Weekly Motorsport Round-Up #13
Sisters of speed Paige and Drew Bellerby broke another record on the weekend when they became the first siblings to each win their class in the British Rallycross Championship.
Paige is top of the 2017 MSA Supernational Rallycross Championship after three rounds, while Drew is third in the 2017 BMW Mini Rallycross Championship.
The latest round of the championship took place at the Pembrey Circuit in South Wales and utilised the revised track layout for the first time in the championship.
Paige started her final in second on the grid but she took control when her opponent Tristan Ovenden spun wide on the loose section.
Paige drove a controlled race against Ovenden’s more powerful Clio and won by two-thousandths of a second to take maximum championship points.
“I couldn’t believe how close it was in the end,” said Paige. “I was wringing every last possible drop of performance out of the Lotus and just couldn’t go any faster.”
Drew, meanwhile, started with two third places in the first two heats, followed by a second.
In the six-lap final, Drew took her Joker on the first lap and chased down Dave Bell to take the chequered flag in P1.
“I’m over the moon with today,” said Drew. “It’s my first championship win in the BMW Mini and I’m pleased with the way I coped with the pressure.”
Elsewhere, Saturday saw the FUCHS-supported Carlisle-based team at CA1 Sport support four of their crews on the Ypres rally in Belgium, an event noted for its ferociously fast and difficult terrain including slippery farm roads and many deep ditches.
Unfortunately it was a short-lived event for Scot David Bogie, who suffered a heavy roll in his Skoda on stage two, forcing him to retire. Fortunately, the crew emerged unscathed. The race is on to get his car ready for the next round, the Nicky Grist stages rally, in two weeks’ time.
Swede Fredrik Ahlin, with Norwegian co-driver Torstein Erikson, also came an early cropper when he hit a rock and deranged a front corner on the car, but fortunately the service crew was able to get him up and running again, albeit way down the field. The pair then worked hard for the rest of the day’s 20 stages and pulled back to finish a relieved sixth in the BRC classification. Fredrik now lies second in the BRC rankings, three points behind Osian Pryce.
Third on the CA1 Sport roster was Tom Preston, with Stuart Louth taking over co-driving duties in Tom’s Skoda Fabia R5. The pair had an eventful day investigating quite a few of the available ditches, but nevertheless were pleased to get to the finish and score valuable championship points.
But the CA1 weekend belonged to Jamie Anderson in his Ford Fiesta R5, with regular co-driver Ross Whittock, who had a successful weekend with a trouble-free run to fourth overall in the BRC rankings.
There are two big events to look forward to this weekend – The FUCHS LUBRICANTS White Rose Classic and Mintex MSA BHRC.
The White Rose Classic starts and finishes in Malton on Sunday. It is the second running of the event by a team of experienced competitors from Malton Motor Club.
The Co Meath-based ALMC Stages is round five of the 2017 Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship as the focus moves to the closed-road asphalt event in the Republic of Ireland. That also takes place on Sunday.
It was another cracking weekend for FUCHS-backed Shaun Tarlton in the Mini 7 Racing Club S Class Championship, who picked up a win in race one and a third in race two, despite being forced off the track.
Elsewhere, go-karting hotshot Freddie Housley picked up more championship points with a second place finish in his latest race.
Scottish starlet Ashleigh Morris is looking to bounce back this weekend as she returns to action in The Scottish BMW Championship at Knockhill.
In her most recent outing at Rockingham, Ashleigh qualified in P11 – promoted to P10 after another drive was disqualified. A spin on oil upset Ashleigh’s first race somewhat, but she still managed to finish in 12th.
On a scorching Sunday, Ashleigh enjoyed a real ding-dong of a second race and managed to come home in 11th, collecting 10 valuable championship points. And things were to get better as a disqualification meant Ahsleigh was bumped up to P10.
“I am keen to show everyone what I am more than capable of doing,” said a determined Ashleigh.
Dennis Racing, meanwhile, headed to Spa Francorchamps, Belgium and qualified in 48th overall and second in class out of a whopping 61 cars.
Race one went well for Dennis, who finished in 40th overall and second in class to the very quick Honda NSX of Rob Fenn.
The team was hit by suspension problems in race two. They almost made it to the pits before the suspension failed completely, but unfortunately the car did suffer minor damage. The race was stopped shortly after due to a crash on another part of the track.
On two wheels, resurgent SILKOLENE-backed Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne is racing in the British Superbike Championship at Snetterton.
A string of solid results have put Shakey in third position in the championship, and now very much in Showdown contention.
A closing word for our fantastic ambassador Lara Small, who has been named amongst The Telegraph's Top 50 Women in Engineering for 2017. A brilliant achievement!
