Weekly Round Up: FUCHS LUBRICANTS MSA BHRC reaches conclusion
FUCHS Lubricants MSA BHRC reaches conclusion
This weekend sees the last round of the FUCHS Lubricants Historic Rally Championship, which is the Trackrod Rally, in Yorkshire.
The event starts on Friday evening in Dalby Forest for the Historic category and finishes at lunchtime on Saturday, with the BTRDA section of the event wholly on Saturday.
Each event will run 45 miles of stages in the North Yorkshire forest, with the organisers promising no double use of stages. Further details from www.btrdarally.com/trackrod-rally-yorkshire/
Two FUCHS backed crews are taking part in the BTRDA section of the event. Pat Naylor (Mitsubishi Evo 9) is looking to consolidate his second place in class N4, whilst Ian Joel (Ford Escort Cosworth) is hoping to regain his lead in class B13 after his non-finish on the previous event.
FUCHS supported CA1 Sport will also be on the Trackrod rally looking after Tom Preston in his Skoda R5.
The Filey-based Trackrod Rally is organised by the Trackrod Motor Club.
The recent late cancellation of Rally Isle of Man has rather changed the situation in the BHRC as there was due to be a double-header round on the island’s closed pubic roads earlier in September. Instead, the Trackrod becomes the sixth and final round and competitors will count their best four results towards the end of season awards.
The loss of Rally Isle of Man means that Northern Irishman Paul Barrett is now unbeatable at the head of the drivers’ championship. Barrett has enjoyed a superb season and is a worthy champion after some tremendous battles with rivals like Matthew Robinson and Nick Elliott. He’s heading for Yorkshire for another shot at the overall victory.
Showdown heads to Netherlands
The penultimate round of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship sees our FUCHS Silkolene ambassadors head to the famous TT Circuit in Assen.
Carrickfergus brothers Glenn and Andrew Irwin are part of a 32-strong PBM Be Wiser Ducati team flying over for the weekend’s action.
Glenn is aiming to bounce back after a tough weekend at Oulton Park in the opening Showdown round. Nothing short of his first wins of the year will suffice if he’s to take his title challenge into the final round at Brands Hatch next month.
24-year-old sibling Andrew will be looking to carry on his superb form which which saw him achieve his best BSB result of his short career when he took his Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R to fourth place in the mixed conditions at Oulton Park.
As for our other FUCHS Silkolene sponsored riders, championship leader Leon Haslam will be desperate to stave off the threat of Jake Dixon while Peter Hickman, of Smiths Racing BMW, has his eyes set on a top three finish.
Morgan looks to finish season in style
Ciceley Motorsport ace Adam Morgan heads to Brands Hatch this weekend for the final round of the BTCC season.
Morgan travels south with his hopes set on a third place finish after a good weekend at Silverstone last time out.
“A third place finish would be fantastic for the whole team and a real reward for the hard work everyone has put in,” Morgan told us.
Team-mate Tom Oliphant, meanwhile, will also be looking to finish an encouraging debut season on a high.
Meanwhile, the team has also been testing its new Mercedes-Benz AMG GT4 in its inaugural British GT race at Donington.
Drivers Adam Morgan and David Fairbrother put in a stellar performance to bring the car home seventh in class.
This is hopefully the start of many future GT accomplishments.
Double delight - and disappointment - for Bellerbys at Pembrey
At the penultimate round of the British Rallycross Championship, FUCHS backed drivers Paige and Drew Bellerby once again each finished on the podium. But quite how they managed it was a mystery to everyone who watched, such was the battered state of their cars at the end of their respective Finals.
It was Drew who led the way – literally! – in her BMW Mini, with first place in each of her three qualifying heats. She reported ‘no problems – either with me or the car, it seems everything is slotting into place today and I’m really enjoying this track’.
This put her in pole position for the Final, and although she was first into the first corner, at the second she was hit by Hawkes, causing her to spin out, which damaged her steering and suspension, and dropped her to bang flat last. Nothing daunted, she set about retrieving the situation, with fastest time on each of the five remaining laps, relentlessly passing her way through the rest of the Mini field, to finish a hardly believable second, just a whisker behind David Bell. Her grit and determination was rewarded with the ‘Driver of the Day’ accolade.
