BCCC Rounds 3 & 4

Apologies for the delay in the write this, folks. The owners have been away and had me and the others put in kennels. Whilst it was hoot, I was without a net connection for three weeks whilst the humans sunned ‘emselves overseas. They’ve come back smelling funny. How much interest do you think there would be for getting more kennels fitted with a fat-pipe wi-fi system, so at least I can spod the web when we’re ‘inside’? And just to injury to insult, in a subsequent bin-raid I found a left over chop and well, lets just say after being in the fridge for a month it took some revenge; four weeks of revenge.

Anyhoo, imagine if you will, a primordial forest, steam rising off of the ground where the tree have parted to allow sunlight in, glades flashing from light to dark. The air is thick with small insects, swarming, clouding and biting – like Brownian motion with teeth (yeah, strictly speaking it’s a proboscis, but bear with me, it’s my analogy after all). Larger creatures stir and dart about under the blackness of the near-perpetual tree canopy, their noise lost to the wind-blown rustling of leaf and needle. Smaller creatures get eaten by the slightly larger ones, and the slightly larger ones themselves find out what is like to get scoffed by still larger creatures. Here is not a good place to be something small and furry – if stoats and weasels and killer otters don’t get you, some feathered fiend will drop out of the fuzzy air and spear you with beak or claw; or possibly both.

It was a different kind of animal however, that brought good people from across the country to this wet and windy bottom-corner of Scotland. These animals consumed those that had died millions of years ago; those that had been subject to epochs of geology and a bit of subsequent tweaking by the alchemists. These animals were the race-cars and they consume the dead and give us awesome and spectacular life. They should defecate nothing more than exhaust and a raucous bellow whilst hurling rocks and farting fire. Some however crapped slightly bigger chunks; chunks shaped like, say, mud-flaps, tyres, wheels, body panels and possibly even significant lumps of powertrain. However, like all good pet owners, the usual rule of ‘bag it and bin it’ applied.

Castle O'er

So, the third round of the British Cross Country Championship arrived in a wet and blowy Castle –Oer – a land of midges, pine trees and some startlingly furry animal droppings. Seriously, they look like little legless voles. Did I mention the midges already?

Suffice to say, Friday set-up was wet and cold, so much so that the damp worked it’s way into the ‘doggle-cam’ and fritzed my camera. In fact it was that wet I spent much of the day in my coat – orange side out, but at least I got to see a lot of the course prior to the race.

The course itself was about 10 miles long and was mostly fast gravel road. However, to throw a spanner in the works were a couple of very gnarly off road sections. The first of these was the infamous ‘mud-mile’ – which is just that; a mile of very rough and unforgiving ruts and holes that can swallow cars and spit out very much the worse for wear. It’s a real test of water proofing and bump-stops. Much later came the two usual quarry sections – simple loops up, into, and out of some old stone works. There aren’t challenging as such, but do feature tight entrances and tight exits. The final mile was another mud-run, this time in newly dug road. This was slippery and offered little opportunity to go off course, unless things went really wrong. Too slow through here and you’d bog down badly and haemorrhage time; too fast through here and you’d run the risk of leaving the ruts and joining the trees and squirrel poop for the afternoon. Oddly however, just from wandering about I noticed something intriguing – when the track was wet, it offered some grip (out of the trees). When the track dried (which wasn’t often) it became quite dusty and the surface started to break up and become a little more mobile underneath the paws – it lost grip. Now, that might throw a curveball into the proceedings……if the rain stopped for long enough!

So the surface was potentially a tricky one, however the biggest danger lay elsewhere – junctions 16 to 17. Cat 1 gravel it may be, but in the past it’s proved deceptively treacherous. Two years ago, this is the area when Ben Gott threw his TMC some 80m down the track and into the scrub – it was a horrendous scene, but thankfully both Ben (king of the ear-rubs) and his ‘Tomtom’ Steve walked away with minor bumps. The year before that both Ray Kempster and Tim Marsh (Mr TMC himself) both stacked big time on this same patch of track. Tim escaped with dented pride and a lost lap, it took Rays Pro-truck out of the event with some significant body damage. It has destroyed a Desert Warrior too. As fearsome as it’s reputation may be, hopefully, this year would see no big accidents. Whilst the cars are bit to an awesome safety standard, no one wants to see ‘em tested.

