Paul Rowlands and Neil Lloyd continued their fine Motorsport UK British Cross Country Championship (BXCC) season with a win at round three, held at Penybont in Wales.
The venue was new to the championship and the organisers laid out an extremely challenging course of over 7 miles, comprising very hilly gravel tracks and farmland along with a quarry section.
Richard Kershaw and Andy Powell led after the first run in their Lofthouse Freelander but hopes of a win were ended when the car stopped on run two, resulting in a stage maximum.
Rowlands set the fastest time of anyone on day one to lead overnight by 1m 35 from son Jason, both drivers using Can-Am Maverick Rs.
In third place was Aston Cox and Simon Kerfoot who arrived at the venue late on Friday evening after a last minute fix of the gearbox which had threatened to derail their championship hopes.
The tough course took its toll on some of the cars. Carl Duffield and Martin Wellock had engine issues on their AWD Proto, Peter and Louis Medley lost a wheel on their Clio and Phil Ibbotson and Ben Farmer hit a rut and damaged the suspension on their Metro 6R4 Evo. Luke and John Sagar set some quick times on day one but also suffered problems with their Fouquet Diamondback which forced them out at the end of the day.
“It was not a good weekend for us, alternator issues finally caused us to retire on the last run of the day” said Luke. “Our first lap was a belter, setting a top ten time in our live-axle car against all the independents. The third lap was great too but sadly reliability bit us. Congratulations to Phill Bayliss for a great result in 6th place overall, flying the flag for us live-axle boys!”
A family 1-2 for the Rowlands PAR Homes Racing team was denied on the second run of day two when Jason Rowlands’ car stopped on the course and they couldn’t get it running again, forcing the crew into retirement. Paul Rowlands continued to lead despite numerous punctures and he took the win by 3m 46.
“We got through nine wheels and tyres but the car didn’t miss a beat,” said Paul. “We just managed to keep the lead and keep going.”
Cox and Kerfoot followed up their round two win with a second place finish.
“I’m really happy with the result,” said Cox. “It’s been a very stressful time after our struggle to sort out the gearbox issues. SWR Motorsport did an exceptional job, we got the box at 6pm on Friday and it was fitted by 8.15pm and then we headed to the venue.”
“I struggled with the pace early on but it became a survival of the fittest and it’s great to get second place. The car was spot on, it ran faultlessly.”
In third place, taking their best BXCC result to date, were Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy, their Fouquet Nissan showing plenty of signs of a very testing event.
“The course was a very different challenge for us,” said Faulkner. “I’m really pleased with the result, we’re getting quicker. The car is designed for smoother terrain so we struggled a bit on some of the rougher sections and lost some fibreglass on the way. We broke a front driveshaft on the final run which caused a couple of pirouettes but we held on for third.”
After their great performance at round two Ben Cundy and Andrew Greaney were again on the pace at Penybont, finishing fourth overall and taking their third victory in the Trophy championship, a result which gives them the title.
“Once again the BXCC organising team pulled a cracker out of the bag, it was a really tough course on the car and crew, the way it should be!” commented Cundy. “Credit to everyone that finished. The car ran pretty much faultlessly again, we just had some issues with overheating brakes.”
“Another win means I’m the youngest driver ever to win the Trophy championship, this is a credit to the car and everyone helping me, especially the team at Gregg Motorsport.”
Completing the top five were Alan Kirkland and Shaun Sabin‐Farrell in their Kirkland 3M Peugeot.
The next round of the BXCC is a completely new event, the Yorkshire Hill Rally, which will take place in September.
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.
For more information on the championship please visit crosscountryuk.org.
