Jordan wins as rain stops play

Andrew Jordan (Lichfield) was declared the winner of the third round of the Kumho Tyres MSA British Rallycross Championship at Lydden on Monday (May 28) even though the event was cut short as a result of adverse weather conditions.

The event started dry but the forecast rain arrived at midday and persisted into the afternoon. The qualifying heats were concluded without serious incident but as the rain continued the gravel sections of the track became increasingly waterlogged.

The B finals for the Supercar and SuperModified categories were completed in difficult conditions, Ollie O’Donovan (London) and David Binks (Newcastle upon Tyne) progressing to their respective A finals. However, with conditions becoming steadily worse, only one of the four starters in the Junior championship B final made it to the finish, Conor Flynn (Derby) staying the distance to win.

The Supercar A final lost O’Donovan part way through the first lap, the Irishman sliding off the track at the Devil’s Elbow. Just over a lap later Dermot Carnegie (Dublin) crashed out of second place when his Fiesta went off the track at North Bend. The race was immediately stopped as tyres dislodged from the trackside barriers hit a television camerman filming at the point, fortunately without injuring him. More than half-an-hour was lost while the barrier was repaired, during which conditions deteriorated as the rain continued.

When the SuperModified A final was stopped following a first corner incident, the Clerk of the Course, Tony Watts, made a further inspection of the track before deciding to call a halt to racing: “In my opinion it is unsafe to continue,” he said.

Event results were declared on the basis of positions at the end of the qualifying heats. Jordan had qualified on pole position for the Supercar A final and therefore won, ahead of Pat Doran (Milstead) who was fastest in the second qualifying heat and Carnegie.

SuperModified

In only his third British championship event in the SuperModified category 17-year-old Ben Power (Welshpool) qualified his Ford Ka on pole for the A final, a position that was converted into the class win when the event was abandoned. Simon White (Yateley) made an impressive return to the championship with his re-engineered Renault Clio and collected second place ahead of Bill Harbour (Tunbridge Wells).

Stock Hatch

Tony Lynch (Wigan) won through in the Yokohama Stock Hatch category after setting fastest times in the first and second qualifying heats to take pole for the A final. Ash Simpson (York) was classified second with Wozciech Bialowas (Warsaw) third. Local driver Ryan Lawford (Canterbury) took fourth place ahead of Mike Jones () who set fastest time in the wet third heat.

Junior Rallycross

Samantha Thom (Cookstown) was declared winner of the Bill Gwynne Rallyschool Junior Rallycross Championship section, her second win of the year. George Tracey Jnr. (Mullingar) was fastest in the third qualifying heat and claimed second place ahead of Ben Rennison (Richmond) who was fastest in the second heat.

BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship

This was the fourth round in the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship and overall championship leader Ben Rennison (Richmond) maintained his 100% record by winning for the fourth time. Rennison qualified on pole for the Junior A final after setting fastest times in the second and third heats, this then converted to a class win when the last stage of the event was abandoned.

Ash Simpson (York) won the Stock Hatch category for the second time after setting fastest time in the first and third heats to secure the A final pole and Gary Pusey (Great Missenden) claimed his second consecutive win in the SuperModified category where he was the top qualifier with fastest times from the first and second heats.