PAR Homes Racing crew Paul Rowlands and Neil Lloyd survived a dramatic Motorsport UK British Cross Country Championship (BXCC) final weekend to take the title by just one point from Aston Cox and Simon Kerfoot.
Walters Arena in Wales was the venue for the final two rounds of the championship and, going into the event, multiple crews were in with a chance of lifting the trophy.
Richard Watson and Paul Hughes headed the leaderboard after round four but their victory hopes ended on the first run of round five when clutch problems on their Milner Evoque resulted in a stage maximum. They went back out their new car, the ex-Mark Jacques Lofthouse Freelander, but this had steering issues causing another stage maximum.
Phill Bayliss and Lance Murfin were in second place before Walters but several punctures blighted their round five. They still took a class win but finished well down the results on round five before salvaging 10th overall, and another class win, on round six.
The remaining championship hopefuls were going well on round five although it was Andy Degiulio, contesting his first BXCC event of the year, who was leading early on. Degiulio’s Milner R5 went off the road on the third run which gave Yorkshire Hill Rally winner Richard Kershaw the lead. Kershaw and co-driver Andy Powell set the fastest time of round five on their third run but retired their Lofthouse during the fifth run.
Kershaw’s retirement should’ve put Paul Rowlands into prime position to wrap up the title but his event also ended on run five, the steering quickener on his Can-Am Maverick X3 breaking. As misfortune hit some of his rivals it looked like Cox, who had survived almost rolling his Rivet, was on course for the round five win but the drama was not over yet. On the final run of the day he had a puncture early in the stage. He was able to get to the finish, with the car running on its trailing arm as it crossed the finishing line, but he’d lost around four minutes which dropped him to fourth place.
Amidst the broken cars it was Jason Rowlands who kept out of trouble to take a last gasp victory in his Can-Am Maverick X3, his second win of the season.
“It was a pretty hard course,” said Jason Rowlands. “The car was going well and we had no issues although the wet conditions early on were tough. I’m happy with the win and it’s another good result for PAR Homes Racing.”
Rob Bool, who was debuting his ex-Justin Birchall Lofthouse, finished second. Max Cooke, with experienced offroad racer dad Ryan in the navigator’s seat, took his CRC Motorsport GSR Can-Am to his best ever BXCC result in third.
“We had a great weekend,” commented Cooke. “We tried very hard to keep up with the big boys and the car was faultless all event. The old man was pushing me along and it was a good result to end the season.”
Jason Rowlands’ result put him at the top of the championship table after round five but with another dropped score to take account of the title race was still wide-open going into round six.
Cox’s car could not be repaired after its round five damage and so, despite having never driven it before in competition, he used dad Martin’s car for round six. A completely different car, including being right hand drive rather than left, didn’t phase him though as he stormed into the lead with Paul Rowlands close behind.
Cox maintained his lead all through round six although a hard-charging Andy Degiulio took three fastest run times to finish just three seconds behind in second. Cox’s victory wasn’t quite enough to give him the BXCC title though. Paul Rowlands kept up the pace he has shown all year to finish third in round six which gave him the championship by a solitary point, a dramatic end to an exciting season!
“It’s been a good championship,” commented Paul Rowlands. “We should’ve wrapped it up on Saturday really but the steering quickener issue meant we couldn’t go any further. That was sorted for round six though and we did enough to take the title. Fair play to Aston though, it was extremely close and it’s been a great battle.”
Although delighted with his final round win, Cox was disappointed to miss out on the championship: “We nearly rolled on the third run of round five, we clipped a rock on the inside which flipped the car up. Fortunately the only damage was a puncture which cost us a small amount of time. We were still on for the win but the final run was a disaster.”
“We still had a chance of the title though so, with the Rivet out of action, dad let us borrow the car he’d raced in round five for round six. I’d never driven it before but I just went for it. We had no problems and it was great to get my second BXCC win although, obviously, I’m gutted to just miss out on the championship.”
Making her debut in a BXCC event was Chloe Bayliss, daughter of Phill. With backing from Voxcloud for her racer “Chaos” she managed to finish both rounds five and six, even beating her dad on Saturday!
“I was very fortunate to be sponsored to do both rounds and it was an experience of a lifetime,” said Chloe. “I definitely didn’t think I’d be doing a BXCC event in the first full year of me being behind the wheel. Chaos was absolutely faultless and I only had one slow puncture all weekend in contrast to my dad! Beating dad was a bonus, I wouldn’t be racing if it wasn’t for him! And a massive thank you to my grandad for getting Chaos prepared while I started my new apprenticeship at JLR. It was an absolutely incredible weekend.”
Father and son team Richard and Owen Green had a mixed weekend in their Bowler Tomcat, a relatively trouble-free round five followed by a problematic round six.
“Saturday went well but Sunday was a different matter. The car cut out on the second run but we got it restarted after losing around three minutes. After some wiring jiggery-pokery we went out for run three but the car cut out again and we had to limp back to service taking a maximum time and ending our weekend. It’s been good to be back out on the BXCC though and Team Green enjoyed their first father and son season.”
Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy have had a good season in their ex-Simmonite Sisters Fouquet. They started round five steadily as they experienced “offroad” Walters for the first time, having only limited experience of the venue from rallying. They were up to fifth overall and enjoying the challenge but then, like Kershaw and Paul Rowlands, run five caused problems.
“We broke a shaft in the first section of the course and were limping through. We had Richard and Paul running behind us and we didn’t want to hold them up and interfere in the championship battle so we pulled over and let Richard by and then he stopped, then we let Paul by and he went off twice with his steering issue. We dropped out of the top ten but the service crew did a great job fitting a replacement shaft and we set third fastest time on the final run to finish eighth overall.”
Round six ended in retirement after various issues including a small fire which caused some wiring problems but the team have enjoyed their first full season in the BXCC.
“It’s been a great season of racing, good venues and good crack. Thanks to all involved in setting up and running the events,” said Faulkner. “We’ve enjoyed being part of the BXCC, our pace has improved and we are bringing down the gap to the leaders as we learn how to get the best out of the new car.”
The BXCC is supported by PAR Homes, Voxcloud, Roodsafe, Roadflash, Gregg Motorsport, Fairview Farm Machinery, Fairview Farm Log Cabin and Holiday Accommodation, Aspire Park and Leisure Homes, Johnnie Drysdale, Whitecliff 4×4, Dynatech, NickyGrist.com, Whitchurch MOT Centre, Staffordshire Signs, PD Extinguishers and OR Tyres.
Some details of the 2025 BXCC have already been released, these can be viewed at https://crosscountryuk.org/future/.
