Tony Lynch enjoyed his best weekend of the season when the BTRDA Rallycross Championship headed for Croft for the latest round of the year.
Westhoughton-based Tony made the trip across the Pennines eager to see what impact the latest revisions to his Lucas Oil Team Geriatric MINI Cooper S would have on his on-track performance in the competitive Super Modified class.
With more power under the bonnet and improvements made to the already impressive handling of the car, Tony headed into race day in optimistic mood and it was clear from the outset that the MINI had been transformed compared to its last race outing back in August.
With a damp track making conditions tricky, Tony secured his best qualifying result of the year so far - taking two top three finishes in the three heats to earn a place on the front row of the grid for the Final.
A blistering start saw Tony move into the lead of the race before an incident elsewhere saw the red flag go out, with the cars then lining up again on the grid for a restart.
Caught in the hustle and bustle in the pack, Tony slipped to fifth spot on the opening lap but fought back to cross the line in fourth place.
The first car home amongst those drivers running cars in the 2100cc + Class, Tony now heads the championship standings and sits second amongst the entire Super Modified field.
Despite missing the opening round, he also lies fifth in the overall Clubmans Rallycross Championship, which encompasses drivers from every class.
“The additional power we managed to find from the engine and the revisions to the handling meant the car was transformed this weekend,” Tony said. "We made massive progress, and while the conditions helped to level the playing field a bit, the performance on track was by far the most competitive we have had this season.
"To qualify on the front row for the first time and to produce such a strong showing in the final is really encouraging and shows we are on the right track - especially as we are still only scratching the surface when it comes to the performance of the car.
“The boys have done a fantastic job in recent months on the car and it’s reflected in the fact that we now find ourselves right in contention at the top of the points despite missing the first round. That isn’t something we expected when we made the move into the Super Modified class and I think we are doing a good job to be punching above our weight with a car that we are still working hard to develop.
"While the car was performing the best it ever has on the new AVO shock absorbers and it handled like a dream, that is something we are looking to refine even more. There is also more power to come from the engine and some weight to come out of the car, so hopefully we can improve again when we go to Blyton for the final round of the year."
