Huddersfield's Kershaw extends BCCC lead with victory in Scottish borders

• Holywell’s Dilworth seals second; third for Martin Gould
• Ambaston’s Lloyd seals victory in BCCC’s Trophy category

2008 BRITPART MSA BRITISH CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
Castle O’er – round 3: June 28th-29th, 2008

Huddersfield’s Richard Kershaw extended his lead in the 2008 Britpart MSA British Cross-Country Championship (BCCC), by taking his second successive championship win in Scotland on Sunday.

The Peugeot 206 Evo9 driver began the final day in fourth position, but produced a measured drive over the closing runs in wet conditions and also benefited from the retirement of Scottish overnight leader John Cockburn on Sunday morning.

Kershaw eventually finished 1m 11s clear of Holywell-based runner-up Tim Dilworth after nine timed runs through a near 10-mile special stage in Castle O’er forest, near Lockerbie in the Scottish borders. Broadbottom’s Martin Gould finished third overall in his Matseratti after brother Colin had led early on Saturday.

"We are in a good position with this win and that is where we wanted to be at this stage in the season," said a delighted Kershaw. "We had a puncture yesterday and also hit a rock, but I knew that if we stayed out of trouble and didn’t make any mistakes, then we had a good chance of the win.

"These stages are strange. When it’s very wet the grip seems to improve and as it dries it seems to polish the surface of the road and it becomes slippery."

Kershaw edged into a one-second advantage after the first of Saturday’s five runs from Colin Gould, with Stirling’s Cockburn in third position. Gould edged into the outright lead by a similar margin after run two, although Lofthouse set the fastest time in his Proto LD4 and was eight seconds quicker than the Hyde driver. There were stage maximums for Gisburn’s Justin Birchall, Tamworth’s Lee Clinton and Nuneaton’s Andrew Wilson.

Lofthouse was comfortably the quickest driver on the third run, although Gould maintained his overall lead when Kershaw dropped over a minute with a puncture. Simon Bown set the third fastest time and moved up the leader board, but Great Dunmow’s Greg McCleod incurred a stage maximum.

Gould’s electrical problems started in the fourth run; the Hyde driver dropped around three minutes, but Lofthouse incurred a stage maximum with reported broken suspension and was unable to capitalise on his main rival’s misfortune.

Cockburn had been the model of consistency all day and found himself in the driving seat. The Stirling driver set the second fastest time behind Dilworth, with Kershaw, Rochelle and Chelmarsh’s Chris Hammond also running well.

Dilworth was the pace-setter through the day’s final run, with Kershaw and Lofthouse his closest rivals, although Cockburn’s consistency was sufficient for the Scot to complete the leg with a seven-second lead over Dilworth, with Martin Gould, Kershaw, Bown, Rochelle and Neil Davey completing the top seven.

A stage maximum pushed Colin Gould down to 31st overall, while Lofthouse held 29th. Day one action took place in mainly dry conditions with occasional light showers.

Three stage maximums because of power steering problems cost All Stretton’s Nick Forsyth any chance of taking a top result in the Trophy category. Ambaston’s Steve Lloyd was again the dominant force in this section and finished the five runs in 12th position overall, 4m 37s in front of Stockton’s Peter Wood. Talybont’s Martin James was a distant third.

Through his Mammouth Racing-run Range Rover, Lancashire’s Laurie Boyle has been promoting the transport charity, Transaid, to raise awareness of the 10th anniversary of the African infrastructure charity.

His car has also been featured at the recent inaugural Green Car Live Show. Boyle was a class winner on the Scottish event last year and took part at Castle O’er in his 15-year-old Range Rover this weekend. The machine uses rapidly bio-degradable and renewable engine oil supplied by Fuchs and made from rape seed oil and sunflowers and is the only car of its kind in top class competition. Boyle’s progress was spoiled by a stage maximum on the first run on Saturday.

Cockburn headed into Sunday’s final four runs with a seven-second advantage, but the Scot somehow managed to get his powerful Bowler stuck and incurred a stage maximum. He duly opted to withdraw from the event to save his car for the forthcoming Scottish Hill Rally.

The second leg developed into a battle for victory between Kershaw, Dilworth and Martin Gould, with this trio pulling away from the rest of the field. Kershaw eventually pressed home his advantage to seal an excellent win, with Dilworth and Gould securing the other podium places. Deeside’s Neil Davey finished fourth overall to maintain his title challenge and Clayton’s Ian Bartram completed the top five.

Farnham’s Ben Gott was sixth overall and Ambaston’s Steve Lloyd was a delighted seventh, his performance also sufficient to win the Trophy category by a handsome seven-minute margin and extend his lead in the BCCC’s Trophy Championship. Oldham’s Toby Jefferson, Beeley’s Jeremy Fearn and Chesterfield’s Alan Kirkland completed the top 10.

Stockton-on-Tees driver Peter Wood was second in the Trophy category and an unofficial 14th overall, with Adam Evans and Martin James in third and fourth in the section after a thrilling weekend’s motorsport in the Borders.

1. Richard Kershaw (Huddersfield) Peugeot 206 Evo9 2h 03m 20s

2. Tim Dilworth (Holywell) Peugeot 206 STi 2h 04m 31s

3. Martin Gould (Broadbottom, Hyde) Matseratti 2h 07m 29s

4. Neil Davey (Deeside) GSR 206 Evo 2h 13m 59s

5. Ian Bartram (Clayton-le-Moors) Warrior Storm 2h 15m 00s

6. Ben Gott (Farnham) TMC 2h 16m 39s

7. Steve Lloyd (Ambaston, Derby) Milner R4 2h 17m 12s

8. Toby Jefferson (Smithbridge, Oldham) Peugeot 306 2h 17m 56s

9. Jeremy Fearn (Beeley, Matlock) Bowler Wildcat 100 2h 18m 01s

10. Alan Kirkland (Chesterfield) Kirkland Proto 1 2h 18m 51s, etc

1. Steve Lloyd (Ambaston, Derby) Milner R4 2h 17m 12s

2. Peter Wood (Stockton-on-Tees) Kap Bandit 2h 24m 33s

3. Adam Evans Bowler Wildcat 2h 28m 54s

4. Martin James (Talybont) Land Rover Special 2h 35m 26s 

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- Neil Perkins, 2008 Britpart MSA British Cross-Country Championship-