Weekly Motorsport Round-Up #4

Simon and Alister Crook topped the FUCHS LUBRICANTS R.A.C Historic Rally Asphalt Rally Championship on round two, the Rallye Salamandre in Belgium.

After a tremendous day of rallying, the top three R.A.C crews were separated by just over a minute-and-a-half.

The Salamandre event marked the championship’s annual foray to Belgium on closed public roads around the town of Beaumont.

It was an excellent result for the Crooks, who were forced out of the opening stage of the first round with engine problems.

Barry Stevenson-Wheeler/John Pickavance kept the pressure on right to the end and finished in second despite a damage-free crash into a garden, while Chris White/Chris Dewsnap had a first class championship debut to finish third.

In the Capital Construction Category 2, the Escort MK1 of Graham Muter/Colin Watson suffered a sizeable accident on the second stage, while a clutch failure sidelined the BMW M3 of Roger Moran and Keaton Williams.

Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBridge dominated The Vintage Car Radiator Company Category 1 in their Porsche 911, while Trevor Hancock and Joanne brought their Mini Cooper home in second despite not having a clutch for the final stage.

Also competing on the Belgian event, but in the modern section, was FUCHS-supported Lancashire driver Steve Brown, together with regular co-drive Paul Stringer.

The pair had to swap their regular Nissan Micra Kit car for an older, less powerful Micra (with over 100K of miles on the clock), although they were still in their same class. After a relatively trouble-free day of closed-road stages, the pair were pleased to finish 42nd overall out of an entry of 90 cars, and picked up a useful haul of FIRC, as well as class, points.

In Round 2 of the MSA NKF Super 4 250 British Championship, karting ace Marcus Hudson finished fifth at Shenington.

Marcus, from King’s Lynn, finished the heats in P5, P5 and P13, putting him eighth in the final grid on a sunny day in Oxfordshire.

Marcus made a cracking start and immediately made up two positions. The car in front then retired with a broken crankshaft, bumping him up to fifth. Towards the end of the race Marcus was catching the car in fourth and finished just 1.8 seconds behind.

Marcus is currently sixth overall in the championship standings ahead of the next meeting at his favourite circuit, Kimbolton, on May 13/14.

Elsewhere, Shaun of ShaunTarltonRacing, powered by TITAN RACE PRO R oil, was in action in the 2017 Mini Se7en S Class Championship at Castle Combe.

A big crowd watched a mixed grid of 34 Mini 7 and Mini 7 S Class cars.

Shaun raced excellently in qualifying and finished first in class out of nine other class cars, an impressive 0.8 seconds ahead of next best.

Race one was short-lived for Shaun with a misfire forcing him out after just one-and-a-half laps.

That DNF meant Shaun started race two in 29th out of 31, but a blistering start saw him make up 10 places in just half a lap. The excitement was brief, though, as the misfire returned and forced the Mini into a premature retreat to the paddock.

There was disappointment, too, for Dennis Racing at The Classic Sports Car Club (CSCC) Thruxton Thriller.

Dennis Hays and the team were hit by a technical fault in qualifying and took the tough decision not to race in the hope of preserving the engine for the rest of the season.

In the National Hot Rods, Gavin Murray and M & M Motorsports now sit fifth overall in the championship and still in with a chance of clinching the title.

In Round 10, Gavin lined up in P8 for the 35 lap final after finishing 10th and 9th in the heats. Gavin made steady progress and eventually crossed the line in fourth.

WQR11 took place at Gavin’s home track of Foxhall Stadium just a couple of days later. Gavin qualified in 16th for the final but did exceptionally well to force his way up to fourth position. There was better to news come, though, as a steward’s inquiry immediately after the race elevated Gavin to third. Further video evidence was studied and Gavin was then promoted to second.

Round 12 of the National Hot Rods takes place at Hednesford Hills Raceway on May Day. On two wheels, Ivan Lintin and the Dafabet Devitt Racing team made a winning start to their 2017 road racing season with the double Lightweight TT race winner producing a barnstorming ride in Sunday’s Supertwins race at Oliver’s Mount to take victory despite starting from the back of the grid.

Having already moved up from last to fourth by the end of the first lap, that became second a lap later as Ivan hunted down leader James Cowton. The latter then lost his chain on the fourth of eight laps to leave Ivan with an unassailable lead.

In other news, FUCHS SILKOLENE-backed Lara Small has switched from her Ducati 1198 to a 796 Ducati Monster. Lara is at Snetterton this weekend racing in the Thundersport Club Bike Championships.

In forthcoming events, the outstanding event is this weekend’s Pirelli Rally, the second round of the British Rally Championship as well as the third round of the FUCHS-supported Historic rally Championship.

The rally begins with a ceremonial start at the Pirelli factory in Carlisle on Saturday morning, before heading out to the Kielder forest for the event stages on Saturday and Sunday morning. Heading the entry list is last year’s winner Fredrik Ahlin from the FUCHS-supported CA1 Sport team, with fellow CA1 drivers seeded at no. 5 David Bogie, no. 11 Jamie Anderson, and no. 18 Tom Preston.

In the Historic Rally, which takes place over the Saturday stages, FUCHS has interest in Stanley Orr at 6, veteran driver Bob Bean at 25, and Kim Gray at 34.

In the British Superbikes, Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne is out to close the gap at the top of the standings and he and the Be Wiser Ducati team travel to Oulton Park for round three of the competition.