The third round of this years MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group was run at the fast South Wales circuit of Pembrey, and it saw a day of reigning champions get their 2015 season back on track.

Julian Godfrey in his Ford Fiesta won the MSA Supercar class in association with Odyssey batteries, while Stuart Emery won the MSA Supernational’s.

Godfrey had made the front row of the grid, alongside Andy Scott in the Albatec Racing Peugeot 208 with the Ford Fiesta of Kevin Procter on pole. The new joker at Pembrey provided a good variance at the South Wales venue, the first time that one has been used and Godfrey made good use of it and took his straight from the off, as did Mundy and while pole sitter Kevin Procter was left at the start in his Ford Fiesta, Scott made a good start to take the lead, with Ollie O’Donovan running wide in his Ford focus.

Steve Harris in the SH Racing DS3, and Andy Grant in the Ford Focus slotted into second and third respectively. Impressing throughout the day, with his approach James Grint on his Supercar debut was in fourth and well placed.

With both Procter and Steve Mundy in the Ford Focus out, the attention was firmly on Scott and Godfrey, who was making progress all the time.

As Godfrey took second place, when Harris took his joker lap, and O’Donovan suffered another puncture to drop back the gaps were now fairly spread out.

When eventually Scott took his joker on the penultimate lap, Godfrey made his move and took the lead, this time holding it all the way to the flag. Scott took a fine second, with Grant third in his Focus.

James Grint took a fine fourth overall with Steve Harris dropping back to fifth and O’Donovan continuing to finish sixth. At the finish a delighted Grint said “It’s been an amazing day, the car is incredibly quick and the team did a great job, so it’s given me confidence ahead of this weekend as we head to Belgium.” Team boss Scott was just as content with his days work and said “The Final was always going to be a tall order because Julian was very quick in the third heat, but there was always the chance that if I took a good start, which I did. If I’d taken my joker a lap before I could possibly have won, but it’s great for the championship. Only Julian has taken any points off me, and I have to be happy with two wins and a second from three rounds.”

In the MSA Supernational Stuart Emery made up for a poor start to 2015 with a very well judged win in his UK Battery Peugeot 206 from pole, over Gareth Wood in the Ford Ka. It was a good final, with several other battles through the field as well, to keep everyone watching. Allan Tapscott took third in his Vauxhall Corsa RWD.

The Renault Clio of Steve Cozens was fourth and current Supernational leader Daniel Rooke, fifth in the Citroën AX. Rooke had been engeaged in a great tussle with the BMW M3 of Gary Simpson, with some very close racing on each lap.Adding to the entertainment in the Supernationals was the father and daughter battle between Dave and Paige in the Lotus Exige, and in this it was Paige that came out on top. Earlier in the day in the heats Martin Hawkes looked like what was a fairly heavy accident, but a quick response from the rescue teams and medics saw him walking about the paddock later in the afternoon and although a tad sore still enjoying the rest of the days racing.

The MSA Junior Rallycross was won by Bradley Durdin, with Sam Jones showing no lack of effort to take the runners up spot. Drew Bellerby held on to finish third, with Jennie Hawkes fourth. Although this was Jones first event, this results now closes the gap to just fourteen points between the top three, and bodes well for the rest of the year in a really competitive class.

Once again the Swiftsports provided a superb days heat action and finals. Jake Taylor won the B Final to make the grid for the A Final and it was here that Tristan Ovenden once again took the win. That said, it was a restart when in the first attempt, Nathan Heathcote was ruled out of the day’s action.

On the restart it was pole man Aidan Hill, who had driven well all day that made the best start and took the lead briefly, before spinning and allowing Ovenden into the lead and on to take victory. Jack Brown pushed Ovenden all the way, with Kent duo Darren Scott and Rob Maynard battling all the way to take third and fourth respectively. Fifth was the ever-improving Jake Taylor with Hills recovering to take sixth. A puncture on the last lap dropped Jake Harris down the order.

Craig Lomax took the win in the Super1600’s battle with Mark Gamble. The pair had enjoyed some terrific tussles during the day in the heats, and although Gamble initially led, his car slowed and allowed Lomax past to win. Lomax said “It was a good day at Pembrey today and the battles with Mark were really good. Hopefully we can have some more of that during the year now.”

The RX150 saw a great battle between Marc Scott and Chrissy Palmer. Scott led for most of the race, but on the penultimate lap a slip allowed Palmer to get past, and though Scott harried him all the way Palmer held on to win. Dave Bellerby took a fine third overall, with Brett Harris fourth and Stephen Jones fifth.

In the Hot Hatch, there were two battles to watch in the final with just over a second separating Tomasz Weilgosz in the Peugeot 106 and Jeff Hope-Davies in the Citroen Saxo. Third was Paul Maybourne with Robert Potyra fourth and Mariusz Mehlberg fifth all driving Citroën Saxos but the trio had been involved in a fascinating race long battle that was not settled until after the chequered flag.

John Clayton took the BMW Mini class ahead of David Bell who retired midway through the final.

In the Retro Rallycross it was the Ford Escort BDA of Ray Morgan that took the spoils, but he had been pushed all day and in the finals too by James Harrold in the VW Beetle. Lance Foster took third in his Mini, while Jordan Bowes showed well to take fourth in a similar car. Fifth went to Paul Smith in the VW Polo while it was the Mazda 323 of Daniel Greaves that finished sixth.

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