With the rain still falling, tomorrow could be an interesting day.

Saturday started overcast but midge free and thankfully not raining. I slipped my lead before the pits awoke and started to make my way to parts of the circuit. I was well above the service field as the good folk below awoke and the smell of hot bacon and sausages drifted up the valley to me. ‘Bugger it’ I thought, and I wended back to service to see who I could exploit tidbits from. I was pleased to see that my previous comments regarding the application of mustard has been heeded, which is greatly appreciated by the author, and the humans he has to share a car with!

Most of the usual faces had made the journey to Castle O’er, with a number of notable exceptions. Ryan Cooke in the no.5 LR special wasn’t about, neither was Ray Kempster, who can usually go quite well here (2006 excepted). Lee Mansfield (no. 21 Wildcat) was elsewhere, but the Little Midlands crowd still managed a good turnout in the service park. Ian Gregg in the no.26 Special has been putting in some very creditable times this year and decided to give Lockerbie a miss. Also missing the round was Martin Dean in the usually immaculate no. 35 DJM Evo4, but this was due to incomplete repairs to his car after Driffield. Ripping the engine and gearbox out seems to have proved an extensive and time-consuming repair. Hopefully he’ll be back in the frame for the next round. Lets also spare a thought for Dan Evans, who having gone on holiday seemingly didn’t have enough money for a flight home, so drove a Land Rover across the Bering Straits instead of taking the easy option. Well, they say every problem has a solution!

It has oft been said that trying to win the event on the first run of the first day might not be a good idea. Keith Lewis in his now-retried Simmbughini wasn’t a great believer in that philosophy. Neither it seems was no.1 Richard Kershaw. His little red Pug-a-like took off from the line like a scalded cat, and bellowed around the 10 mile course in pretty much the same style. He was slowed considerably along the first mud-mile, but so was everyone else, and on the cat 1 he was stupendously quick, and looked clean (in a manner of speaking) and tidy. His corners were tight and sweeping his slides held elegantly. He set the fastest time on run one (albeit by 1 second) and the third fastest on run 2, however run three didn’t go all Richards way and his time wasn’t even in the top ten. Could he be vulnerable here? To answer any doubters he clawed his way back up the time charts to deliver a third again on run four and back another fastest time for run five (this time by a 3 seconds) – the final run of the day. He finished the day with a cumulative time of 1:09.12.

Local(ish) man John Cockburn also had the bit between his teeth and yet again was out to prove that the solid axles on his on-loan Wildcat (no.2) could be the equal of independent springing of the Pug-a-likes etc. His laps didn’t look as tidy, with bigger slides and more air, but his straight-line speed was simply staggering. He stormed through the first run stopping the clock at 13.49 – good enough for third. However despite shaving two seconds of off this time for the run three, it was only good enough for 6th – was he on the limit of what the Wildcat could do without causing it major pain? Run three saw John deliver another 13.47, but he was able to best this by five seconds with a 13.42 on run four, and again on run five. Five runs within seven seconds of each other – now that’s consistency! He was rewarded with a 1:08.47 for his hard work and took the top spot for the day from under Richards nose.

Colin Gould was really coming to terms with his new Milner Pro-truck R5 and three second fastest times put him at the head of the leader board early on. However, things didn’t quite go Colin’s way and a difficult fourth run saw him slip down the board with a 16.40. He was still in touch though until a maximum on run five left him needing a lot of other folk having a bad time of things. Colin is still on a learning curve with the car so as long as he could get the thing running properly he would go out tomorrow, all guns blazing – not only in the hope of better finish, but also just to put the wind up his fellow competitors. Lets just say he has an endearing habit of doing just that.

