ParcFerme.Com

Champion and round one winner Ollie O'Donovan emerged as the winner of round two on Saturday, but when the rain he had hoped for eventually arrived on Sunday it was Steve Hill who went ahead and took the victory in round three.

Round two: O'Donovan 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, 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.Dermot Carnegie also backed up his strong performance in round one with third place at Pembrey, finishing ahead of Lawrence Gibson and Steve Hill. Steve Mundy featured strongly in the event and brought his self-prepared Focus home in sixth place while Michael Boak was best of the SuperModified runners as he returned to the championship with his Audi TT. Andy Grant was forced to retire in the first lap with technical problems in his Ford Escort WRC.SuperModified class winner James Bird was unable to start the Superfinal because of an overheating problem in his Renault ClioSport V6 and  Liam Doran had his run ended after a suspected bent valve in the Ford RS200 he had driven to fourth place in the Supercar A final.

Supercar: There were sufficient cars for a B final and this was led from the start by Liam Doran whose RS200 proved just too fast for David Binks' Mitsubishi Lancer. Tommy Graham and Kevin McCann completed the finishers in fourth and fifth places.Steve Mundy had enjoyed a good run in the qualifying heats and start from third on the grid and then challenged O'Donovan at the start of the race. O'Donovan held his ground on the inside and Mundy was then eased back into the pack as Doran and Gibson moved ahead. Liam Doran and Carnegie also moved ahead of Mundy but there were no further changes in order, despite Hill’s best efforts to further demote Mundy. The last car home was Andy Grant, who kept a watching eye on the Hill/Mundy battle.



SuperModified:
John Collins, James Bird and Dave Bellerby each took a turn at setting fasfest times in the SuperModified heats, but when the A final grid was calculated it was Bird who emerged as best of the pack. The Renault driver the led the final from the start with championship returnee Michael Boak chasing hard all the way. Bellerby, in his first event with a new Lotus Exige,  caught the lead battle late in the race and there was less than a second between the three at the chequer. Collins placed fourth, ahead of George Tracey Jnr, Mike Howlin and Gareth Wood. Mike Turpin was forced to retire his Vauxhall VX220 after just one lap.

Stock Hatch:
Tony Lynch was fastest in all three of the Stock Hatch qualifying heats and started the A final from pole position, but it was Julian Godfrey who took the lead at the start of the race. Lynch followed closely throughout the final but was unable to make successful challenge for the lead and Godfrey took the win. Enjoying his best run in a BRC event, Phil Chicken ran third all the way, holding off Craig Brown. George Tracey Jnr collected fifth place ahead of Mike Jones and Tina Scott. Don MacLeod was a non-starter in the final.

Junior:
In only his second BRC event, Keifer Hudson took the A final pole but was unable to convert that into a race win after being beaten away from the grid by Conor Flynn, Matt Thompson and Daniel O’Brien. The race lost Samantha Thom in the first lap, but up front the lead battle raged between Flynn and Thompson until Thompson spun  in the third lap. Flynn then continued in the lead and won the race ahead of O'Brien, Hudson and Thompson. Round one winner Jesse Gwynne qualified third for the A final, but was unable to start the final after breaking the differential in her car in the third qualifying heat.

BTRDA Clubmans Championship:
There were A and B finals for the Stock Hatch class, the B final won by Dave Martin who then made great progress in the A final where he made his way through to third place. Irish driver Michael Duke led from the start and was able to move away from the rest as Craig Brown and Darren Clarke battled for second until Brown spun. This helped Richard Horton to take second place, Martin taking third. Matt Thompson made ammends for his slip in the British championship Junior A final by taking the win in the BTRDA version, leading home Conor Flynn and Keifer Hudson. Gary Pusey made his first appearance of the year and took the SuperModified win from Paul Buckmaster and Nick McAdden.

Round three:
In the Superfinal Hill was ahead from the start and untroubled by the track conditions. The Mitsubishi driver moved steadily further ahead of the rest and took a clear win. Carnegie recovered from a spin early in the race to finish second, helped in part by the gearbox problems that befell both Doran and O'Donovan.Lawrence Gibson (Banbridge) was also helped by Doran’s misfortune and took third place from the Fiesta driver in the fifth lap of the six-lap race. Doran and O’Donovan took fourth and fifth places with David Binks (Newcastle) having a good run in the rain and taking sixth in his Mitsubishi Lancer. The last two places were taken by drivers from the Stock Hatch category who were helped by the wet weather, Julian Godfrey (Heathfield) taking seventh ahead of Tony Lynch (Wigan).

Supercar: O'Donovan started from pole with Doran and Hill next up in the qualifying order. Hill got the best start and moved into the lead of the race. Doran, O'Donovan and Carnegie led the chase of Hill, Carnegie passing O'Donovan in the second lap to grab third place. When Doran then lost time with an off in the fourth lap, Carnegie and O'Donovan were able to make up a place each, but Hill was out of striking distance and safe in the lead. Lawrence Gibson ran in fifth place almost from the start and was pursued throughout by David Binks.

SuperModified:
Bellerby was missing from the final after hitting trouble in the heats but back in action and going well having been put out of round two by mechanical problems, Ben Power started the A final from pole.An incident between Collins and Tracey Jnr in the first lap brought out the red flags but when the race was restarted, it was Collins who took the early lead ahead of Power and Howlin. Power passed Collins in the gravel section and then drove away from the rest of the field to record a clear win. Howlin continued in third, ahead of Bird. Tracey Jnr spun in the first lap but then managed to regain the lost ground and passed Gareth Wood to take fifth place. Boak retired in the first lap and Pusey was a non-starter.

Stock Hatch:
The first lap order in the A final was shuffled after Godfrey and Lynch both ran wide in the gravel section during the first lap. Godfrey managed to retain the lead, but contact between Brown and Lynch allowed Brown to take second with Chicken moving into third ahead of Lynch. Lynch then regained second place after passing Chicken and Brown, the latter going out of the race after gearbox problems. Chicken thus inherited third place where he finished ahead of Tina Scott and Mike Jones.

Junior:
Daniel O’Brien led the Junior A final from start to finish, coping better with the conditions than his rivals and landing his first BRC win with a confident performance.Flynn spun in the gravel in the first lap but fought his way back into contention. Thompson was second in the first lap but fell away as the race developed. Gwynne came through to take second place, pursued by Flynn. Thompson and Thom were next up but Hudson retired from fourth place in the penultimate lap.