BCCC crews all set for Brynffynon battle

The Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship resumes next weekend (14/15th May) with round two being held on the Brynffynon course near Llanwonno in the Rhondda Valley.

The venue has never been used for motorsport before and the landowner and championship organisers have arranged a course made up of farm tracks, moorland roads, pasture land and off-road sections which will test the drivers and their machines to the limit.

An exciting round 1 at Myherin forest near Aberystwyth saw 2010 champion Tim Dilworth kick off his title defence in style as he and navigator Anthony Brinkman took victory in their Peugeot 206 STi. Richard Kershaw returned to the championship to take second place in his GSR 206 Evo 9 with Justin and Louise Birchall rounding off the top three after two days of competition.

The Brynffynon action will start at 10.00am on Saturday and again at 09.00am on Sunday. As usual the event will be filmed for broadcast on Motors TV and there will be hot food and drinks available on site. Spectators are requested to approach the venue via 170:031944.

Entries are available for the BCCC and BCCC Trophy championships, entries are also welcome from anyone who wants to enter the Clubman event which costs £250 for the full weekend or £150 for one day. Please call Championship Secretary Lilian Turley on 01594 810161 or email lilianturley@btinternet.com if you wish to enter the event.

Wright and Wilkinson to head to Hamsterley

Bentham’s David Wright will take a break from his BTRDA rally championship campaign next weekend when he contests the Tour of Hamsterley event in County Durham.

It will be Wright’s first time competing in the forest which used to be used in world championship events. He will do the rally in his Proflex, Drenth, Kumho Tyres and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9 which has been fully repaired after it suffered broken suspension on the last event in Somerset.

“The event is local to my co-driver Michael Wilkinson and he was keen to support it by putting an entry in,” commented Wright.

“It’s good for us as it’s a week before our next BTRDA outing so we will get the chance to get back up to speed with the car and check that everything is working as it should.”

“We’re up against some quick drivers in our class so it looks like it could be a good battle. I have never competed in Hamsterley before but Michael should know where he’s going and will be pushing me on.”

The rally is based in Shildon and all the competitive mileage will take place on forest tracks in Hamsterley.

Becky shines in Pirelli Challenge rally

KC Rally Team driver Becky Kirvan continued her BRC Challenge championship campaign last weekend with an excellent second in class on the Pirelli Challenge rally. Becky, from Burton Pidsea, was contesting the event in her KC, Princes Quay Shopping Centre, Bardahl Oils, Rally4Real, Songasport and Peart Auto Services-backed Ford Fiesta ST and after an encouraging result on the opening championship round in early April she was keen to put in another good performance on the Carlisle-based event.

The rally started in dry and sunny conditions with the Falstone stage to the north of Kielder Water and Becky, together with co-driver Kaz Watts, made a solid start, getting used to the surface of the notoriously tricky Kielder forest roads. The longest stage of the event, Bower, was next and Becky’s only problem was getting held up by another car which had lost a wheel and was travelling slowly along the course.

One stage remained before the crews headed for a service halt and Becky successfully negotiated it despite a couple of high-speed slides.

"The morning stages went quite well," said Becky. "I was cautious in Falstone as the surface was particularly loose which made the car slide around a lot, I did not want to risk a first stage accident."

"I pushed harder in the long stage two but getting stuck behind a car cost us a fair bit of time, the dusty conditions meant that he couldn’t see us so didn’t pull over immediately."

"I continued to press on in the third stage and perhaps pushed a little too hard as there were several places where the Fiesta got out of shape but fortunately I controlled the slides!"

Following the service halt the crews faced another three tough stages in Kielder forest, Shepherdshield, Pundershaw and Chirdonhead. Becky kept her pace up in the first two stages before backing off slightly to ensure she made it to the finish on the final one after seeing several of her fellow competitors off the road. Her tactics paid off as she arrived at the finish at Carlisle racecourse in 16th overall and second in class.

"The stages had several broken cars in them and with one of the crews going off just in front of us on the final stage, I made the decision to reduce my pace and make sure we made it to the finish, although if I'd have known at the time we were only three seconds behind 15th place I think I'd not have backed off quite so much, but that's one of the risks you take I guess! "

"I’m really happy with the result, the test session we did before the Pirelli helped me a lot and I feel I am getting a lot more used to the pace and handling of the Fiesta. There’s still more to come from both the car and myself and I can’t wait for the next championship round."

Becky’s next event will be the Jim Clark Challenge rally at the end of May. Please visit
www.beckykirvan.co.uk or www.facebook.com/beckykirvanrallying to keep up to date with all the latest news and photos from the KC Rally Team.

Images from the Pirelli Rally

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Cristofaro completes toughest rally to date in Cumbria

Milford Haven rally driver Nick Cristofaro successfully completed his toughest event to date when he claimed 14th overall and fifth in class on the Pirelli International rally.

The rally started on Friday evening with two stages in Newcastleton forest and Cristofaro was aiming to immediately push hard but a very tricky road surface saw him have a few hair-raising moments in his TEG Sport, Pirelli, Genpower UK, Autoglym, Millers Oils, Nicky Grist, Cut In Edge and Elite Remapping-backed Fiesta ST.

“I’d planned to push as hard as I could on the opening two stages but the surface of the forest track was like nothing I had experienced before,” said Cristofaro. “It was so loose and very difficult to get grip, it was a real shock to the system. With huge ditches on either side of the road waiting to punish any mistake I decided to back off a bit to make sure we made it to the Saturday stages.”

A tough full day of competition took place on Saturday with ten stages in the famous Kielder forest complex. Cristofaro and co-driver Rob Fagg were lying in 23rd overall and 11th in class as they went into the opening Falstone stage and their aim was to try and progess up the leaderboard as the day went on to try and secure valuable points in both the BRC Formula 2 and Fiesta Sporting Trophy championships.

Cristofaro had a good run through the double loop of the Falstone and Bower stages and he had already moved up to 18th overall and 8th in class.

“I started to gain confidence in using the car on the marbled surface as we got further into the rally and I put some good times in the bag which got me up the leaderboard from our overnight position. It was difficult to compete against the newer Fiestas though as they are a lot faster on the straights and this event had the longest straights I have ever seen.”

The rally finished with a double loop of three stages south of Kielder Water, Shepherdshield, Pundershaw and Chirdonhead. Cristofaro’s only problem was a small off on the first Chirdonhead stage when he came over a crest too quickly and went into a ditch. The car bounced out onto the road but was facing the wrong way and in reversing to turn round the gearbox was damaged which put extra pressure on Cristofaro not to spin again.

The remaining stages were successfully completed and Cristofaro arrived at the finish at Carlisle racecourse in 14th position overall, fifth in class and third in the Fiesta ST championship.

“I learnt a lot from the event, it was definitely the toughest I’ve ever done and it’s pleasing to have got a good result at the end of it. Thanks to all my sponsors and TEG Sport for a fantastic car set up. Thanks also to Rallyschool for the loan of a recce car – I would not have been able to get a good result without it.”

The result moves Cristofaro into joint fourth in the BRC Formula 2 championship and he remains second in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy. His championship campaigns will resume in May with the Jim Clark International rally. Please visit www.nickcristofaro.co.uk for all the latest news.