Martin Gould was having a better time of things on Saturday with the venerable no.17 Mattseratti (former Championship winner in the hands of both ‘Big Bro’ Colin and Richard Kershaw) and a series of consistent times in and around the top runners saw him finish the day with a 1:09.00. This saw him sitting very satisfactorily near the top of the field in second spot, just 13 seconds behind John. Good effort that man!

However, at the end of Saturday, Tim Dilworth had wrestled his 2ltr Pug-a-like up to the bumper of Colins Mattsi and was only three seconds behind him. His first run wasn’t as he had wanted, but he then went out with the bit between his teeth and took his dinky-engined car screaming around the forests with some finesse and delivered one fastest and one second-fastest time. He had laid his cards on the table and Tim knows how to count the deck.

Rounding out the top five was another live-axle car – this time driven and directed by brother and sister team Simon and Karen Bown. Simon had delivered a third fastest and fourth fastest time and his consistency on the other runs saw him rounding out the top five with a hugely respectable 1:09.22. Very few saw that one coming and it stood as testament to the old adage that inorder to finish first, first you gotta finish.

We’d usually expect to see Dan Lothouse mixing it up near the top of charts and with two fastest times under his belt (including the simply awesome 13.09 – a time unbeaten not only that day, but untouchable for the entire weekend) it was a tough break when he had to take a maximum on run three. He fought back with a strong time (second fastest) on run five, but it was only enough to give him a cumulative time of 1:30.20 – outside the top ten and in no way indicative of the performance he had already delivered.

So, the five top runners separated by 25 seconds after 50miles of racing - things really couldn’t be closer at the top. Lets put it this way, with a ten mile lap, a puncture could cost you more than a couple of minutes, a spin could cost you 30 seconds plus. As Saturday had already showed, just not getting the car hooked up on the circuit can put a dent in your prospects. The race was far from over. We awaited Sunday with bated breath.

Sunday started off a drier day than Saturday – the rain had held off most of the night and the track was in serious risk of drying off. In the forests, little wisps of steam rose off the track where the sunlight broke through the trees. It really was quite pretty. My excursions around the track had led to me to a number of interesting smells but meant I missed any pickings around the XoX wagon. I wasn’t there when the first car launched, but by ‘eck, I heard it. There was a bark and a bellow and the birds went quiet whilst they got their bearing on just what had kicked off down the hill. They settled back into chirping once they realised it wasn’t a threat, they just kept away from the tantalising bits of open track. Not daft, these birds.

John Cockburn was making a good start, trying to match his time and consistent form of yesterday. He came passed me on the second mud mile on an absolute flyer. But then it all went wrong. Whether he choose to leave the ruts and try and new line, or whether he just got it all a bit too quick I’ll never know; but the Wildcat left the ruts at speed and bogged down alarmingly in the soft verge to the left of the track – thankfully before the trees had a chance to get their limbs on the car. Despite the power he had at his right paws beck and call, John was unable to extricate the Wildcat and his day, and his weekend came skidding to a halt. Not unlike John, actually.

Following a steady performance yesterday, Martin Gould had realised he was in with a chance of taking the win - not if he was lucky, but if he was good. But he struggled to come to terms with the drying track on the first run and his time was well outside the top ten. Not where he wanted to be and now he really needed to be on top on his game. And he wasn’t just on top of his, he was bloody inspired and he pushed hard and got an awesome performance out of the thunderous Mattsi. His run two time may have been third fastest but he was only 5 seconds off of the fastest time and achieved his best lap of the weekend. More surprisingly was that equalled the 13.29 set by ‘Big Bro’ Colin. Both come in one second behind Dan Lofthouse, who was yet again demonstrating that what he lacked in brute horses he made up for with stylish driving. Martin third run gave him a fifth fastest time, but on his last run he pulled an absolute blinder and whilst others struggled, he excelled and posted the second fastest time for the run. For his efforts and steely determination he bagged himself the third step on the podium – richly deserved and a demonstration that Martin and the Mattsi are tough, tough combination.

