Dates for your diary

The championship awards dinner will take place on 9th January. You can download a booking form by clicking here.

The dates for the championship next year are:

R1 - 11/12 April
R2 - 9/10 May
R3 - 6/7 June
R4 - 25/26 July
R5 - 12/13 September
R6 - 24/25 October.

Venues are presently being slotted into dates. 

Images from BCCC 2014 round 6

To see the images please click here. 

Moran takes BCCC title at Walters

Mike Moran won the final round of the Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship and in doing so took the championship title.

With dropped scores taken into account Moran and Martin Cox were level on points going into the event so whoever finished ahead at Walters would take the title.

Cox’s challenge got off to a bad start with the power steering hose bursting on the opening run, meaning that he was in fourth place, 34 seconds behind Moran. The drama was to continue for Cox, with a banjo bolt breaking and an excursion into a ditch. He ended day one in second place but 1m 45 off the lead.

Moran meanwhile was having a trouble-free day in his AT 4x4 Indy Challenger, setting the fastest time on seven of the day’s eight runs.  In third place overnight was Paul Myers in his Land Rover Tornado.

Moran continued to set the pace early on two day, extending his lead by a further 15 seconds on the opening two runs. Cox was quickest on the final five runs of the event but, despite Moran losing time with a puncture, he couldn’t make up enough time to take the win.

“I’m gutted,” said Cox. “We’ve been quick all year and it’s very disappointing that mechanical problems here and at the last round have cost us the title. The power steering problem cost around 50 seconds and, without any spares, we had to fabricate a replacement on site. We also lost around 40 seconds stuck in the ditch”

“It’s been a fantastic season though with good comradeship amongst the crews”

The victory was Moran’s third of the season and it gave him his first BCCC title.

“It’s a dream come true and totally unexpected,” commented Moran. “. I feel sorry for Martin, he was within one run of wrapping the title up at the previous round but his engine problems gave us a chance which we’ve taken. We were consistently fast this weekend, the development work we’ve done on the gearbox with Lofthouse Motorsport, ACR and PPG has really paid dividends. After Dan winning last year it’s nice that another Lofthouse-prepared car has won the championship.”

“We’ve had six excellent courses this year and it’s been a great battle. Thank you to all the organisers and marshals for a brilliant championship, the competition has been excellent. ”

With Myers suffering a blown engine Andy Powell rounded off the top three in his Simmbugghini, despite navigator Phil Ibbotson being forced out of the event after sustaining an eye injury on the third run.

“It’s been a good weekend and a blinding one for Phil,” said Andy. “I’m pleased with another podium finish, we’ve ended the year well after a poor start to the championship.”

“It was a tough event and the car is ready for some work over the winter including another gearbox rebuild. We’ll hopefully be back for more next year. Thanks to Paul Harris for stepping into the navigator seat.”

Mark Jacques finished fourth in his 3M Challenger with Richard Green taking his Tomcat to fifth. Steve Smith was sixth in the JRG Clio ahead of Ian Bartlett. Jason Sharpe was the final BCCC finisher, battling to eighth after a testing event in the Jewson Isuzu D-Max Rally Team car.

Alan Thomas won the Trophy category in his Warrior with Paul Cumpstone taking victory in the Freelander Challenge. Ian Linford was second Freelander crew despite a broken alternator, damaged gearbox and broken clutch. The result which made Linford the Freelander Challenge champion.

BCCC results:

1. Mike Moran/Tony Coid (AT 4x4 Indy Challenger) 02:28:06
2. Martin Cox/Paul Carson (GSR 206 Evo 9) 02:29:01
3. Andy Powell/Phil Ibbotson/Paul Harris (Simmbugghini) 02:38:06
4. Mark Jacques/Simon Last (3M Challenger) 02:46:48
5. Richard Green/Richard Griffiths (Tomcat 100) 02:55:02
6. Steve Smith/John Griffiths (JRG Indy Clio V8) 02:58:17
7. Ian Bartlett/Gary Bartlett (Tomcat Tornado) 03:01:40
8. Jason Sharpe/Russell Sharpe (Isuzu D-Max) 03:48:47

The winner will take it all at Walters

 

The final round of the Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship takes place at Walters Arena in South Wales next weekend with two crews fighting it out for the title.

Both Martin Cox and Mike Moran have taken two wins so far this year and presently, allowing for dropped scores, the crews are level pegging so it will be ‘winner takes all’ at Walters.

Cox was within one run of taking the title at the last round but a large hole in the side of the block resulted in his car being towed out of the course and the maximum time incurred dropped him to fourth place. 

“We’ve fitted a new scrap yard special engine for the final round,” said Cox. “At 300ish bhp it’s not as powerful as some out there but it is enough to do the trick and have some fun. We’ve also fitted a new windscreen after damaging the old one being towed for five miles. The tow rope is still fitted to the car just in case!”

Moran debuted a new gearbox at the previous round and he used it to good effect, taking a final run win after Cox’s problems.

“The new Tremec sequential gearbox was built by Lofthouse Motorsport and ACR Deeside with the assistance of PPG and it completely changed the way the car drives,” said Moran. “For Walters we’ve also fitted a flat-shift so we’ll be looking to close the speed advantage Martin has had on us all year.”

“We’ve looked at every element of the car to give us the best chance of taking the title. Even the driver has been looked at – I’ve lost a fair amount of weight and have been doing stamina training at a gym who have a Dakar rally finisher amongst their clients so they understand the punishment off-road racing gives to the body.”

“Walters last year was a disaster for us, we cut a corner early on and hit a boulder which broke the steering rack and ripped the front tyre off as well as nearly rolling the car. After a miracle repair by the Lofthouse team we managed to finish the event which gave us fourth in the championship.”

“We’re in a very strong position and will try our best to win the championship but it will be a tough task.”

Behind the two championship contenders there promises to be a close battle with three crews presently separated by just three points. Jason Sharpe is on 338 in the Jewson Isuzu D-Max Rally Team car, Richard Green is one point behind and Mark Jacques is on 335.

The event is likely to be the last time the Bartletts Racing Bowler will be seen in the BCCC. The car was pressed into action again this year as the team undertook a full rebuild of the 206 they used in 2013.

Team navigator Aaron Burch commented: “We’ve had a great season in the car and have thoroughly enjoyed each event but we are itching to be racing the 206 again next year. All of the Bartletts Racing team would like to thank our sponsors, rustproof.me.uk and Super Pro and thanks to all of the marshals and organisers for making sure we’ve had a superb year of racing.”

In the Freelander Challenge the title race is between the Race2Recovery team and Ian Linford. After a great debut BCCC season Linford will round off his year by competing on Wales Rally GB in his standard Land Rover Freelander.

The event starts at 10am on Saturday with day two starting at 9am. Spectator information is available on www.marches4x4.com.