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Champion wins round one
Current champion Ollie O'Donovan (London) won the opening round of the
2008 Kumho Tyres MSA British Rallycross Championship at Lydden on Easter Monday
(March 24). O'Donovan qualified on pole for the Supercar A final which he won
and then took a clear victory in the Superfinal, but his path to victory was not
as easy or clear cut as it may seem from that.
Snow left the track very wet for Sunday's first qualifying heat during
which Pat Doran (Winkleigh) set the fastest time with O'Donovan second and Steve
Mundy (Ludlow) a strong third.
The weather was better during the second day of the event and O'Donovan
set fastest time with a race win in the second heat. There was another win in
the third, but O'Donovan's duel with Dermot Carnegie (Dublin) had slowed his
time and Liam Doran sprinted through to set fastest time in his Ford
RS200.
O'Donovan shared the front row of the A final with the Dorans, Liam
second and Pat in third place. The start of the A final was frenetic with
several cars making contact as they slid into the still slippery first corner.
At the end of the first lap it was Carnegie who led but the race was halted in
the third lap when a suspension breakage caused Pat Doran to crash.
The restart was cleaner and this time O'Donovan, who had been stuck in
the middle of the pack in the first race, broke free and led from start to
finish as B final winner Steve Hill (Aylesbury) charged through to second place
ahead of Carnegie and Lawrence Gibson (Banbridge).
It
was a similar story in the Superfinal, O'Donovan claiming the overall event
victory after leading from lights to flag. Hill again ran second, Carnegie
making him work hard for the position with Gibson looking on in fourth place and
running ahead of Tommy Graham (Prosperous) who started his year with a good
fifth place in a car that is due to be replaced before the season is out.
Belgian visitor Luc Maris won the SuperModified category and then took sixth in
the Superfinal while Craig Brown (Northampton) took an outstanding seventh place
in his Stock Hatch Peugeot.
Results
Superfinal (5.5 laps) 1 Ollie ODonovan (Peugeot 306) 4m28.334s; 2 Steve
Hill (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) 4m29.544s; 3 Dermot Carnegie (Ford Fiesta ST)
4m30.739s; 4 Lawrence Gibson (MG Metro 6R4) 4m31.572s; 5 Tommy Graham (Ford
Escort WRC) 4m42.748s; 6 Luc Maris (Volvo 242) 4m44.740s; 7 Craig Brown (Peugeot
205 GTi) 5m01.654s; 8 Tony Lynch (Peugeot 205 GTi) one lap.
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