BCCC Round 1 Crickhowell.

I like dogs, I’ll be honest.
Being canine myself, I don’t really have a heap of choice in the matter mind you. I like people too, even if sometimes they can be remarkably hard work to look after. They can be stubborn in training and free spirited. It’s usually worth making sure, certainly in the early years, that you keep a constant eye on them. They have a tendency of being readily distracted by the opposite sex, so it’s often worth socialising the dogs and bitches (or to give them their correct term ‘men’ and ‘women’) from an early age. Oh, it’s often worth ensuring that any human you adopt has been spade, otherwise you find yourself having to deal with unexpected pups (that will frequently grow up and become ‘consultants’ or ‘estate agents’). And whilst cute, human pups grow slowly and are often handful to house break – in my view they’re best avoided. Humans often have a strong dominance instinct too, which can lead to arguments and spats especially when they undertake pack activities such as ‘drinking at the pub’ or ‘watching sports on TV’. People can be hard work, but as said, they can be rewarding to own.
So, if you decide to adopt a person, remember you should respect them as a partner for life, and being bereft of opposable thumbs, who else is gonna open tins of food for you?

Now lets look at dogs.
They come in an amazing variety of races and colours and smells. However regardless of shape, build, poise or attitude, they have a nobility unmatched by other species. Seemingly, the closer they are to there wild ancestors, the more awe they carry – simply put, the more wild they look, the more awe they inspire. They have a grace and a power and often each is breed to perform a specific task – it’ll be specially adapted to do what is does very, very well.
Each dog has it’s own individual bark or howl – those distinctive notes that let you identify a breed, a pack or even an individual of that pack.
They have an energy and a certain spirit that you won’t find in other animals. They can follow precise commands but can be prone to the occasional wayward moment if not treated with utter respect. It’s not been unknown for the dog to turn on it’s owner in an unexpected battle of wills, then it’ll be the stronger character that wins. The more character the dog has, the more skill and spirit the owner needs.
You know what, Cross-Country race-cars are an awful lot like dogs and Britparts 2009 British Cross Country Championship presents an object lesson in mans mastery over a wild and potentially dangerous partner. The BCCC season was kicking off and man, and his adopted machines were assembling in a quiet corner of the UK for round one.

For many years man has seen fit to squabble over the verdant pastures and wooded glens of Eastern Wales.
The inhospitability of man and the weather has lead locals to build the towers and tumulus and ramparts that are now dotted as ruins over this landscape. Forts from the middles ages, forts from the Romans, forts from the Iron age and earlier still leave their mark on the hills and dales. I’m not sure how stone-age man would have settled their disagreements, but seeing as humans are kinda 2 percentage points different from monkeys I’ll assume it involved random stick-beatings and the throwing of poo.
Most of the surviving fortifications that can be seen now date from more recent times – cannonballs required tougher buildings than the threat of pokings with sharp sticks and airborne faecal material.

It was a quiet Welsh valley that would see the opening battle in the Championship. The course for round 1 would circuit a wooded a hill that featured (buried somewhere) the remains of a Roman fort, that was overlooked by the remains of an Iron age fort, and overlooked the more recent fortified tower of Tretower. It was a new venue for the BCCC and a new venue for motorsport period. The service area would be in an open sheep field with the course disappearing into the trees after 100m, and re-emerging into open fields only after the finish line was crossed.
Lashed to the back of the owners Landcruiser on Thursday night I had ample opportunity to watch sheep grazing in the field. It was trying shower lightly – an ominous sign for the rest of the weekend.

The weather on Friday was damp but humid and I spent most of the day sniffing trees, yapping at squirrels and avoiding people waving chain saws. Hoovers I can just about cope with, but them chain saws totally set me off. If it wasn’t chainsaws it was axes or machetes, or loppers being waved. I counted my loses and sat in the car for most of the day – I get bored of getting dripped on, too. Having said that towards the middle of the afternoon, as the competitors were starting to arrive, the sun emerged, the cloud lifted and the site was basking in scenery, and it really was a pleasant venue.

As for the course itself, it just reached the six mile mark, it was half cat 1 track and half other. Other included fire breaks, freshly cut tracks between trees and a selection of other lower grade tracks, some of which hadn’t seen a vehicle for, well, your guess is as good as mine. There was some heavy lumber to be shifted, and stumps uprooted (I’m good at digging but my help it seems was ‘surplus to requirement’) but I guess that’s the nature of taking somewhere virgin and bedding it in. For the effort though, the course was going to be quite a heady mix of outright speed and outright caution. Some of them trees were alarmingly close together and seemed quite eager to snatch any wing, or wheel arch or wing mirror that strayed too close.