Colin was fast straight out the box on Sunday – probably a demonstration of his experience and nerve – where others may have struggled he just nailed some blinding times. First run – third fastest; second run – third fastest; third run – first fastest. He was on a charge and whilst he couldn’t answer Richard Kershaws times he was still in touch. On the last run of the day however he had an absolute mare and had to take his second maximum for the weekend dropping him to a frustrating final placing of 24th overall. If nothing else, Colin was able to prove that his new car has the potential to perform strongly, and moreover, to win. His is a package to be feared.

……that’s not supposed to sound quite as rude as it does!

Dan was also having a superb day - second fastest times on runs one and two and a fourth on run three. Then came his ‘piece du resistance’, as the poodles say; run four is where he proved that his 13.09 from yesterday was no fluke and he delivered a beautifully driven 13.10 – the fastest time of the run and second fastest time of the weekend. Sadly however, he would never overcome his max from Saturday – but despite this he was able to work his way up to a creditable12th overall.

In many respects it was an unusual weekend – it wasn’t necessarily those with the very fastest times that won. Tim Dilworth had made a strong performance on the Sunday and was quietly building on his fourth place from yesterday, but where others had trouble, Tim drove steadily and concertedly and accrued a series of top five times (with a third fastest on run three thrown in for good measure). His cumulative time of 2:04.31 gave him the second step of the podium. A surprise result? No – when he reigns in his exuberance he produces a remarkably measured drive. I’m not going to say it’s down to either Tim, or his long-term nav Anthony, because they’re both absolute nutters, but they really can push that car around. This weekends drive was demonstration in keeping your head whilst everybody else looses theirs. It was also a demonstration of driving within the limits of the track, and the car. Well done, lads.

That really leaves one key spot. Having been sitting in second at the close of yesterday, behind John, Richard Kershaw decided to state his authority, and as result he turned the Sunday into an object lesson in domination. His first two runs gave him two fastest times. His third run brought him second fastest and cemented his victory. For the final run, he only had to finish well, and he did. Even backing off he delivered a strong third fastest run time. It’s easy to say that after Johns misadventure into the scenery Richards victory was inevitable, it would also be an mistruth. He still had to fight, not only against the competitors snapping at his heels but also with the environment in which he races. He could have spun, or stacked his car, but the fact of the matter is his experience in both car prep and driving makes his a pretty intimidating package. He took a well earned, first place overall.

We haven’t said a lot about Neil Davey so far, but the affable northerner was kinda running his own race in his awesomely powerful Pug-a-like. For his measured driving and his steady succession of top ten times he was rewarded with a cumulative 2:15.00 and quality 4th overall. Then there’s Ian Bartrum in the surprisingly reliable no.2 Warrior Storm. He hadn’t been having the best day of things, but was still happy enough at one point to help resurrect Mike Morans recumbent Bowler at one point. It probably came as big surprise to Ian that he still achieved fifth overall. Again, whilst he wasn’t setting shattering times, he was smooth, consistent and kept his Warrior painted-side up and out of the trees – good effort, that man. Following his tremendous off during the ’06 round Ben Gotts tidy driving in the no.18 TMC earned him 6tth overall – another good performance which should see his race number get smaller for next year.

That was the racing, then there was the ‘getting out of the service park. As had become traditional for the BCCC this year, extricating the Championship Carnival become a dance of flying mud, sideways trailers and heavy agricultural equipment. All credit to them in two -wheel drive cars that got themselves out without help. Even if some of ‘em did leave not inconsiderable parts of body trim behind.

Tiverton.

