lydden Hill at the end of August.The weekend didn’t start well for Tony when the service van towing his Suzuki Swift to Maasmechelen broke down just 25 miles away from the circuit.. Luckily, assistance from rival teams in the paddock enabled Tony and his team to tow the van to the circuit where repairs were carried out.With the event running to different rules compared to those on British shores, with the finishing positions of each qualifying heat deciding the starting position for those that follow, a strong performance in the opening heat was vital but Tony was in the wars when he was hit by rival Richard Norman shortly after making a move for position. Pushed off line as a result, Tony dropped back to sixth at the finish. Another incident with Norman, where Tony was forced into the barrier while running side-by-side, resulted in another tough race in heat two, leaving Tony needing a strong result in the final heat.Victory in that heat ensured pole position for the B Final, with the earlier disappointments meaning Tony failed to qualify for the main final at the first attempt. A start-to-finish victory secured his place on the back of the grid for the final but when Chris Mullen got out of shape on the opening lap avoiding an incident ahead, Tony was left with nowhere to go and was forced to retire after colliding with Mullen’s car.Having been classified in eighth place, Tony has now dropped to third in the championship standings with defending champion Dave Bellerby now 17 points ahead after he clinched his second successive victory of the year.“I thought I’d used up all my bad luck in Belgium last year, but obviously that wasn’t the case,” Tony said. “After a strong weekend at Mondello Park, I was confident we could get a good result for the championship at Maasmechelen but we were on the back foot from the moment I got hit in the first heat.“The boys did a great job to repair the damage to my car after the second heat and I had to really push in heat three and the B final to secure my place in the main event, but then I had nowhere to go when Chris got caught up trying to avoid someone else. I simply couldn’t avoid him and it was an unfortunate incident that has left us both with a lot of work to do before Lydden.“I’m disappointed because my championship hopes have taken a big hit this weekend, but I won’t stop fighting to close the gap to Dave through the second half of the season. “If there is a plus to take away from the weekend, then it was the way in which rival teams helped to get the service van to the circuit after our problems en-route and I have to thank them all for their assistance.”   was left to rue a weekend of bad luck when the Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship made the trip to mainland Europe for the fourth round of the season at the Belgian circuit of Maasmechelen.Tony went into the latest round of the Suzuki Swift Sport Rallycross knowing that a maximum score would give him the championship lead at the half way stage of the season, but instead a weekend devoid of luck left Tony and Team Geriatric with plenty of work to do before racing resumes at Lydden Hill at the end of August.The weekend didn’t start well for Tony when the service van towing his Suzuki Swift to Maasmechelen broke down just 25 miles away from the circuit.. Luckily, assistance from rival teams in the paddock enabled Tony and his team to tow the van to the circuit where repairs were carried out.With the event running to different rules compared to those on British shores, with the finishing positions of each qualifying heat deciding the starting position for those that follow, a strong performance in the opening heat was vital but Tony was in the wars when he was hit by rival Richard Norman shortly after making a move for position. Pushed off line as a result, Tony dropped back to sixth at the finish. Another incident with Norman, where Tony was forced into the barrier while running side-by-side, resulted in another tough race in heat two, leaving Tony needing a strong result in the final heat.Victory in that heat ensured pole position for the B Final, with the earlier disappointments meaning Tony failed to qualify for the main final at the first attempt. A start-to-finish victory secured his place on the back of the grid for the final but when Chris Mullen got out of shape on the opening lap avoiding an incident ahead, Tony was left with nowhere to go and was forced to retire after colliding with Mullen’s car.Having been classified in eighth place, Tony has now dropped to third in the championship standings with defending champion Dave Bellerby now 17 points ahead after he clinched his second successive victory of the year.“I thought I’d used up all my bad luck in Belgium last year, but obviously that wasn’t the case,” Tony said. “After a strong weekend at Mondello Park, I was confident we could get a good result for the championship at Maasmechelen but we were on the back foot from the moment I got hit in the first heat.“The boys did a great job to repair the damage to my car after the second heat and I had to really push in heat three and the B final to secure my place in the main event, but then I had nowhere to go when Chris got caught up trying to avoid someone else. I simply couldn’t avoid him and it was an unfortunate incident that has left us both with a lot of work to do before Lydden.“I’m disappointed because my championship hopes have taken a big hit this weekend, but I won’t stop fighting to close the gap to Dave through the second half of the season. “If there is a plus to take away from the weekend, then it was the way in which rival teams helped to get the service van to the circuit after our problems en-route and I have to thank them all for their assistance.”