Ford Fiesta driver Julian Godfrey claimed victory at the third round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group, held at the Knockhill Circuit in Scotland today (11th May), to extend his championship lead.

It was MSA Supercar returnee Ollie O’Donovan (Ford Focus) who qualified on pole position for the final in his recently acquired ex-Kevin Procter Ford Focus, but Steve Hill (Mitsubishi Evo) made the best start in the final to lead the pack, ahead of O’Donovan and Godfrey. Godfrey took his joker on the second lap, before chasing Hill down until the Mitsubishi man took his joker on the last lap - only just beaten to the finish line by Godfrey. O’Donovan finished third having suffered from steering troubles with his Focus, with Steve Harris (Ford Focus) in fourth. Simon Horton (Subaru Impreza) retired from the event after the first heat with driveline problems.

Stuart Emery (Peugeot 206) took his third win in succession in the MSA SuperNational division, despite failing to score a time in the first heat. Allan Tapscott (Vauxhall Corsa) made the best start in the final and led the first lap, but retired at the start of lap two with transmission failure. Emery claimed the lead when Tapscott had taken his joker on lap one, and was never headed. Gary Dixon (Vauxhall Astra) finished second with Guy Corner (Peugeot 206) scoring his best result to date in third. Vincent Bristow (BMW 328) finished fourth ahead of Malcom Boyd (Toyota MR2), Steven Rattue (MG ZR) and Michael Boak (Audi TT) who was slowed by turbo failure.

The MSA Junior final had to be re-started after Charlie Bean rolled his Suzuki Swift on the first attempt. The championship leader made it onto the grid at the restart, but soon pulled off with brake problems, a legacy of his roll. Jake Taylor (Suzuki Swift) held the lead of the final until the end of lap three, when Drew Bellerby (Suzuki Swift) seized the advantage to claim her first victory of the season. Taylor finished second with Jennie Hawkes (Suzuki Swift) completing her second ever event in third.

Defending champion Graham Rodemark made the best start in the single-make Suzuki Swift final but it was pole man Chris Mullan who claimed victory having pushed Rodemark hard for the first two laps until Mullen took his joker. When Rodemark took his, Mullen jumped into the lead. Championship leader Tristan Ovenden finished third while Rob Maynard came home fourth. Jack Brown finished fifth with Mark Dodsworth rounding out the top six.

Super1600 was dominated by Jack Thorne (Citroen C2) who claimed victory ahead of Phil Chicken (Citroen C2) in the final. Ashley Walton (Citroen C2) made his debut in the category; he finished all three heats but didn’t make it out for the final.

The BMW Mini category was a hard fought affair. Championship leader David Bell eventually wound up second in the final behind Kris Hudson, with Rebecca Ryder coming home third. Keifer Hudson failed to make the start of the final, his Mini succumbing to damage sustained earlier in the day.

James Harrold (VW Beetle) made a welcome return to the Retro Rallycross Challenge at Knockhill, and set fast times in the first two heats. Harrold was again forced out with bad luck and mechanical troubles, a broken water pump ending his day and any chance of a good result. Ray Morgan (Ford Escort) won the final, ahead of local men Dave Black (Vauxhall Astra) and Ian Biagi (MBC Mini). Paul Smith (VW Polo) finished fourth. Lance Foster (Rover Mini) also succumbed to mechanical problems, putting him out of the event after the second heat.

Citroen Saxo driver Craig Lomax dominated the Hot Hatch category, setting fastest time in all three heats to claim pole position and lead the final from lights to flag, despite close competition from Tomasz Marciniak (Citroen Saxo) who finished second. Dave Ellis (Citroen Saxo) came home third, while Tomasz Wielgosz (Peugeot 106) and Stephen Gaunt (Citroen Saxo) didn’t make the start of the final.

Scottish based driver Marc Scott increased his championship lead at Knockhill by winning the LHMC RX150 category. Kevin Feeney made the best getaway at the start but was overtaken by Scott at the end of lap one. Former rally driver James Grint started on row two of the grid and was fighting his way up the order until his engine expired on lap three. Scott won, while Feeney just hung on to second, recovering from a spin in the last corner to beat Richard Moore in a race to the line. Adam Sargent finished fourth ahead of Larry Sargent in fifth. Don Macloed and John McGovern both rolled out of the event in heat one and would not return, their buggies too damaged to continue.

Hal Ridge on behalf of British Rallycross

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