The next round of the Championship forewent the usual forests and military grounds in favour of open, Devonian farmland. At the start of the year it promised to be a dusty and fast venue, with a track threading it’s way around a series of crop fields. Now however, whilst the track still zig-zagged across the fields it was far from dry and dusty. What felt like 12 years of rain had fallen in the area since the Yule season and the ground was saturated. The red clay stuck to everything and could clog paws and tyres alike without discrimination. We should be getting used to mud by now - Baden Hall gave us all (spectators, marshalls, racers and pets) a hard lesson in car control, however compared to Tiverton, that was the mock-exam – now came the real thing. There would be no tarmac or gravel to relieve the strain and after the early runs there wouldn’t even be grass. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you ‘The Fast and the Furious 4 – Tiverton Drift’. You think I’m kidding? Go look at the pictures! Yes, them tumuli and burial mounds that seem to be wnadering about are actually well-prepped, high performance race cars. Yes, even them that looked like they had turfed rooves.

Most of the big names had made the journey down, although to shake things up John Cockburn didn’t bring his on-load Wildcat. No, this time he bought an on-loan Bowler Nemesis. His objective was to make an assessment of the Nemos steering on behalf of its owner – the weather however, had other ideas. Chris Hammond was giving his R5 Pro-truck its final shake-down before trucking it to southern France for the awesome Rallye Des Cimes. The question on his lips was ‘is the gearbox now sorted’, the answer would be ‘we can only hope so’. Oh, nearly forgot to mention – local yokel Paul Leworthy had promised to bring his US-inspired Venom Pro-truck along for it’s Championship debut, and to his word, it arrived Saturday morning – a little late, but considering he was still rebuilding it that morning, he was doing too badly. This racer has had a protracted and troubled birth, so to actually see it running would be a testament the effort Paul has poured into this car.

So, Saturday dawn threatened rain, and it delivered on threat – off and on for most of the day. As a result the grip level available would vary somewhere between bupkis and bugger all. Not only would this risk catching out the unwary at the start of the day, but also keep drivers on their toes for the whole day. Overconfidence and contempt could well be rewarded with an unwanted visit into the less forgiving parts of the scenery.

The affable Ben Gott made a magnificent start in his snarling no. 18 TMC, his car prep and driving experience delivered him a well-earned 5th fastest run (5.05) on the first run and established him as potentially one to watch during the weekend. His second run went totally tits-up however and he took a maximum time. He never really recovered after this and his lack of comfort was apparent in his subsequent times. Usually he can just shrug off a knock to his confidence, but this weekend he struggled to regain is spectacular fist run form. He finished the day way outside the top ten – an unusual position for the man.

The scarab-esque Millington Mattseratti of Ian Rochelle took fourth fastest time (5.03) as it tore around the course with its characteristic lupine howl. He’s one of the few competitors running a 4 cylinder motor, and what it lacks in cylinders it makes up for in shear output. The noise makes even the hairs on the back of my neck stand out, and being a smooth-coated breed there’s a few of them, too. On over run it can spit the occasional tongue of fire, which only adds to the awe of this diminutive looking car. His first lap was a masterclass of precision and control – especially considering his utter lack of low-end grunt – if that engine ain’t revving, it goes nowhere, but high revs and low grip don’t often make for a winning combination. On this run though, Ian was proving the old adage wrong. His second run however proved the old adage correct and whilst trying to steer around a large, and fairly fetid pool his car slid serenely into one of those less-forgiving bits I mentioned earlier. He needed recovery from the ditch and earned a maximum time as a result. Worse still, what seemed a relatively minor incident had actually mangled his offside front suspension and Ia n was forced to withdraw. That car may be light, and it’s certainly fast, but is it tough enough to get Ian into the finishing spots his driving is capable of? I can see some major rework being made over the winter break.

Colin Gould has been demonstrating that his new (and shockingly yellow) Milner R5 Pro-truck is a very capable, and potentially race-winning package. A combination of well thought out suspension, good weight balance and very grunty Japanese v8 power seems to be suiting Colins driving style. His third fastest time on run one (4.57) gave him a qulaity start. He followed this with a 5.50, which was joint third fastest, but run 3 saw him slip to fifth overall as he started to struggle with the car and conditions. The struggles continued on run four and he was a minute and half behind the usual front runners. It was also to be his last run of the day and he withdrew – yet another big name had gone.

