After a gruelling two days of competition Mike Moran was
victorious in round 2 of the Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship.
It was Ryan Cooke who was the fastest driver early on,
building up a lead of 39 seconds in his Milner LRM-1 after three runs. Early
casualties included the crews who finished first and third at round one with
Ben Duckworth damaging a propshaft on his Milner and Neil Davey suffering a
burst power steering pipe on his GSR.
Moran took the lead after the fourth run as Cooke had a
drivebelt problem on his car which gave him a maximum time and dropped him down
the leaderboard. With Cooke out of contention it was Andy Powell who lay in
second place at the conclusion of day one’s six runs with Mark Jacques in third.
A further eight runs took place on day two and, despite the
very difficult course conditions, the top three had a relatively troublefree day
to maintain their positions at the finish.
“It was a tough old weekend,” said Moran. “The course was
extremely challenging and it was very tough on both the cars and the crews. It
was a shame that Ben and Neil retired early on but Ryan and Andy were putting in
some great times so it wasn’t an easy win. All credit to everyone who finished,
especially the guys in the standard Freelanders.”
“My car also won the Baja event last weekend in the hands of
Dan Lofthouse so it’s been a great two weeks for the Lofthouse Motorsport team.”
By finishing second Powell equalled his best ever BCCC
result in his Simmbugghini.
“The event was brilliant, a proper offroad course!
Congratulations to Mike on the win, I’m very pleased with second. The car
performed really well, other than a slight steering issue that we resolved
overnight we had no problems which was a relief after the electrical troubles
we had at round one.”
Behind Jacques in fourth place was Paul Myers with Cooke
putting in some very quick times to battle back to fifth, despite an off on one
of his later runs. Richard Green fought back from a power steering belt problem
on his first run to take sixth in his Tomcat 100 with Steve Smith in seventh
after having several issues with his Clio over the weekend. Jason Sharpe was
the final classified BCCC finisher in eighth. Sharpe was another driver who
overcame car issues to get to the finish, including a broken suspension on his
opening run.
In the Freelander Challenge Pat Masters took the win ahead
of Ian Linford and Craig Bounds with Louisa Felice in fourth. Brian Chase from
the BCCC’s technical partner Ravenol co-drove Alistair Moore-Myers in his
Freelander but they sadly retired.
Steve Anning won the Trophy category in his GSR despite
breaking a steering arm early on day one. After rally co-driver Justin Brooks
set some very quick times on day one in his Polaris it was Jeff Fletcher who
won the Clubman class in his Bowler Tomcat.
BCCC Results:
1. Mike Moran/Tony Coid (AT 4x4 Challenger) 02:05:58
2. Andy Powell/Phil Ibbotson (Simmbugghini) 02:11:08
3. Mark Jacques/Simon Last (3M Challenger) 02:17:20
4. Paul Myers/Martin Myers (Land Rover Tornado) 02:20:54
5. Ryan Cooke/Lee Channing (Milner LRM-1) 02:24:43
6. Richard Green/Richard Griffiths (Tomcat 100) 02:31:19
7. Steve Smith/John Griffiths (JRG Indy Clio V8) 02:51:10
8. Jason Sharpe/Ian Bevan (Isuzu D-Max) 03:09:03
3. Mark Jacques/Simon Last (3M Challenger) 02:17:20
4. Paul Myers/Martin Myers (Land Rover Tornado) 02:20:54
5. Ryan Cooke/Lee Channing (Milner LRM-1) 02:24:43
6. Richard Green/Richard Griffiths (Tomcat 100) 02:31:19
7. Steve Smith/John Griffiths (JRG Indy Clio V8) 02:51:10
8. Jason Sharpe/Ian Bevan (Isuzu D-Max) 03:09:03