Sister Paige had an equally impressive start to her day, with two firsts in the heats, before lining up on the outside of the front row for the Final of the Supernational class in her Lotus Exige.
Another excellent start saw her jockeying for position on the first lap, but then she got squeezed in a racing incident at the beginning of the second lap and dropped 20 seconds to Ovenden and Thorne on that lap, and another 15 seconds on the third lap. By that time, she had found out she had no brakes and the steering was deranged, but more importantly, she had worked out how to cope with these difficulties. She too then gritted her teeth and got down to the serious business of passing other competitors, and finished the six lap Final in third place.
Afterwards she explained: “I didn’t know what the damage was at first, so it took me a lap or so to get my head round it. It (the crash) made a real mess – it took out the brakes, and I could feel the front wheels were all over the place because the steering rack was bent. So I was really pleased to get third, because it keeps me in second in class in the Championship.”
The event will be televised by Eurosport and Channel 5 in the coming weeks.
Double success for Holden Racing
FUCHS-backed Holden Racing managed double wins in the Modified Saloons at Snetterton.
Having qualified in pole, Alex Sidwell and the team led the way from start to finish. Unfortunately, one of the closest rivals suffered a wheel bearing failure, meaning Holden Racing were able to finish 16 seconds clear, despite lapping two or three seconds slower than in qualification.
The track was slippery for race two and Alex was very cautious at the start, slipping back into second. But Alex managed to stay with the leader and bravely went round the outside into Coram to take back the lead on the first lap.
Alex pulled a slight gap despite the conditions and, with four cars battling for second, it took the pressure off.
On lap seven another racer’s engine let go just before the second corner leaving oil on the already slippery track.
Alex approached the hairpin and with barely any steering angle the car lost all grip and turned around. It was then that the red flags came out and the race was over, giving the team their second win of the day.
Quadruple podium for Ganley
Chris Ganley bagged four podiums in the GP1 Classic/Cup at Cadwell Park, finishing second each time.
Chris said: “Cadwell Park is a hard track for me as going through a lot of the twisty corners it’s hard wrestling the bike to get the results I want to get.”
Nevertheless, Chris hit his lap target by obtaining one minute 49 seconds on the first day.
On day two Chris worked hard on his weakest points. On his first race on the Sunday he went into one corner and tried to brake later, came off the track and onto the grass. He came back onto the track to finish the race without losing a position.
“Bring on the next race meeting at Snetterton,” added Chris.
Bike troubles for CV Racing
It was another eventful weekend for Carl Vickers and CV Racing in the latest ThundersportGB round at Cadwell.
Having qualified in 15th, Carl finished P10 – and eighth in class – in race one for valuable points, followed by another P10 in race two, despite bike set-up issues.
The engine really struggled in race three and Carl lost a few places before limping over the finish line in P12. After this the bike would not start. Following numerous checks and finding compression was seriously down on one cylinder, it was decided to retire the dry bike for the weekend.
The rain came ahead of race four, allowing the team to use the wet bike.
Carl said: “It was one of the scariest races I have ever had! It was like something wanted to throw me off on every corner.”
Carl managed to salvage some points ahead of Snetterton, with a chance of moving up a couple of places in the championship if things go his way.
Roger Albert Clark Rally 2019
The 2019 Roger Albert Clark Rally will be the toughest yet, with 300 stage miles in five days of rallying when the 12th edition of the rally runs in November 2019.
After the runaway success of the 2017 edition, Rally Manager Colin Heppenstall has confirmed that the 2019 rally will build on that success when it runs from 21 to 25 November 2019. While the event has strong support from the historic fraternity, the concurrent Open Rally is open to any MSA log-booked two-wheel drive rally car.
Elsewhere…
There was an excellent third in class for Jon Hunt for the Royal Navy Royal Marines Road Race Team at Cadwell, while bad weather meant no racing last weekend for South Coast Honda Racing.
