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Ollie O’Donovan won the second round of the Kumho Tyres MSA British Rallycross Championship at Pembrey yesterday (May 3), the reigning British champion following on from his win in the opening round of the championship and extending his advantage at the top of the points chart.
O’Donovan (London) started the Superfinal from pole position after winning the Supercar A final and, as in the A final, the Superfinal developed into a straight race with former champion Pat Doran (Winkleigh).
Running second to O’Donovan from the start, Doran used all of the track – and little more at times – in his effort to pass the champion’s Peugeot. The Ford driver, however, was unable to gain position and was left to rue a gear selection problem that cost him time at the start. “I had a gearbox problem leaving the start line and Ollie gained an advantage on me there that I could not get back,” said Doran.
For his part O’Donovan was happy to get through the first half of the double-header event in Wales with a win and his car in good shape for Sunday’s third round of the championship. “It was a good race, Pat pushed hard but it was fair and that’s how it should be,” he said.
Dermot Carnegie (Dublin) also backed up his strong performance in round one with third place at Pembrey, finishing ahead of Lawrence Gibson (Banbridge) and Steve Hill (Aylesbury). Steve Mundy (Ludlow) featured strongly in the event and brought his self-prepared Focus home in sixth place while Michael Boak (Newcastle) was best of the SuperModified runners as he returned to the championship with his Audi TT. Andy Grant (Barnstaple) was forced to retire in the first lap with technical problems in his Ford Escort WRC.
SuperModified class winner James Bird (Midhurst) was unable to start the Superfinal because of an overheating problem in his Renault ClioSport V6 and Liam Doran (Winkleigh) had his run ended after a suspected bent valve in the Ford RS200 he had driven to fourth place in the Supercar A final.
Result
1 Ollie O’Donovan (Peugeot 306); 2 Pat Doran (Ford Fiesta ST); 3 Dermot Carnegie (Ford Fiesta ST); 4 Lawrence Gibson (MG Metro 6R4); 5 Steve Hill (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); 6 Steve Mundy (Ford Focus); 7 Michael Boak (Audi TT); 8 Andy Grant (Ford Escort WRC).
A full event report covering all classes will be posted at RallycrossUK.com later.
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