Entry numbers were going to be down on last year - a sad statement on the state of the economy, but what it lacked in number it would compensate for in quality and ability. Reigning champion Richard Kershaw was back in the v8 powered Peugeot thingy, Dan Lofthouse was back in the venerable, and capable, LD4 Proto, and promising big things this year was Tim Dilworth in the number 3 seeded Subaru powered Peugeot looking thingy. Martin Gould was in for the full championship in his recently acquired (and rebuilt) Bowler Wildcat, with his younger brother Martin in the yellow ex-Kershaw and ex-Colin Mattseratti. Steve Lloyd was returning this year for the Championship proper having made mincemeat of the competition in last years Trophy class, this time he was in a recently acquired Milner R5 Pro-truck (ex-Colin Gould). The Mid-West Mafia was sending a full contingent this year, lead by Chris Hammond making a full return to the Championship in the rapidly improving Milner R5. Alongside Chris, would be good friend Ian Rochelle in the incredibly rapid, diminutive looking Millington Mattseratti. With Chris and Ian, and again making a welcome return to the Championship, was James Webb in another Milner, this time a slightly older R4. James was capable of opening large jars of ‘whoop-ass’ with his previous, live-axled racer, so it was going to be interesting to see what this new package would be capable of. Chris had already proved the potential of his new car with a win at the final round last year and 9th overall at the immortal Rallye Des Cimes (a very, very impressive effort). Other returners also included Steve Smith in the perpetually ugly, but mightily capable JRG special; the Warrington Warlords (Mike Moran and Tony Coid) were back; both Bartlett brothers were in for the Championship with matching colour-schemes but different cars (one a lime yellow Milner R4 and the other a lime yellow Peugeot thingy). Ben Gott was entered but didn’t make it to this first round. In total 26 drivers made the journey to a brightening Crickhowell.

Moving on a day, Saturday was clear, dry and warm. The track however was still damp, courtesy of being buried in tree-cover. Swathes of it were still quite loose too.

Richard Kershaw was first off the line and the roar of his 4ltr engine could be harked barking and snarling through the trees, the noise echoing up the valley. Dan Lofthouse bellowed away next, followed by the angry scream of Tim Dilworths Subura engine that popped and banged it’s way into the distance. The times would be interesting and first honours went to Dan with a quality 9.09. Chirs Hammond nailed a 9.16 for second fastest with Kershaw looming just a second behind. It took Martin Gould another 18 seconds to get around and Tim was 16 seconds slower than Martin..

Dan set a good time on Run 2 and looked like being a strong contender for the weekend win, however run 3 was, bluntly, a disaster and Dan struggled around loosing one tyre and one and half minutes over his closest rivals. He dropped to fourth spot. He put in spectacular laps on run 4 and five to limit the damage but was stricken with yet another flat tyre on run which ended his climb up the leader board for the day. His cumulative time for the day was 51.17

Chris Hammonds strong start continued and a series of really good times kept him in second spot until run 5 where his hard efforts were offset somewhat by a mystery gearbox problem that plagued him until the end of the day. He did well to keep his R5 in 3rd overnight. Chris’s lose however was Martin Goulds gain. At the start of the day Martin was putting in times in keeping with fourth or fifth. Somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind, a light came on at about the same time as run 4 and in a stunning drive he nailed fastest time of the run. He kept up the form and was challenging Richard for top times and his performance was good enough to give him second spot overall overnight with a cumulative 59.06.

Top honours of the day went to Richard Kershaw who picked up the pace after run 1 with fastest times on runs 2 and 3 which moved him into, and consolidated, his position at the top of the list. A fastest time again on run 6 secured his spot and gave him a cumulative time of 49.37; a minute quicker than Martin in 2nd spot. It looked like Richard was setting up for a typically dominant performance. However, as they said in the movie, tomorrow was another day…..

