Martin
Gould continued his run of Britpart MSA BCCC success with his second
win of the season at round three of the championship which was held at Forrest Estate in South West Scotland. Richard
Wynne-Williams was second in his Lofthouse Freelander.
The
notoriously tough venue took some scalps early on as champion leader
Justin Birchall had an input shaft break on his Lofthouse
Freelander’s gearbox on the opening run which put him out of the
event. Neil Davey was another run one casualty as he put his Yamaha
YXZ1000R off the road. It was Gould who topped the timesheets on run
one with Ryan Cooke his nearest challenger. Cooke’s day would get
steadily worse from there though with some runs hampered by cooling
issues and then a wishbone bolt coming off the car resulting in jammed steering and a high-speed roll.
Gould
continued to set the pace and at the end of day one’s seven runs he
held a lead of over four minutes from Richard Wynne-Williams with
Steve Smith in third.
A
further six runs of the 8.2 mile course took place on day two and
Gould maintained his position to take the win.
“It’s
been an interesting and difficult weekend,” said Gould. “With our
nearest challengers retiring from the event it was hard to judge the
pace – we didn’t want to back off too much and lose
concentration. I’m really pleased with the result, it’s good for
our championship hopes. Hopefully Justin and Ryan will be back out at
round four and we should also see Mike Moran’s car so it should be
a great event.”
Wynne-Williams
had his best result of the season in second and, with Smith’s Clio
suffering a double diff failure late on, it was Paul Myers who
completed the top three. Mark Jacques took this Lofthouse Freelander
to fourth and Andy Powell had his third consecutive fifth place
finish after exhaust issues on day one and an unwell driver on day
two.
Phill
Bayliss won the Trophy category despite completing one run on three
wheels. Jon Damrel overcame several punctures to finish second in the
Trophy.
In
the Freelander Challenge it was Alex Howard who took the win ahead of
Ian Linford and Michael Wilson.
BCCC
results:
1.
Martin Gould/Simon Kerfoot (Buxton 4x4 Rivet) 02:16:17
2.
Richard Wynne-Williams/Ian Jones (Lofthouse Freelander) 02:22:45
3.
Paul Myers/Martin Myers (Land Rover Tornado) 02:24:34
4. Mark
Jacques/Simon Last (Lofthouse Freelander) 02:24:41
5. Andy
Powell/Evalda Kazla (Simmbugghini) 02:25:04
6. Colin Gould/Aaron
Birch (Polaris RZR) 02:26:48
7. Richard Coleby/ (Polaris)
02:34:55
8. Steve Smith/John Griffiths (JRG Clio V8) 02:40:48
9.
Alan Thomas/Bob Moulding (Warrior Indy) 02:45:12
10. John
Thorne/ (Yamaha YZR1000R) 02:50:17
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.
