MOTORSPORT
Marfell finds redemption amid searing heat and dust of Sweet Lamb Word and pictures: Gary Simpson / Songasport
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drian Marfell and Paul Bartleman battled back from the disappointment of losing a win at the opening round of the Britpart British Cross County Championship to take victory at an extremely hot and dusty Sweet Lamb. At an event with 50 starters, Marfell stepped up the pace on day two to overhaul overnight leader Justin Birchall, eventually finishing 31 seconds clear. Marfell’s attack began on the first run of day two – when Birchall was also slowed by a puncture. ‘I’m chuffed to have got the win,’ said the Whitchurch driver. ‘We made a set up change late on Saturday night and pushed hard on Sunday. It was a great fight at the front. We had a couple of issues
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with a faulty kill switch and broken wipers on one run but other than that we had a good event. It makes up for the driveshaft failure we had at Parkwood when we were leading.’ A further puncture for Birchall saw him and Richard Kershaw separated by just one second going into the final run – where Kershaw posted the fastest time to claim second place. But the runner-up was simply happy still to be in the event after a fire on board his Lofthouse Evo. ‘I’m more than happy with the result considering the issues we had,’ said Kershaw. ‘The fire did a fair bit of damage and the service crew did an amazing job to get the car fixed for the Sunday runs. We also had problems with the brakes and the boost pipe. The result means we’re
leading the championship at the halfway point.’ Dave and Antony Hooper enjoyed a good event in their Simmbugghini, finishing 7th overall and first in the beam-axle class. ‘Day one went well, other than being stupidly hot!’ said Dave. ‘Our only issue was a snapped brake hose. We picked up three punctures on the second day and the course got rough in places. We couldn’t keep up with the pace of the independent cars, especially on the section of course with the washboards.’ Harry Nicoll and Emily Sibley had a successful event, finishing 20th in their Bowler Tomcat, though a lack of power from their 3.9-litre Rover V8 made Sweet Lamb’s hills a strug-
gle and a damaged brake line on the final run meant they were happy just to finish the event. George and Jacqueline Bryson, meanwhile, were happy just to reach the event after a blow-out on the M6 meant the journey there took ten hours. And once the action started, they encountered a very un-British issue. ‘We had problems on the early runs with catching the car in front and getting stuck in their dust,’ said Bryson. ‘It got so bad that we had to stop a few times to let it clear!’
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