Wigan racer Tony Lynch endured a weekend to forget as the MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group headed to Pembrey in South Wales for the third round of the year.

Westhoughton-based Tony went into the weekend hoping to bounce back from an unfortunate retirement in round two at Lydden Hill, where a damaged wheel had derailed his challenge in the Super National class final.

With his Lucas Oil Team Geriatric MINI Cooper S fully repaired, and with the addition of a new close ratio gearbox in the latest stage of the ongoing development of the car, Tony made the trip from Lancashire in optimistic mood but it would turn out to be the team’s most challenging weekend in some time.

Things started well in the opening heat when Tony produced one of the moves of the day as he battle for the lead, only for the race to be halted due to an accident for one of his rivals.

Unfortunately, Tony would then suffer driveshaft failure when the race restarted, with his team working to change the part ahead of heat two. Astonishingly, the same issue then struck in heat two, leaving Tony in the ‘B’ Final after the third and final heat - which passed without problems - had been completed.

Keen to make use of his second chance to qualify for the main final, Tony set about making up places off the line but a clash with Mike Howlin saw him drop away from the lead. Despite his best efforts, Tony fell just short of taking victory, leaving him to watch on from the sidelines when the main event took place.

“We expected Pembrey to be tough as a power circuit, but we didn’t expect it to go like that,” he said. "It was so frustrating for me behind the wheel and while my boys were as magnificent as ever in dealing with everything that was thrown at them, they didn’t deserve to have to go through the issues they did.

"When the car was running as it should, it was clear to see that the new gearbox has made a huge improvement to the car once again and will allow us to take another step forwards in performance. Unfortunately, we didn’t anticipate the change putting so much additional strain on the driveshaft, with the end result being two failures that ultimately ended our challenge.

“Clearly we now need to address the driveshaft problem in time for the next round so that we can really make the most of the new gearbox and continue to push forwards up the grid. Luckily, we haven’t had to deal with many weekends like this in recent years but the good thing is that we know what needs to be done and we’ll come out fighting when we get to Mondello Park next time out.”

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