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Round four, Croft, 06.07.08 |
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Kumho Tyres MSA British Rallycross Championship
Round four, Croft, 06.07.08
The championship lead changed hands in the fourth round of the Kumho Tyres MSA British Rallycross Championship at Croft. Rallycross events more often take place outside of the summer months at Croft, but while the July date may have been unfamiliar, the weather conditions were more in line with what competitors may expect in a winter event – heavy rain making the track conditions slippery and muddy for much of the day. Untroubled by the conditions, Lawrence Gibson won the Superfinal on a day when his title rivals hit problems and moved up from fourth place to take the championship lead with three rounds remaining.
Supercar
Round three winner Steve Hill set the early pace in the event, the Mitsubishi driver fastest in the first qualifying heat. Unfortunately for Hill his car suffered engine failure in the second heat and his day was over, five bonus points for setting the class FTD being of little consolation. Andy Grant and Liam Doran also exited the event early, Grant halted by rear different failure in his Escort while Doran withdrew after a second heat crash in his RS200.
Enjoying better fortune, reigning champion Ollie O’Donovan had been second fastest to Hill in the first heat and then set fastest time in the second and third heats to secure pole for the Supercar A final. Gibson and Tommy Graham completed the front row starters and it was Gibson who led the race almost from the off. O’Donovan was second in the first lap, but soon in problems as his Peugeot 306 lost its front-wheel drive. While Gibson sailed serenely away to victory, the order behind him was constantly shuffled as drivers struggled in the conditions. Eventually it was Graham who emerged with second place ahead of david Binks and O’Donovan who nursed his car to the finish. Chris Langley had run in second place, but then slipped to fifth while Kevin McCann retired his Subaru with power steering failure and Simon Horton parked his similar car after an incident inflicted some panel damage.
Result (4 laps): 1 Gibson 3m40.838s; 2 Graham 3m55.331s; 3 Binks 4m01.143s; 4 O’Donovan 4m09.844s; 5 Langley 4m27.780s; 6 Kevin McCann (Subaru Impreza) one lap; 7 Simon Horton (Subaru Impreza) one lap.
SuperModified
In a similar pattern to the Supercar category, the fastest driver in the SuperModified class established the class FTD in the first heat, but then ran into problems later in the event. The first heat, Ben Power claimed the five bonus points for setting the fastest time, but was involved in a crash in the second heat and had to work hard to make it back to the track in time for the third heat, in which he was third fastest, enough to qualify him second for the A final. Pole position was taken by double class champion Dave Bellerby who was fastest in the second and third heats, the front row completed by James Bird.
Bellerby led the final from the start and, with the advantage of a clear track ahead of him, was able to move clear of the rest of the field. Mike Turpin moved up to run second in the first lap, but quickly displaced by Bird who then held second place to the end. When Turpin then spun in the third lap, Power was forced to take avoiding action and also lost time. Michael Boak moved into third place with Power regaining the road in fourth with Turpin finishing sixth ahead of Gareth Wood who worked hard to complete the event after losing the use of third and fourth gear in his Fiesta. Bruce Bamber qualified sixth for the final in his Honda Civic, but was a non-starter while Don Shannon was non-qualifier after finishing only one heat in his Volvo s40.
Result (4 laps): 1 Bellerby 3m57.370s; 2 Bird 4m04.783s; 3 Boak 4m13.322s; 4 Ben Power (Ford Ka) 4m13.716s; 5 Mike Turpin (Vauxhall VX220) 4m28.112s; 6 Gareth Wood (Ford Fiesta) 4m35.311s; 7 Bruce Bamber (Honda Civic) did not start.
Stock Hatch
Julian Godfrey set fastest times in the second and third qualifying heats to secure pole position for the Stock Hatch A final, but missed out on the five bonus points for the class FTD which was established by Tony Lynch in the first heat.
Lynch was second fastest to Godfrey for the rest of the day and started from the centre of the front row of the A final grid, Phil Chicken completing the order with his VW Lupo GTi.