The gods were still smiling on the Championship and Sunday saw clear skies and a light warm breeze lazily blowing over the service park. It was glorious. First task of the day for me was doing the ol’ Houdini with the lead and bolting into the woodland before the people noticed. Today promised spectacular action and I wanted to see lots of it, and not get tied down to one spot in the woods with only the owner and the safety radio for company

My ears pricked up (an impressive feat for a breed with hangy-down ears, let me tell you). Over the other side of the hill a car had launched and it was Richards red Pug-a-like. He came passed me with clear air under the tyres holding the car in a die-perfect drift, landed sideways and kept the slide going round the corner before straightening up and powering up the track. Gravel scattered around me as I sat with my jaw on the floor – it was an astonishing piece of driving, just astonishing. Others came passed, then I picked up the gruff, bellow of Dan Lofthouse’s LD4. His car his larger and heavier than Kershaw’s but his performance around my corner was equal – a spectacular effort (I was inspired to shout at this point – but man, you should have seen it!). I understand he was 6 seconds quicker than Richard on that run – and rightly so! Another car that pulled a blinding run out of nowhere was the Red and white Pug-a-like of husband and wife team Justin and Louise Birchall. The car shares the same BMW engine as a few of the other competitors, but no-ones elses car makes the same noise as Big Js – it raises the hairs on the back of my neck, and with a full coat of fur, that’s no mean feat. Justins car sounds like it belongs in Formula 1 car, it’s a staggering noise that carries through the woods and chills you to the bone. I love it. And by hell, he was on fine driving form for this run. Again, four wheels off the deck, power-sliding – quality effort, dude! Others seem to be having slightly more trouble coming to terms with the residual dampness on the track, but just seeing them three power passed me made the whole weekend worth while.

And there was more to come!

Dan didn’t have the best of things after the first run of the day (run 7) and car maladies on run 8, followed by an unprecedented (for Dan anyways) maximum time on run 9 devastated his position on leader board and dropped him to 8th overall – it must have been galling. Well, it should have been, however Dan and his crew sorted the problem and he then set about scaling back up the leader board. He was totally committed on run 10 (fastest time) and climbed three places. Whilst not what he would have expected his time on that run demonstrated what the lad can do under pressure and his fifth place was very well deserved after his two unlucky runs.

Steve Lloyd had been quietly doing what he did best – driving a car with remarkable consistency. He drives just close enough to the edge to get a strong time, but just far enough back to make sure the car completes. His fourth place overall was a just reward for a very shrewd and skilful drive. It’s a more amazing feat if you consider how long the guy hasn’t been doing the sport.

After putting in such a strong performance on the Saturday, it just wouldn’t keep together for Martin on the Sunday and a series of mediocre times (well, if you take his normal form into account) cost him his overnight 2nd spot. He’d have to settle for third – which wasn’t really the reward he deserved for the effort he’d put in and the margin he’d built up on the first day. I was quite sad for the man, but he seemed pretty chuffed with 3rd. I guess without his spirited attack on day 1 he would have been further down the pack on day 2.

After his gearbox issues, and mucho head-scratching on Saturday, which culminated in a dash-out job over-night, Chris delivered a series of really good times in the bizarre sounding, and very orange, Milner R5. One fastest run time and two second fastest times really helped his cause and by the end of the event he sat in 2nd overall (well done, that man!) some two and half minutes ahead of Martin. Unsurprisingly it put a bit of a smile on his face, but Chris is like that.

Man of the weekend however was the utterly dominant Richard Kershaw. Not only had he driven like a demon, but his meticulous car preparation had paid off and he ran all weekend without a hitch. He had come to round one as Champion, and in one event he told everyone that he wanted to remain as Champion. As typical with Richard though, he didn’t need words to say it. He let his driving do the talking, and his driving talks big. Winning a round is one thing, winning by over two minutes is just staggering. Superb effort Richard.

Other performances of note? The affable Tony Coid in his Tomcat for one– ‘live axles are old fashioned’ they said. ‘Bollocks’ said Tony. Sixth spot overall – thank you very much.
Martin Cox seemed to be struggling with punctures all day but seventh over all would do nicely.
The second Warrington Warlord, Mike Moran had a steady time of things (despite deciding that his car would look better without a nearside wing) and took 8th overall – sweet!
Big expectations were held for Tim Dilworth, especially by Tim himself, but his weekend was plagued by some serious troubles and he finished well down the seedings. He put in some brilliant times when the car was running right, but they just couldn’t make up for the runs where he simply haemorrhaged the seconds and the minutes. To make it worse, Tim seemed to be struggling to come to terms with the weekend and he wasn’t settled with himself. Big J had a rough time of things too, and despite some blistering times, he was plagued with reliability issues and so called it a day. Both these guys were disappointed, but both would be back, and I hope better fortunes would come with them.

So, that was it for Round 1, and what an opener it had proved to be. If round two was anywhere close we were going to be in for a very, very good season.
The biggest problem now was the month to wait until were packed an headed over to Radnor for round 2.

The views expressed in the article above are those of the author and not those of the webmaster or organisers