There was close racing right to the end of the last lap of the year in the Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship, Andy Scott (Dumfries) snatching victory after making a late pass on Julian Godfrey (Heathfield). Scott’s win in the final round of the seven-event series also gave him second place in the championship, the Ford Focus driver winning out in a four-way battle for the runner-up position to Godfrey who had secured the title in the penultimate round.

Scott qualified on pole position for the A final, Godfrey alongside him and again securing the five bonus points for fastest time of the day. David Binks, another of those in the battle for second place, completed the front row, Tony Bardy and “Mad Mark” sharing the second line. Kevin Procter led the third row, with retiring champion, and another of those still bidding for second place, Pat Doran,the last direct qualifier and joined at the back by B final winner Per Eklund, guesting in the championship driving a Peugeot 306 Supercar owned by Scott.

Godfrey made the best start and led the final, Scott and Binks running second with the top three immediately opening out a gap to Procter who made a great start to climb to fourth, Doran following him up the order. At the start of the second lap Godfrey made a small mistake and ran wide across the gravel trap in the first corner but was able to retain the lead. Procter had now closed on the lead trio, leaving Doran to fend off Bardy while “Mad Mark” and Eklund completed the order.

At the front, the race order appeared set, but in the last lap Scott sprung a surprise on Godfrey, “I think he was a little nervous, but I had much more speed than him on the gravel and when he saw me coming there he went a bit wide in the last corner and I got him,” said Scott. Binks also took his chance, passing Godfrey and running Scott close in the dash to the chequer, the pair split by 0.063s. Godfrey crossed the line in third place, philosophical about his defeat, “Andy got his nose alongside and made the space, and that forced me wide so Binks got past too, I wanted to win but the championship was the main thing and I’m very happy to have that,” he said as his team fixed the coveted ‘GB1′ race number to his Fiesta Supercar.

Bardy went out of the race in the last lap when the turbocharger in his Ford Puma failed, oil leaking from the turbo then causing an engine bay fire. With “Mad Mark” also failing to finish having had a very strong run in the heat, sixth placed Eklund was the last finisher.

The MSA Supernational championship had also been settled in the penultimate round, James Bird (Midhurst) taking the crown. Business commitments kept the new champion away from the final round in which Ash Simpson (York) proved unbeatable on his ‘home’ track. Fastest times in all three heats preceded a faultless drive to victory in the final as Simpson secured second place in the championship. Round six winner Michael Boak (Newcastle upon Tyne) was again in good form in his unique diesel-powered Audi TT, second place in the event confirming him as third in the championship, ahead of Irishman Patrick Ryan.

Among the supporting classes the only titles to be resolved were the RX150 and Junior Rallycross. In the latter Aidan Hills needed only to secure a position in the final to put the crown beyond the reach of Ryan Weston. A perfectly measured set of drives in the qualifying heats achieved this and Hills then raced without pressure in the final, leading the race from the start to end the season with his fifth victory of the year. Matthew Thomas took second place in only his third event, ahead of Weston and Dominic Wheatley who had his first Rallycross start here. Paige Bellerby went out after spinning off in the first corner.

The RX150 title was taken by Ollie O’Donovan, the London domiciled Irishman also having done enough in the heats to deny defending champion Leo Forster a chance of hanging on to his title for a third year. The final, however, had a new winner, as Irishman Derek Tohill shone on his first start in the class. The 2010 European champion led the final from the start, fending off a stern challenge from O’Donovan to take the victory with Kevin Feeney slipping through to snatch second place.

Russell Simpson confirmed his runner-up position in the Hot Hatch class by ending the year with his first victory in the championship. In the absence of champion-elect Michael duke, Simpson was chased home by Mike Jones who also had his best finish of the season here. the Hot Hatch class again shared track time with the BMW MINI series, although the two groups were separated for their finals. Kris Hudson confirmed his superiority by winning the four-car race from younger brother Keifer. George Edwardes was third with series newcomer David Bell fourth on his debut and respectably close to the rest in his first race with a new car.

In the Swift Sport championship, Graham Rodemark stepped up to mount a serious challenge to champion Dave Bellerby and led the A final. The experienced Bellerby proved just too cunning for Rodemark, however, and soon managed to wrest the lead before pulling away for a clear win. Rodemark  held on to second place with Chris Mullen also enjoying a fine run and completing the podium in third place.

Results

Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship, A final (4 laps)

1 Andy Scott (Ford Focus II) 3m23.545s; 2 David Binks (Ford Fiesta VII) 3m24.508s; 3 Julian Godfrey (Ford Fiesta VI) 3m24.834s; 4 Kevin Procter (Ford Focus II) 3m26.205; 5 Pat Doran (Ford Focus) 3m30.750s; 6 Per Eklund (Peugeot 306) 3m40.956s; 7 Tony Bardy (Ford Puma) 3 laps; 8 “Mad Mark” (Citroën Xsara) 2 laps.

Championship 1 Godfrey 173; 2 Scott 160; 3 Binks 156; 4 Doran 143; 5 Steve Hill (Mitusbishi Lancer E10) 132; 6 Procter 108.

Supernational 1 Ash Simpson (Lotus Exige) ; 2 Michael Boak (Audi TT TDi) ; 3 Jos Sterkens (Volvo C30) ; 4 Allan Tapscott (Vauxhall Corsa C rwd) ; 5 Russell Etherington (Peugeot 306) ; 6 Stuart Emery (Peugeot 206 turbo) 3 laps; 7 Patrick Ryan (Vauxhall Nova 16v) 1 lap; 8 Steve Cozens (Lotus Exige) 0 laps.

Swift Sport (all 1.6 Suzuki Swift) 1 Dave Bellerby 3m57.790s; 2 Graham Rodemark 4m02.056s; 3 Chris Mullen 4m09.441s; 4 Tristan Ovenden 4m10.454s; 5 Dave Weston Jnr 4m12.738s; 6 Tony Lynch 4m15.206s; 7 Dale Cousins 4m18.777s; 8 Adam Clark 2 laps.

Junior Rallycross (all 1.3 Suzuki Swift) 1 Aidan Hills 4m17.726s; 2 Matthew Thomas 4m26.827s; 3 Ryan Weston 4m29.957s; 4 Dom Wheatley 4m42.431s; 5 Paige Bellerby 0 laps.

Hot Hatch 1 Russ Simpson (Citroën C2) 3m57.956s; 2 Mike Jones (Citroën Saxo VTS) 3m59.529s; 3 Ben Cree (Peugeot 205 GTi) 4m00.617s; 4 Martin Peters (Citroën Saxo VTR) 4m04.206s; 5 Darren Grimston (Citroën Saxo VTR) 4m13.040s; 6 David Ellis (Citroën Saxo VTS) 4m21.129s; 7 Stuart Jackson (Citroën Saxo VTS) 0 laps; 8 Tomasz Wielgosz (Peugeot 106 GTi) 0 laps.

BMW MINI 1 Kris Hudson 4m04.984s; 2 Keifer Hudson 4m05.487s; 3 George Edwardes 4m10.083s; 4 David Bell 4m21.609s.

RX150 (no times issued) 1 Derek Tohill; 2 Kevin Feeney; 3 Ollie O’Donovan; 4 Steve Harris; 5 Adam Sargent; 6 Brett Harris; 7 Leo Forster; 8 Jake Harris.