Grant still ahead as Binks wins

13.07.10

By Tim Whittington

Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship

David Binks claimed his first BRC event win. pic Jeremy Halse.

A month after their new night race event, competitors in the MSA British Rallycross Championship were off to new territory again when the fourth round of their eight event series took place at Maasmechelen in Belgium, the first time the British championship has appeared in the country. In what turned out to be an arduous event on a day when temperatures were in the high 30s Celsius, David Binks (Newcastle upon Tyne) claimed his first British championship event win and climbed to second in the championship which is now at its half-way point.

Supercar

The event was also a qualifying round of the Belgian Rallycross Championship and British championship Supercar drivers shared the track with Belgian and Dutch counterparts who. Local knowledge helped Dutchman Jos Kuypers, the current Belgian championship leader, and defending title holder Jochen Coox to take the top two places on the A final grid, British champion Pat Doran (Winkleigh) qualifying third and taking five bonus points for setting fastest time among the British championship competitors. With the Duivelsbergcircuit at Maasmchelen accommodating only a six cars on its starting grid (compared to eight at British tracks), and with Koen Pauwels and Patrick Van Mechelen qualifying fourth and fifth, other British championship runners started in the B final.

Steve Hill (Aylesbury) had reverted to his Mitsubishi Lancer E9 for this event while transmission problems with his new E10 version are resolved and started on pole. Hill won the race ahead of Binks and British championship points leader Andy Grant (Barnstaple). Round two winner Andy Scott (Dumfries) ended his run in the event at this stage, his Peugeot 306 Supercar hitting tech problems while “Mad Mark” Watson ended the qualifying heats 10th of the 14 starters, but did not appear for the B final.

Hill moved up to the A final, but did not finish after his Lancer suffered suspension damage in an incident with Van Mechelen’s Subaru Impreza. At the front, Kuypers, Coox and Doran remained in their qualifying positions.

SuperModified

The SuperModified racers also raced against competitors in the Belgian championship, but here a Brit topped the order as Julian Godfrey (Heathfield) set fastest times in the first and third heats to be best of the 28 starters in the combined British SuperModified/Belgian Division Three class. British and Belgian drivers were separated for the finals which meant that Jamie Lea (Wrexham) started alongside Godfrey in the British A final, ahead of Mike Howlin (Haverfordwest).

Godfrey was beaten from the grid by Lea and Howlin but immediately set about regaining the lost ground and passed Howlin in the third lap. A lap later Godfrey caught and passed Lea, taking the lead of the race and then driving away at the front to win by 7.3s. Gary Dixon (Lincoln) made his first British championship start of the year and guided his Vauxhall Astra to a fine fourth place ahead of Jonathan Bean (Northallerton) and Hastings-based pair Ray Morgan and Vince Bristow. As if the day was not hot enough, Phil Chicken suffered a fire in his VW Golf after a broken engine mount fuel line to break.

Superfinal

In another first for the British Rallycross Championship, the event sued the ‘Joker Lap’ section of track at Maasmechelen; an additional piece of track that adds around three-seconds to the lap time and through which each driver must pass once in each race. Designed to force a change in the race order, this feature would play a critical role in the Superfinal.

Grant led from the start and was first to use the Joker Lap, rejoining the pack behind Godfrey and then being unintentionally delayed when the latter suffered engine failure in his Fiesta. The incident played into Binks’ hands and the Geordie used the advantage to maximum effect, completing his passage through the Joker Lap without losing the lead. While Binks progressed to his first British championship win, Grant completed a hat-trick of second place finishes to retain his points lead in the series. This was also a good day for Howlin who took a personal best third place and gaining the reward for a reliable run after Godfrey’s exit and the retirement of Doran who had to park his Fiesta because of suspension damage.

Results

Superfinal (five laps) 1 David Binks (Ford Fiesta ST ERC)3m24.557s; 2 Andy Grant (Ford Focus ERC) 3m26.447s; 3 Mike Howlin (Ford Fiesta ST Millington rwd) 3m38.757s; 4 Julian Godfrey (Ford Fiesta ST) 4 laps; 5 Pat Doran (Ford Fiesta ST ERC) 3 laps; 6 Jamie Lea (Toyota MR2 turbo), 0 laps; 7 Gary Dixon (Vauxhall Astra E GTE) 0 laps; 8 Jonathan Bean (BMW E30 325) 0 laps.

Championship 1 Grant 99; 2 Doran 91; 3 Binks 91; 4 Howlin 85; 5 Godfrey 84; 6 Scott 77

A finals (all five laps)

Supercar 1 Jos Kuypers (Ford Focus ST ERC) 3m18.309s; 2 Jochan Coox (Skoda Fabia ERC) 3m19.577s; 3 Doran 3m21.013s; 4 Patrick Van Mechelen (Subaru Impreza) 3m23.692s; 5 Koen Pauwels (Ford Focus ST ERC) 3m31.742s; 6 Steve Hill (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) 0 laps.

Championship 1 Doran 122; 2 Binks 101; 3 Grant 100

SuperModified 1 Godfrey 3m31.301s; 2 Lea 3m38.644s; 3 Howlin 3m39.297s; 4 Dixon 3m45.341s; 5 Bean 3m45.711s; 6 Ray Morgan (Ford Escort III rwd) 3m45.965s; 7 Vince Bristow (BMW E36 328) 3m55.572s; 8 Phil Chicken (VW Golf IV GTi) 4 laps

Championship 1 Godfrey 126; 2 Howlin 104; 3 Lea 84