Tim Dilworth delivered a simply blistering first run in his no.9 Scooby powered Pug-a-like. Despite some treacherous conditions he slid and scuttled and drifted his way around the opening lap with his car wailing like a banshee. His 4.51 wasn’t going to be beaten – all weekend. Proving that is wasn’t a fluke, he delivered fastest times on run two and three. His seeming domination of the day however stopped abruptly on run four with a close encounter with the scenery. He dropped way outside the top ten with a resulting maximum, but unlike Ian and Colin, he was still running. One thing with Tim, if he’s still running, he can still be threat. He will give his car monumental pain if as long as he thinks he ‘s a chance of a good finish. So, on runs five and six, he dug his heals in a started to haul is way back up the leader board. He’d finish Saturday in tenth, breathing hard down the neck of no.101 Martin James.

Steven Smith has been putting in strong performances all year in the green no.23 ‘JRG Special’. I like this car and just like the Lofthouse LD4, it shows the possibilities of a ‘home built special’. It’s not a pretty car by any means (well, it is compared to the previous evolution of the car) but it’s independently sprung and independently built. And it goes like stink. John Griffith, the brains behind the car can feel proud that he can build something capable of keeping up with the mega-bucks motors that populate the front of the BCCC field. But dude, your aesthetics need work! Anyroad, Stevens a cool-headed driver and by keeping his car in the groove and out of scenery he cunningly crept his way into fith spot, and steadfastly remained there for the rest of the day. Despite the best efforts of Mr ‘AT4x4’ himself (Mark Andrews) and the bellowing no.22 pug-a-like, and Martin James in the no.101 special he wasn’t gonna give that 5th spot up. He’d earned it, he was going to keep it.

Neil Davey was having a consistent day, if nothing else and started the day with a fifth fastest time and then delivered an unbroken stream of fourth fastest times in the no.4 Pug-a-like. His Jag v8 seemed under-stressed and so did Neil. He was steady, smooth and seemingly very much in control. He finished the day in a hard-earned and well deserved fourth spot.

Current champion (and no.1) Richard Kershaw and good friend Martin Gould had locked themselves into a spectacular battle over third and second position. What makes it really good is that Martins no.17 Mattseratti was the car Richard used to win two previous British titles before moving onto Jap powered Pug-a-like. Martin yet again was proving that there was plenty of competitive life in the venerable old dog yet. For the first thrre runs, Richard was holding second place with a death grip and like Neil, was delivering smooth laps in the axle-grease conditions. Martin was a little more flamboyant in his driving and had proceeded from seventh on the first run up to fifth on run two. He held the spot on run three and then decided that Richards second spot was ripe for the picking. Martin finished run four in third and put in a time nearly 10 seconds quicker than Richard. He pulled the same trick on run four, this time with a twenty second advantage and started run six only six seconds behind Richard. Another fine lap on run 6 and Martin finally bested Richard with a fastest time to finish the day in second spot with a cumulative 36.31. Richard however was only 7 seconds behind. Tomorrow, could be good!

Dan Lofthouse was looking comfortable with the conditions and he seemed to be able to adapt his traditionally ‘drifty’ driving style to the grip available. He was seventh fastest and very much in touch on run one and moved up to 6th on run two. However, whilst everyone else was seeing times fall to the six minute bracket, Dan stayed consistent in the 5.50 bracket, moving astonishingly to third, then into first on runs three and four respectively. Whilst he loosing time, he wasn’t being slowed anywhere near as much as his fellow competitors. On run five he consolidated his position and seemed totally unphased with the second fastest time he delivered on the final run for the day. Mind you seeing as he was only two seconds slower than Martin, I doubt he was really that bothered. It takes more than that to ruffle this young mans feathers. He was still 1.05 ahead of Martin.

1.05 seems like a long time in racing, but considering Martin had pulled back that kind of gap over Richard during the day, he could potentially close the gap to Dan. I said tomorrow was going to interesting.

