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Nail-biting battle in Wales for cross country racers
publication date: Sep 17, 2009
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author/source: Peter Hughes
| | | After two days and nearly 100 miles of competitive
motoring, just 12 seconds separated the winners from the runners up in
the latest round of the Britpart MSA British Cross Country
Championship.
Glorious sunshine welcomed the competitors to the Sweet Lamb Rally Complex near Llangurig in Mid Wales.
The Flintshire pairing of Tim Dilworth and Anthony Brinkman made the
most of the dry and dusty conditions as they claimed multiple fastest
times. But a broken driveshaft on the 5th run of the event dropped them
out of contention for overall victory and they were eventually forced
to settle for 8th place in their Peugeot 206.
The Welsh team’s misfortune left reigning champions Richard Kershaw and
Graham Broadbent leading the event on Saturday evening. But they too
hit mechanical problems with a misfire on their GSR 206 Evo9 slowing
their pace for most of Sunday’s runs.
That set up a Battle of the Roses against the Lofthouse Proto LD4 of
Dan Lofthouse and Jonny Koonja, with the Preston duo eventually moving
ahead of Huddersfield ’s Kershaw and Broadbent.
They finally cured their misfire problem by borrowing coil packs for
the final run of the day. But it was too late to recover the time that
they had already lost and so Lofthouse and Koonja emerged victorious
despite having completed most of Saturday without a functioning clutch
pedal.
Third place went to the Mattserati of Martin Gould and Simon Kerfoot
although the driver professed himself unhappy with his own efforts.
There was a class win for fourth placed father and daughter pairing
Justin and Louise Birchall after a succession of dramas in their
Peugeot 206 including 3 punctures and a leaking steering rack. This
made it a baptism of fire for Louise on her first co-driving experience
after stepping in at the last minute for her mother, who had been taken
ill.
The next round of the championship will take place on October 10/11 but
with the originally scheduled venue in North Wales not ready for this
event, a replacement venue will be announced by the organisers in the
next seven days. | | | |
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