The Britpart British Cross Country Championship (BXCC) will resume next weekend when the crews head to the idyllic surroundings of Forrest Estate in South West Scotland for round two.
Adrian Marfell
leads the title battle after his win at round one and he went well in
his Fouquet-Nissan last time the British championship visited the
venue, finishing second overall.
Justin Birchall is
in second place in his Lofthouse Freelander. In between BXCC rounds
Birchall contested the Welsh Hill Rally where he took a convincing
win, he also raced in France.
Another Lofthouse
driver is in third, Mark Jacques in his LS3-engined example. Jacques
was another driver who did the Welsh Hill Rally, sadly retiring on
the final day whilst third overall.
Michael Wilson and
Ian Letman will bring their production-spec Freelander to the event
after a problematic round one which saw assorted parts of the car
needing replaced. “The car is back together after Walters," said Wilson. "We’ve
got a new gearbox, stronger driveshafts and new shocks. We have the
famous Andy Price on the spanners for the event, he knows his way
round a Hippo!”
Chloe Jones won
her class at round one and she’ll be looking for a repeat
performance in Scotland. Jones has a new navigator for the event with
Rebecca Clarkson joining her in the QT 88. Clarkson is driving in the
NORC championship this year, finishing third last time out and she
also navigated for Aston Cox in the Welsh Hill Rally. Clarkson
commented “It’s my first time navigating for Chloe, I’m really
looking forward to it and it’s great to have an all-female crew in
the National A championship for the first time in many years.”
After using his
Land Rover 90 TD5 at the opening round Phill Bayliss and Lance Murfin
will be using their new car at Forrest Estate following a successful
Welsh Hill Rally last month. “We had a great result at the Welsh
Hill Rally, winning our class and finishing 12th overall,” said
Bayliss. “I’m excited to be racing the new machine in Scotland,
it looks like it’ll be a good long course for us to get our teeth
into.”
Insanity Racing’s
Jon Damrel is hoping for better luck at Forrest Estate following a
troublesome weekend at round one. Electrical gremlins and fuelling
issues on day one were followed by event-ending mechanical problems
on day two. “It was going really well,” said Damrel. “We were
increasing speed and confidence and then the centre bearing on the
front prop tore out of its mountings, bending the driver’s floor
alarmingly and putting a significant hole in the bell housing. That
was our event done. Hopefully Scotland will be kinder.”
Andy Degiulio
crashed out of round one but his Milner R5 has been repaired and he’s
looking forward to racing in Scotland.
The BXCC crews
will be racing over a 10.5 mile course using roads all around the
Forrest Estate site. They will be racing alongside crews in the
Scottish Cross Country Championship with the event being promoted by
the Scottish Hill Rally Club. The action starts at 10am on Saturday
with a full day of competition. The event is expected to finish
around 3pm on Sunday.
For more
information on the BXCC please visit crosscountryuk.org. Pictures
from the event will be available to view on
facebook.com/songasportoffroad and video coverage will be provided by
Special Stage.
