Local star aims break Irish dominance at Pembrey
Carmarthen-based Rallycross driver Mike Manning has his sights set on victory as Rallycross returns to Pembrey for the first time in three years this weekend (July 18).
Irish drivers are dominating this year's championship; defending champion Dermot Carnegie has already won four events and Ulsterman Lawrence Gibson holds the points lead.
With five of the ten events completed Gibson (Banbridge) has yet to record a win, but has been supremely consistent in taking four second and one one third place to maintain his position at the top of the points chart. Behind Gibson, Carnegie (Dublin) failed to score in round one of the championship, but has fought his way back into title contention by winning all four following events in his Ford Focus WRC. The third member of the leading trio fighting for championship honour is John McCluskey (Dublin) who recorded his best finish of the year with second place in round four at Knockhill in Scotland.
Manning has attempted to start only one event so far this year, but was prevented from racing after his car suffered a broken camshaft in practice. Having beaten Carnegie to win the Irish title last year, Manning's ability to match and beat the best is unquestioned, and with the psychological boost of racing on home ground his chances of scoring a win are very real.
"I've had some problems with the car this year but I'm confident that's all behind us now," said Manning, "I've been looking forward to the Pembrey event, I know I can win as long as the car behaves."The MSA British Rallycross Championship is open to drivers competing in the Supercar and SuperModified categories and best of the latter group is Haverfordwest-based racer Mike Howlin who has worked his way up to fourth place overall with a series of strong performances in his 2.4-litre rear-wheel drive Ford Fiesta.
BRDA Rallycross ChampionshipThe BRDA Rallycross Championship, which runs alongside the British series but which is open to drivers in all four technical categories, features a remarkable lead battle in which two drivers have completed the first five rounds without being beaten.Stock Hatch racer Adrian Horsley (Redcar) and Minicross driver John Binks (Gosforth) each have five wins from five starts and share the overall lead of the championship.Chasing Horsley's winning Citroen Saxo VTR in the Stock Hatch class are Julian Godfrey (Heathfield) and teenage star Grant Rees (Llanybydder). Stepping up to the Stock Hatch class after winning the Junior Championship in 2003, Rees (16) is emerging as a real star of the 2004 championship.Supercar class leader Gibson holds third place overall in the BRDA series while SuperModified class leader Allan Tapscott (Umberleigh) holds ninth place overall, a handful of points ahead of Rees.
Junior Rallycross ChampionshipAnother Welsh driver aiming for a strong home result is Junior Championship points leader Ash Davies (Cwmbran). Davies has finished on the podium in all five rounds of the championship this year and took the win in round two. Although he is racing on home ground, Davies' only advantage will be mental as none of the drivers in the Junior championship has ever driven on the Pembrey Rallycross track before.Davies' closest rival in the championship for drivers between 14 and 16-years-old and driving 1.0-litre Minis with a tightly controlled technical specification is Belfast's Jonny Greer. Andrew Jordan (Sutton Coldfield) holds third place and is best of the newcomers to the championship this year while fourth place is held by Jason Pritchard (Builth Wells).The most successful driver in the championship this year is Joe Powis (Hereford) who has won three events. Powis is down in fifth place in the championship standings, however, as he failed to score points in round two of the championship.