The first attempt to start the race was halted in the first lap after Craig Brown went off the track in the first corner. Chicken had led in the first start and went ahead again in the second. Godfrey ran second until Lynch passed him part way through the first lap. Godfrey later spun and slipped to last place, although he managed to climb back to fifth place by the end of the race. Lynch tried everything to catch Chicken but ended up sliding off the track, allowing Ryan Lawford to take second place. Lynch recovered to finish third, ahead of Mike Jones. Godfrey was helped in his recovery when Tina Scott suffered a last lap spin in her Citroën C2, something that also helped Don McLeod who finished sixth. Darren Grimston and Paul Smith qualified in eighth and ninth places but neither appeared in the final.
Result (4 laps): 1 Chicken 4m05.635s; 2 Lawford 4m08.964s; 3 Tony Lynch (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m11.491s; 4 Mike Jones (Citroën Saxo VTS) 4m29.205s; 5 Julian Godfrey (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m29.515s; 6 Don McLeod (Citroën Saxo VTR) 4m36.278s; 7 Tina Scott (Citroën C2 VTS) 4m42.599s.
Superfinal
O’Donovan’s determined effort to finish the Supercar A final had been just enough to get him on to the Superfinal grid in eighth and last place, but as his team then worked hard to try and fix the car, timed ebbed away and he was denied a start after arriving at the grid too late to be admitted to the race.
Already the clear favourite for the race, Gibson was now in a position to take the championship and produced an intelligent drive from the front of the field to do just that. “It was a good day’s work,” he said afterwards. “My aim was to try and move up the points chart a bit at Croft and I certainly achieved that. It was not a matter of speed, it was day when you needed to be easy on the right foot.”
Behind Gibson, Langley and Binks emerged from the muddy race with second and third places, each achieving a personal best finish. Boak got the better of Bellerby to finish fourth and be top two-wheel drive while Chicken ended his fine day with a strong sixth place ahead of Lawford and Graham, the latter a lap down but battling to the finish in his Escort which had mechanical problems.
Result (5 laps): 1 Lawrence Gibson (MG Metro 6R4) 4m28.398s; 2 Langley 4m41.633; 3 David Binks (Mitsubishi Lancer E7) 4m50.115s; 4 Michael Boak (Audi TT) 4m52.745s; 5 Dave Bellerby (Lotus Exige) 4m54.186s; 6 Phil Chicken (VW Lupo GTi) 4m54.186s; 7 Ryan Lawford (Peugeot 205 GTi); 8 Tommy Graham (Ford Escort WRC) 4 laps.
Championship 1 Gibson 101; 2 O’Donovan 96; 3 Steve Hill (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) 78; 4 Dermot Carnegie (Ford Fiesta ST) 77; 5 Tony Lynch (Peugeot 205 GTi) 60; 6 James Bird (Renault ClioSport V6) 59.
Bill Gwynne Rallyschool Junior Rallycross Championship
The top qualifier was Conor Flynn who also claimed the five bonus points for FTD. The Derby-based youngster was unable to reproduce his form in the final however, his team having searched in vain for a problem it felt was causing a loss of power. Daniel O’Brien and Samantha Thom, the latter fastest in the second heat, shared the front row of the grid with Flynn and played the starring roles in the final.
Thom led from the start and was able to maintain a small advantage ahead of Matt Thompson until the third lap when O’Brien passed Thompson for second place and closed quickly on the leader.
What had been a good race ended in tears as O’Brien challenged for the lead in the last lap. The two front running cars made contact and both went off the track, which left the way open for Thompson to take the lead and the race win. Keifer Hudson had been fastest in the third heat and now took the chance to grab second place with Jess Gwynne moving up to third and Flynn fourth. Thom recovered to finish fifth ahead of O’Brien. The last two places were taken by championship newcomer Brad Bailey and fellow first year racer Kelly Bird.
Result (4 laps): (all Mini) 1 Matt Thompson 4m16.679s; 2 Keifer Hudson 4m17.713s; 3 Jess Gwynne 4m18.133s; 4 Conor Flynn 4m21.103s; 5 Samanth Thom 4m21.523s; 6 Daniel O’Brien 4m23.590s; 7 Brad Bailey 4m28.352s; 8 Kelly Bird 4m44.178s.
The event will be broadcast by Motors TV at 2200 on Friday July 18. Please see programme guides for repeats.
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