Once again Dermot Carnegie dug into his reserves of skill and knowledge to bring his Ford Focus into a winning position and then make the decisive move to take his fourth consecutive win in the MSA British Rallycross Championship.
Clutch and throttle problems cost Carnegie (Dublin) time in his first two qualifying heats. He won the third heat but a sudden rain shower when the cars were already on the grid meant that Carnegie was on dry weather tyres and the time was slow. A typically gritty performance in the Supercar A Final brought Carnegie up from fourth on the grid to second place where he chased home race winner Lawrence Gibson.
British championship points leader Gibson (Banbridge) qualified on pole for the Supercar A Final but only took the win after fighting his way past John Mccluskey who had taken the lead in the first lap. McCluskey (Dublin) just made it through to the Superfinal after a spin in the A Final dropped him to fifth place behind Tony Bell (Ferryhill) and Steve Mundy (Ludlow).
Carnegie had all the pieces in line when it really counted and got the drop on Gibson and Bell at the start of the Superfinal where he led from lights to flag. Gibson was second but had no real opportunity to challenge Carnegie, Mundy claimed a personal best third place with his Ford Focus, ahead of McCluskey who worked his way up from the back of the grid and pressed Mundy hard through the last lap. Bell survived a brief mid-race off to take fifth place ahead of K&N Filters SuperModified A Final winner Dave Bellerby (Northallerton) who made a sensational return to racing only ten weeks after breaking his right leg and arm in a big crash in round three of the championship.
Allan Tapscott (Umberleigh) and Mike Sellar (Sittingbourne) took seventh and eighth places, the pair having been third and second respectively to Bellerby in the SuperModified A Final.
Results: Superfinal (6 laps) 1 Dermot Carnegie (Ford Focus) 4m26.50s; 2 Lawrence Gibson (MG Metro 6R4) 4m28.00s; 3 Steve Mundy (Ford Focus) 4m34.80s; 4 John McCluskey (Peugeot 306) 4m34.94s; 5 Tony Bell (Toyota Corolla) 4m48.14s; 6 Dave Bellerby (Vauxhall Nova) 4m50.76s; 7 Allan Tapscott (Vauxhall Nova) 5m03.33s; 8 Mike Sellar (Renault Clio V6) 5m05.71s. Championship 1 Gibson 470; 2 Carnegie 400; 3 McCluskey 388.
BRDA Rallycross ChampionshipThe battle for the overall lead in the concurrent BRDA Rallycross Championship remains deadlocked after Adrian Horsley (Redcar) and John Binks (Gosforth) each took their fifth win of the year.
Yokohama Stock Hatch racer Horsley continued his unbeaten run in the competitive class, outpacing Alan Thorndyke (Southend) and Simon White (Yateley) for his fifth win in as many championship events.
Also yet to be beaten in 2004 is Yokohama Minicross points leader Binks. A non-finish in the second qualifying heat gave Binks cause for concern but a strong third heat allowed him to claim pole for the A Final in which he held the advantage over young racers Danny Budd (Aylesbury) and Matt Roach (Thundersley). Supercar racer Gibson is third in the championship points with best of the SuperModified runners being ninth placed Tapscott.
Results: A Finals (all 5 laps) Supercar 1 Gibson 4m01.58s; 2 Carnegie 4m02.04s; 3 Bell 4m06.93s; 4 Mundy 4m10.19s; 5 McCluskey4m30.16s; 6 Grant 0 laps.
SuperModified 1 Bellerby 4m22.56s; 2 Sellar 4m25.32s; 3 Tapscott 4m25.99s; 4 Mike Howlin (Ford Fiesta) 4m40.20s; 5 Chris Bellamy (Peugeot 206) 4 laps; 6 David Binks (MINI) 3 laps; 7 John Collins (Vauxhall Tigra) 3 laps; 8 Des Wheatley (Rover Metro) DNS.
Stock Hatch 1 Adrian Horsley (Citroen Saxo VTR) 4m24.40s; 2 Alan Thorndyke (Peugeot 106 XSi) 4m28.23s; 3 Simon White (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m31.11s; 4 Sean Smith (Peugeot 106 XSi) 4m31.68s; 5 Tony Bardy (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m32.17s; 6 Julian Godfrey (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m34.77s; 7 Rodney Green (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m37.52s; 8 Tony Saddington (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m51.76s.
Minicross 1 John Binks 4m30.77s; 2 Danny Budd 4m32.06s; 3 Matt Roach 4m35.60s; 4 Edward Collett 4m36.12s; 5 Ralph Budd 4m38.65s; 6 Mark Collard 4m39.75s; 7 Martin Yates 4m43.44s; 8 Shelley Wakeling 4m50.47s.BRDA Championship 1= Horsley & Binks 500; 3 Gibson 470.
Junior Rallycross ChampionshipJoe Powis (Hereford) claimed his third win of the year in the Yokohama-backed Junior championship. The Junior category again delivered some of the day's best racing and had a close battle for the A Final pole position which was won by Ashley Simpson (York). Championship leader Ash Davies (Cwmbran) started second on the grid but it was Powis, from third place who led the Final away.
Davies made a bid for the lead in the third lap but slid off the track and was quickly passed by Simpson, Jason Pritchard (Builth Wells) and Andrew Jordan (Sutton Coldfield). The incident let Powis off the hook and he raced away to record the win.
After the race Simpson and Pritchard received time penalties for passing under the yellow (caution) flag, this dropped Simpson from second to seventh place and Pritchard from fourth to sixth. The penalties elevated Jordan from second place to third, and gave Davies third ahead of Jonny Greer (Belfast) and Alick Kerr (Glasgow) who had his best run to date.
Results: (5 laps) 1 Joe Powis 4m39.30s; 2 Andrew Jordan 4m41.80s; 3 Ash Davies 4m43.29s; 4 Jonny Greer 4m43.85s; 5 Alick Kerr 4m46.60s; 6 Jason Pritchard 4m47.69s; 7 Ashley Simpson 4m50.09s; 8 Lewis Hopkins 1 lap. Championship 1 Davies 470; 2 Greer 455; 3 Jordan 430.
Next event: Pembrey July 18
