Champion comes through
Reigning champion Dermot Carnegie survived a fraught day in round three of the MSA British Rallycross Championship at Lydden (Monday April 12) to take his second event win of the year.
Ultimately able to move ahead of championship points leader Lawrence Gibson at the start of the Superfinal and then maintain a useful advantage to the end, Carnegie (Dublin) had suffered a host of mechanical problems in his Ford Focus Supercar earlier in the day.
Surviving a faulty crankshaft sensor, fuelling problems and, in the third heats, a loss of front-wheel drive, Carnegie moved up from seventh on the Supercar A Final grid to finish second and earn a front row start for the Superfinal.The A Final brought about the demise of Lydden heroes Will Gollop and Pat Doran. Gollop (Canterbury) started second on the grid and led the A Final before the engine in his Ford Focus failed in the third lap.
Doran (Maidstone) was in trouble from the first lap of the A Final after the gearlever in his Ford RS200 snapped off. Struggling on, Doran's run was eventually ended in the third lap when the clutch failed.
Gibson (Banbridge) was the beneficiary of Gollop's early exit, inheriting the lead of the A Final and then starting the Superfinal from pole position.
Carnegie had the measure of Gibson throughout the Superfinal, and the pair ran clear of John McCluskey (Dublin) who got his best finish of the year to date with third place.
The failings of some of the big names provided an opportunity for others to climb up the results and making the most of that at Lydden were Steve Mundy (Ludlow) and Andy Grant (Barnstaple) who took fourth and fifth places respectively in their first appearance of the year.
Mike Turpin (Hereford) had to work hard to find a way past Mike Sellar (Maidstone) and win the SuperModified A Final. Turpin was then embroiled in a battle for position in the Superfinal where, after four laps of frantic effort, he managed to find a way around Mike Howlin (Haverfordwest) and take sixth place overall.
Howlin completed the race in seventh, just ahead of Allan Tapscott (Umberleigh) who had his best result in more than a year.
Superfinal (5.5 laps) 1 Dermot Carnegie (Ford Focus)4m08.82s; 2 Lawrence Gibson (MG Metro 6R4) 4m09.22s; 3 John McCluskey (Peugeot 306) 4m10.19s; 4 Steve Mundy (Ford Focus) 4m17.10s; 5 Andy Grant (Ford Escort) 4m23.74s; 6 Mike Turpin (Vauxhall Nova) 4m37.33s; 7 Mike Howlin (Ford Fiesta) 4m40.03s; 8 Allan Tapscott (Vauxhall Nova) 4m45.30s. Championship 1 Gibson 285; 2 McCluskey 208; 3 Carnegie 200
BRDA Rallycross ChampionshipThe concurrent BRDA Championship has a tie for the overall lead as Stock Hatch and Minicross class leaders Adrian Horsley and John Binks each continued their unbeaten run at Lydden.
Horlsey (Redcar) took his third straight win in the Yokohama-backed Stock Hatch class after qualifying his Citroen Saxo VTR in pole position and then leading the A Final from start to finish. The closest challenge to Horsley came from Rodney Green (Bromley) who beat off all the other championship regulars to challenge championship favourite Horsley.
The Yokohama-Minicross pack were closer to Binks (Gosforth) here than in rounds one and two, but were unable to stop the championship leader completing a hat trick of event wins. Son and father team Danny and Ralph Budd led the chase of Binks while Martin Yates (Chelmsford) and Matt Roach (Thundersley) also joined the chasing pack which was covered by just 0.52s at the chequered flag.
A Finals (all 4.5 laps)Supercar 1 Gibson 3m31.50s; 2 Carnegie 3m34.97s; 3 McCluskey 3m41.31s; 4 Mundy 3m42.83s; 5 Grant 3m44.00s; 6 Kevin McCann (Subaru Impreza) 3m58.74s; 7 Will Gollop (Ford Focus) 2 laps; 8 Pat Doran (Ford RS200) 2 laps. Championship 1 Gibson 285; 2 McCluskey 265; 3 Gollop 250.
SuperModified in association with K&N Filters 1 Turpin 3m44.33s; 2 Tapscott 3m56.37s; 3 Mark Watson (Ford Focus) 3m57.83s; 4 Howlin 3m58.56s; 5 Peter Michels (Seat Ibiza0 4m07.27s; 6 Chris Bellamy (Peugeot 206) 4m12.91s; 7 Mike Sellar (Renault Clio V6) 4m27.73s; 8 John Collins (Vauxhall Tigra) DNS. Championship 1 Tapscott 215; 2 Phil Collard (Ford Sport Ka) 179; 3 Sellar 178.
Stock Hatch in association with Yokohama 1 Adrian Horsley (Citroen Saxo VTR) 4m01.36s; 2 Rodney Green (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m02.51s; 3 Simon White (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m07.17s; 4 Kirk Twyman (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m10.31s; 5 Julian Godfrey (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m11.99s; 6 Chris Cake (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m42.24s; 7 Paul Haigh (Ford Fiesta XR2) 2 laps; 8 Grant Rees (Suzuki Swift GTi) DNS. Championship 1 Horsley 300; 2 Godfrey 265; 3 Rees 230.
Minicross in association with Yokohama 1 John Binks 4m11.02s; 2 Danny Budd 4m13.14s; 3 Ralph Budd 4m13.16s; 4 Martin Yates 4m13.17s; 5 Matt Roach 4m13.66s; 6 Tristam Barden 4m18.63s; 7 John Thacker 4m18.93s; 8 Shelley Wakeling 4m20.96s. Championship 1 Binks 300; 2 Roach 270; 3 Yates 255.
Junior Rallycross ChampionshipWith 20 starters the Junior championship was at its biggest yet and got a new winner, the third in as many events, as Jonny Greer completed his dominance of the day by taking his first A Final win.
Greer (Belfast) set fastest time in each of the three qualifying heats and led the Final from lights to flag to win in the most decisive fashion.
Joe Powis (Hereford) climbed up from fifth on the grid to take second place, ahead of Ash Davies (Cwmbran) who started third, slipped back to fifth but fought back strongly to finish third and now shares the championship lead with Greer.
Jason Pritchard (Builth Wells) qualified second but lost out in the Final where he slipped back to fourth place while Andrew Jordan (Sutton Coldfield) gained one place on his qualifying position, finishing fifth even though his car had been slowed by a puncture in the late stages of the race.
A Final (4.5 laps) Junior Rallycross in association with Yokohama1 Jonny Greer 4m20.80s; 2 Joe Powis 4m25.97s; 3 Ash Davies 4m26.22s; 4 Jason Pricthard 4m29.54s; 5 Andrew Jordan 4m29.67s; 6 Luke Sparrow 4m29.81s; 7 Jonny Block 4m49.97s; 8 Ashley Simpson 4m33.75s.Championship 1= Davies & Greer 285; 3 Jordan 245
Next round Knockhill May 30.
