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Monday, 30 May 2016

Tight at the top as the BCCC heads to Scotland

The Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship reaches its midpoint next weekend when round three takes place at Forrest Estate in South West Scotland.

Despite rolling his car at the last round at Bovington it is Justin Birchall who leads the championship after two events. Birchall has 154 points and he is 13 ahead of Ryan Cooke who finished second at Bovington in his Milner LRM-1.

There is a very tight battle for third place with seven crews separated by just 10 points. Andy Powell has used the new engine in his Simmbugghini to good effect to hold joint third place on 137 points with Richard Wynne-Williams. One point behind is Neil Davey, who survived a somersault in his Yamaha YXZ 1000R last time out.



Colin Gould is in sixth on 133 points after using his Clio V8 at round one and his Polaris at round two. Continued engine problems with the Clio mean that the Polaris will be in action at round three too. Mark Jacques lies in seventh on 132 in his Lofthouse Freelander with John Thorne two points behind him in his Yamada YXZ 1000R. Completing the current battle for third is Paul Harris in his Bristol Street Motors-supported GSR Maxilight.

Round two winner Martin Gould is presently in tenth place after retiring from the first round but he’ll be looking to move up the leaderboard in his Buxton 4x4 Rivet.

In the Trophy championship Phill Bayliss leads the way with two wins from two events. In between BCCC events Bayliss competed on the Welsh Hill Rally and managed to get a finish despite an off.

Ben Clay is in second place in the Trophy, 12 points behind Bayliss and Jon Damrel, in the Insanity Racing Tornado, is a further 17 points back in third.

After a second place at round one and a win at round two it is Pat Masters who leads the Freelander Challenge crews with 116 points. Brian Chase is in second on 104 with round one winner Graham White in third on 102.

Team Sheepie’s Louisa Felice is in fourth in her Mansfield 4x4-backed car while teammate Ian Linford is hoping for better luck after problems, including a fire at round two, have limited his points scoring opportunities so far.

In fifth in the Freelander Challenge his Michael Wilson in his Gibsons of Kendal-supported machine.

“We’ve had some work to do on the car after Bovington” said Wilson. “We had a very heavy landing on the first run of the event so we’ve had to re-jig the radiator cross member but we should be all ready for Scotland.”



The event takes place at Forrest Estate near St John’s Town of Dalry. Saturday’s action will start at 10am with day two starting at 9pm. Spectator information is available at www.marches4x4.com/spectator.html. Photographs from the event will be on display at www.facebook.com/msabccc.