Tony Lynch has closed the gap on Swift Sport Rallycross Championship leader Johny Bean despite a challenging weekend of competition at Lydden Hill.The Lucas Oil Team Geriatric driver went into the weekend trailing Bean by seven points and was eager to fight for a second victory of the campaign in order to try and move himself to the head of the points standings.However, it would turn out to be a far from straightforward weekend after Lynch was excluded from the results of the opening heat on Sunday following an incident behind him on track, with stewards deeming that he had been at fault for the accident after closing the door on Bean as he tried to make a move for position.With the exclusion carrying a points penalty, Tony was left with no option but to appeal against the decisionwith his appeal being heard on Monday morning while the final two heats were taking place.Despite his focus being very much on what was happening off track, Tony was able to secure his place in the final, with his appeal into the exclusion ultimately being successful.A challenging weekend drew to a close with a fifth place finish in the final and while that allowed event winner Chris Mullen to move ahead of Tony in the standings, he has closed to within five points of Bean who could only finish two places further back in seventh.Tony will now hope for a more trouble free weekend when the series heads to the Pembrey circuit in Wales for the penultimate event in early October.Ive always gone well at Lydden Hill in the past and had high hopes of fighting for victory, but it turned out to be arguably the most difficult meeting weve had this season, Tony said. In the first heat, there was an incident just behind me that was investigated by the stewards and from the footage they had, it appeares that I had moved over on Johny and when the results were published, Id been given a no time.Although my rear-facing camera in the car showed I hadnt been at fault, I could have accepted that, but on Sunday evening, I was then excluded from the heat. That would have meant points on my racing licence and a points penalty in the championship, which I cant afford if I want to win the title.I had no option to appeal but it took up a lot of time on Monday morning and it did affect me in the remaining heats as my focus wasnt completely on the job. The boys did a great job with the car as I just had to leave them to get on with things, and thankfully the appeal against the exclusion was successful. Even though fifth in the final wasnt the result I was aiming for, weve taken points off Johny, which is important in the title race.Chris has managed to get ahead but there are only five points between us all and with two rounds to go, Im now more determined that Ive ever been to get back into the points lead.