BXCC 50-strong fi eld endures sweltering heat in the hills at Sweet Lamb

Marfell fi nds redemption amid searing heat and dust of Sweet Lamb

Word and pictures: Gary Simpson / Songasport

Adrian 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 fi nishing 31 seconds clear.

Marfell’s attack began on the fi rst 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 fi ght at the front. We had a couple of issues 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 fi nal 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 fi re on board his Lofthouse Evo.

‘I’m more than happy with the result considering the issues we had,’ said Kershaw. ‘The fi re did a fair bit of damage and the service crew did an amazing job to get the car fi xed 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, fi nishing 7th overall and fi rst 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, fi nishing 20th in their Bowler Tomcat, though a lack of power from their 3.9-litre Rover V8 made Sweet Lamb’s hills a struggle and a damaged brake line on the fi nal run meant they were happy just to fi nish 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!’

Tom and Alice Jones (above left) won the Trophy class and fi nished 12th overall in their Can-Am Maverick after posting a run of consistent stage times in the sweltering conditions. Harry Nicoll and Emma Sibley (above right) did well to fi nish 20th out of 50 starters in their Bowler Tomcat, whose 3.9-litre V8 engine struggled for power on the long climbs

Tom and Alice Jones had a great weekend in their Can-Am Maverick, winning the Trophy class and fi nishing 12th overall after a consistent performance which saw them post seven consecutive times within ten seconds of each other.

Managing the heat and dust was a concern for most teams. Tom and Alice spoke of being ‘absolutely cooked,’ while the Brysons’ pit crew modifi ed their car’s window washers to help its radiator keep on top of the engine’s temperature. And Mike Wilson and Ian Letman won their class despite spending most of the Sunday trying to prevent their clutch belt from overheating.

In Wilson’s old Freelander, Reece and Sean Mathieson were going very well until they sheared their’s engine’s left-hand side mounting bolts. ‘This caused real issues in controlling the power and the car itself,’ explained Reece. ‘The engine movement then caused the driveshaft to come out, smashing into the gearbox and putting a hole through it!

‘We struggled round the course as best we could but we lost second gear and then fi rst, meaning we could go no further. As we’d done over 75% of the mileage, we were classifi ed as a fi nisher which massively cheered us up.’

Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy, who have moved from stage rallying to cross-country this season, set some quick times in their 6.0-litre Warrior.

‘It was a new event for us,’ said Foy. ‘We had a few issues with dust blocking the air fi lter and. choking the Chevy engine. Some improvisation helped, but the issue persisted.

‘We were pleased to set two top 12 times on day one, which shows promise for the future. It’s all part of a learning year and we’re really enjoying the challenge.’

It was defi nitely an event to forget for Team OFG, however, as both Phil Bayliss and dad Chris were forced out of the running. Chris and navigator James Harding started off by rolling their Land Rover 90 on the fi rst day, then Phil and his navigator Lance Murfi n had several problems culminating in a fi re caused by the oil pipe working loose and spraying oil over the engine.

The car’s previous owner, Rob Bool, also had a fi re in his new Lofthouse M3. Despite this, he set him good times before his clutch failed while he was sitting on the start line, leaving him no option but to retire.

Jasmine Philpott described the course as ‘probably the scariest I have ever driven.’ Her car was still in bits late on the Friday evening, so the team had already had a stressful run-up to the event, and the heat and dust only added to that.

‘The car seemed to pull dust into the cab. There were times when I couldn’t see anything, and I looked like I was wearing Halloween makeup after each lap!’ A PAS failure on the penultimate lap cost her some places, but she came away happy just to have survived.

Colin Gould and Simon Kerfoot dropped down the table late in the day, too. They had been in fourth place overnight, but clutch and transmission problems forced them to take course maximums for the fi nal runs.

With the BXCC now taking a break until late September, the fi nal word has to go to two of the unspoken heroes of the weekend. Paul Chambers and Fiona Urwin spent two days in the timing van – where the temperature didn’t dip below 33 degrees and reached a peak of 44! The biggest cheer at prize-giving came when they were presented with the Spirit of the Event award for doing their crucial job in the sort of conditions you defi nitely don’t expect in Mid-Wales!