Sunday saw lightly clouded skys and a driving course. The previous evening had been dry so things were looking good for some fast and tight racing - even if the track now appeared to resemble the Somme.

Steven Smith started out as he left off yesterday and from the first run we saw times starting to come down again. Steven delivered a fifth fastest time and held onto his fifth spot overall. However he had a nightmare on run two, and although not taking a maximum he took a time outside the top 20. His hard work yesterday paid off though, and his resulting slid down the leader board was arrested in the p8 spot. A workman like set of times on the following three runs saw him back on pace to regain a place and consolidate his position. He finished the weekend with a well-deserved 7th overall. His car was still ugly, though!

Another one of the surprise packages in the BCCC is Steve Lloyd in the no.104 Milner Pro-truck. This is Steves first year in the BCCC and considering he spent last year ripping it up in the Challenge truck scene, he’s putting in a damned fine performance. Sure, he’s been able to hurl some money at his racing, but he’s delivering results. He spent Saturday reducing his times and positioning himself within striking distance of the top runners and a solid time on run 2 saw Steve drop into fifth spot ahead of the come-back King Tim Dilworth. He held fifth on run three and put in another strong time on run four. However, everyone one above him saw significant improvement in run four and Steve was psuhed back to sixth. He wasn’t going to finish without a fight and put in the fourth fastest time on the final run. It was a good effort, but not quite good enough to get him further up the leaderboard, but Steve should be satisfied with his 6th spot in what were some very trying conditions. I’m sure it’ll do his confidence the world of good too.

Steve’s battle with Tim Dilworth made for excellent spectator sport, more so for the fact the Tim was still scything his way back up the leaderboard after his maximum yesterday. Two third fastest times on the trot on runs one and two definitely helped get him up into sixth position. He then exchanged chronological blows with Steve for fifth spot and by dint of only one faster run, Tim was able to hold onto fifth spot. At the end though, there was only 3 seconds in it. It was an awesome tussle.

Neil Davey seemed very comfortable with his fourth spot from yesterday and a his steady driving saw him take fourth overall at the end of Sunday.

The next big fight was going to be the showdown between Richard Kershaw and Martin Gould for second spot. Kershaw struck first with a 6.54 compared to Martins far-from-sluggish 7.04. It was enough to give Richard second by 3 seconds. On run two however Martin put in a monumental effort to best Richard by some 23 seconds – he had regained second spot by 20 seconds. The challenge had been laid, and answered – the fight was on. Martin nailed a brilliant second fastest time on run three, and with Richard struggling, he increased his advantage to 59 seconds. It was all he needed and his advantage in the gruff sounding buggy was consolidated over the last two runs – Richard simply couldn’t respond. It’s quite possible that the power delivery of the Mattseratti, with it’s low end grunt and auto-box was better suited to conditions than the more revvy engine and sequential box in Richards Pug-a-like. Either way Martin took a fantastic second place, with Richard taking third. Richard could be pleased with the result, but he was probably wondering quite what he would have had to have done to get the better of his former car in Martins hands.

Dan however proved that at Tiverton, he and the LD4 Proto were a winning combination. He started out with a fastest time on run 1 and followed it with a second fastest on run 2 and another fastest on run 3. By this stage he had a lead of an inconceivable lead of 1.26 over Richard. The last two runs saw Dan ease back and he finished the final run with a cumulative time only 20 seconds ahead of Richard. But it was enough an Dan was finally able to his less successful results behind him.

Question now would be can anyone stop Richard Kershaws relentless march towards another championship title? It is possible mathematically, and it’s not as close as it’s been in previous years, but it’s possible. Either way, the last two rounds are going to be quite the showdown. The next round will take in the blisteringly fast gravel roads and rough off-road of Radnor forest; the final round will be held in the sweeping turns and hard corners of Seven Sisters. Whilst Sisters might not be as rough as some venues, but it has consistently been proven to have no regard for cars. The woods at both venues have consumed some of the best, too.

The report from Radnor will be posted very soon.