There has been considerable success in several rallycross events for championship contender Ben Power of Welshpool.
In the second round of the British Rallycross Open Championship at Blyton, in Lincolnshire, the day went well through the heats with his Ford Sports Ka running perfectly.
“I managed to string together some reasonable times and qualified second on the grid alongside the newly-built Vauxhall VX220 of Mike Turpin,” said Ben.
“Turpin had the better start. However on the second lap I managed to pull off a move around the outside of him on the gravel section, then managed to pull out a small lead to win the race.”
This added to his victory at Croft, making two wins out of two in this championship.
Ben went to his home event at Pembrey, in South Wales, with a weekend of racing counting for two rounds of the MSA British Championship.
“Unfortunately on the first day I suffered a driveshaft failure in two of the heats,” he said. “Therefore I was unable to qualify. This was my second non finish in this championship, putting me at a big disadvantage on points.”
On the second day he got the car sorted, and in extremely wet conditions went well in the heats and qualified on pole position for the final alongside John Collins (2.2 Vauxhall Tigra) and James Bird (V6 Clio) among five others in the A final.
“Initially Collins got by me off the line but at the end of the first lap I regained the lead and went on to win the race by 10 seconds from Collins over four laps.”
Another victory was denied Ben this month when he competed in round three of the Rallycross Open Championship, again at Pembrey.
“It was an extremely hot and dry day, perhaps suiting the high power rear wheel drive cars better such as Lotus Exige, V6 Clio and VX220,” he explained.
“I had reasonable pace through heats 1 and 2 so I went out in heat 3 to try to improve but unfourtunately the throttle got stuck on full so I had to stop the car as this was a little dangerous!
“This therefore put me fifth on the grid for the final. I had a good start and managed to pull a move around the outside of John Collins, Allan Tapscott and Dean Jones, into second position behind Mike Turpin.
“I shadowed and pressured Turpin throughout the race but didn’t manage to pass, so finished in second position 0.4secs behind.”
Ben is not too unhappy as he has maintained his lead ahead of Turpin and the rest in this championship.
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