Mixed Fortunes For Rallycrossers At Lydden Hill Season Opener
The opening two rounds of the MSA British Rallycross Championship took place over last weekend’s Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday at the Lydden Hill circuit in Kent.
Paige Bellerby was in her Lotus Exige in the Super National class, but fortune was not with her on Saturday when she ran into power problems during the morning‘s qualifying heats. The team weren’t able to fix the problem during the time available, so Paige was forced to sit out the rest of day.
However, the team were able to change the engine on Sunday’s rest day, so Paige was raring to go on Sunday. The first heat was a modest affair in terms of times, as Paige was running the engine in, then her second heat was compromised by having to take urgent avoiding action to miss what she cheerfully described afterwards as ‘a bit of a moment on the hill’. However she was on top form in the third heat with a stunning time to take pole position for the final. She had had to complete all three heats without a spotter (Dave was also competing on the day), but Dave was back on duty for the Final, as she bolted from the start line into a lead that she had to fight hard to hold for the seven laps of the final. “The lads were right behind me all the time, so I had to defend quite a lot, but the hard work paid off and I got the win I’d been fighting for” said Paige after the podium ceremony.
In the BMW Mini championship, dad Dave Bellerby is currently standing in for daughter Drew, and he had a trouble free run to the top step of the podium on Saturday, then repeated the performance on Monday. His weekend was not without incident however, as the power steering failed during Saturday morning practice he drove all three heats, the semi-final, and the final, on each of the two days, without power steering. Dave selflessly refused to look at his own car until Paige’s Lotus had been fixed.
His race craft and car handling was admired by everyone throughout the weekend as he turned on a faultless performance of rally cross driving, showing exactly why he is a multiple National champion in the discipline.
Also in the BMW Mini championship was ex rally driver Steve Brown, who had one of the ‘those’ weekends. If he wasn’t having bad luck, he wasn’t having any luck at all. On Saturday morning, heat 2 saw the fan belt shred itself when the super charger pulley worked loose, which not only meant a loss of power but also caused the engine to overheat. Sensibly Steve saw the upcoming carnage under the bonnet, and parked up. This put him on the back foot in the final, where he started from the back of the nine car grid, but he fought his way up to sixth before the chequered flag at the end of the six laps.
Monday looked as though he was heading for a repeat of Saturday’s luck when he broke a steering arm in the qualifying rounds, and once again he had a disadvantageous slot on the Final grid. But on this occasion, he put his previous experience to good use in carving through the field to achieve a fine fourth position, missing out on a podium place by the merest whisker of less than a second.
A new entrant to the BMW Mini championship this year is Dave Ellis. Dave E had been campaigning a Suzuki Swift last year, but has had a new Mini built for this year. Dave wasted no time in stamping his authority on the Saturday heats as a seasoned campaigner by winning the first heat! However his day was not all roses, as he also shredded his super charger belt and had to sit out the final.
Monday was a different story however. The belt problem was fixed on the rest day, Dave E used all the three heats to good effect, and he lined up on the front row of the grid in second position for the final. From lights to flag, Dave E was only ever bested by Dave B, as he clung tenaciously to his second spot, and at the flag was delighted with his second step on the podium.
All the drivers wish to say grateful thanks for their support to their sponsors Fuchs Lubricants and CD Heritage.
