Championship leader Patrick O’Donovan claimed another victory in the sixth round of the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy at Mondello Park, leading a one-two finish with his father Ollie. The second day of action at the Irish Circuit was held in wet conditions, with the final led from the opening corner by Ollie O’Donovan, driving the Team RX Racing’s Ford Focus, ahead of teammate and son, Patrick’s Ford Fiesta and local driver Derek Tohill.
Tohill put a lot of pressure on the younger O’Donovan early in the race, before taking his joker on lap two, O’Donovan responding on lap three, returning to the main circuit ahead of his title rival. Ollie O’Donovan took his joker later in the race and retained the lead, but in a race to the finish line, Patrick O’Donovan took the advantage to claim a third 5 Nations BRX win. Reigning champion Tohill finished third, with six-time title-winner Julian Godfrey in fourth, 2006 champion Christopher Evans came in fifth with his Citroen C4 and Steve Hill’s Mitsubishi Evo in sixth.
In the Motorsport UK Supernational Rallycross Championship, Lotus Exige racer Paige Bellerby overtook the Vauxhall VX220 of championship leader Jason Bleasdale in the first corner of the final but ran wide at the same point later in the race and lost the position. However, when Bleasdale tried to overtake Irish contender Peter McGarry‘s Volvo C30 around the outside on lap five, Bellerby seized the opportunity and took the position. She finished top of the 5 Nations BRX runners, ahead of Bleasdale.
Max Langmaid followed his round five victory of the Motorsport UK Junior Rallycross Championship by taking all three qualifying races in round six, before winning the final by a near four-second margin. Max Watt claimed second with Will Ovenden third. Owen Robbins finished fourth, meaning that Langmaid and Robbins are now tied on points at the top of the table.
Bradley Turner made the best start in the BMW MINI Rallycross Championship final but Dave Bellerby, who topped qualifying and won his semi-final, found a way up the inside in turn one to take the lead. Turner immediately took his joker lap and wound up third, behind Bellerby and semi-final two winner Tom Constantine. David Bell made it two from two in the ALL4 Mini division ahead of Martin Hawkes.
Former Junior Rallycross Champion Luke Constantine was one of three drivers to claim a fastest time in qualifying in the Swift Sport Rallycross Championship, along with Max Weatherley and James Constantine, but it was Luke Constantine who led from the front in the final to make it a double-victory weekend. Weatherley mitigated the points loss by finishing second, while James Constantine was third.
Over in the RX150 Championship rally driver James Williams qualified second on the grid for the final and made the best start to lead from the front and claim victory in his first rallycross weekend. Making his debut in round six of the championship, former Junior RX racer Tom Ovenden secured second place after a late call-up, while series regular Ben Hardy finished third, continuing a strong run of podiums in his first season.
