After a lengthy break the British Rallycross Championship was back for round 4 at a sunny Pembrey Circuit. The only drawback with sunny weather for rallycross is the amount of dust that comes with it!
A total of 58 entered. Ten of which were supercars. One of which was a late Pat Doran entry. It was good to see Pat back behind the wheel for the first time this year.
It was Ollie O’Donovon that came out and right from the off left nobody with any doubt as to his intentions. Both of the first two heats went to him. However his ex-Kevin Protor Focus developed a misfire which lead to him missing the third heat. Steve Cozens in his largely untested newly built Ford Focus had an early finish after a coming together with Doran.
Ollie O’Donovon making a charge in heats 1 and 2
O’Donovan sat on pole for the final with Andy Grant next to him. After an uncharacteristic jump start by Julian Godfrey. The final got underway. But it was Doran who got the best start making it to the first corner ahead of the pack. However 3 into one doesn’t go and Godfrey nudged O’Donovon from behind who in turn then collided with Doran who was in the process of making a pass for the first corner, both spun out and the rest of the pack took action to avoid the carnage. Godfrey then took the lead with Colin Anson in second place and Simon Horton in third. Steve Harris was driving superbly taking Horton for third on the second loose section then leaping into second as the cars headed onto the home straight for the first time. But in a cruel twist of fate he was clipped by Steve Hill at the corner putting them both out. O’Donovon also pulled in with a misaligned rear wheel. So out came the red flags so that the carnage could be cleared up. At the restart only three cars made it back to the grid Godfrey, Horton and Anson. Godfrey led from start to finish with nothing really to trouble him. Horton came home in second with Anson picking up his first ever podium supercar finish in third.
Colin Anson who claimed his first ever Supercar podium finish
There were upsets in both the Supernational and the Hot Hatch classes with both championship leaders finishing outside of the top three. Guy Corner took his first Supernational win in his rookie season from local favourite Mike Howlin and Alan Tapscott in third. The Hot Hatch result was nearly a polish 1, 2 with Tomasz Marciniak claiming first and Mariusz Mehlberg in third with Welshman Jeff Hope-Davis spoiling their party by claiming second place at his home event.
Tomasz Marciniak took the round win and closes the gap in the championship
The Swift Sport as usual gave some very close quarter racing. It was current champion Graham Rodemark who took his first win of the season. With current championship leader Tristan Ovenden in second and Chris Mullen in third. In the juniors the honours went to Charlie Bean followed by Drew Bellerby and Jake Taylor. Jennie Hawkes took a big impact at the first corner but was OK, unfortunately her car is going to need a lot of work!
Marc Scott continued to tighten his hold on the RX150 championship with a seemingly effortless victory. New comer Tejas Hirani picked up the second spot and Jake Harris in third.
Marc Scott making it look easy
The Super 1600 was a rather lopsided affair with Jack Thorne totally dominating during the heats but then unable to get the car to the grid for the final so all Phil Chicken had to do was to get his car around a couple of laps to win the event!
