TOUGH NUT BLEASDALE HEADS HOME THE SUPER MODIFIED RUNNERS AT LYDDEN HILL
The three best races of the day in the opening round of the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Series at Lydden Hill came at the very end, as Jason Bleasdale, Harry Vaulkhard and Caitlin
May emerged on top to claim victory in the
Super Modified, Production and Junior categories respectively.
BMW M3 racer Slawomir Woloch claimed pole for the Super Modified A final and led on lap one, but a mistake at the North Bend hairpin on the opening tour allowed Bleasdale the opportunity to seize the lead with his Vauxhall VX220. While Woloch continued to apply constant pressure for the six-lap encounter, he had to settle for second. Fred Ling finished third in a Ford Fiesta, while one of the drives of the day was delivered by Oliver Foord (BMW Mini), who executed a brave move around the outside of Stanley Bovill’s rear-wheel-drive Ford Escort at Paddock bend in the latter stages of the race for track position and finished fourth.
Five drivers were embroiled in a race-long battle for the podium in the Production final, in which former World Touring Car Championship driver Harry Vaulkhard traded places for the lead with James Orton in the opening stages. Maciej Florczak ultimately crossed the finish line first in his Peugeot 106, but having forgotten the take the joker, victory went the way of Vaulkhard. The Citroen Saxo driver had to repass 106 driver Rory Denning for the lead in the closing stages. Orton was third and Karl Jarvis finished fourth.
Caitlin May is the latest young talent to be taken under the wing of title-winning driver and World Rallycross-winning engineer Graham Rodemark, following in the footsteps of Kevin Hansen, Nathan Heathcote and Patrick O’Donovan. She won the
Junior final from third on the grid in her Suzuki Swift.
May took her joker on lap one, followed by Corey Padgett, and picked off fellow Swift driver Owen Robbins when the second-place runner took his joker on the penultimate tour. Kacper Potra had led up front from pole position but picked up a right-rear puncture on the penultimate lap.
While the Citroen Saxo driver did a good job to minimise the time loss, he exited the final-lap joker behind May. As May went on to win, Potra was kept busy fending off Robbins for second.
Vince Bristow won the Classic final while Bradley Simpson dominated Production 4x4 with his Mitsubishi
Evo and Suzuki racer
Max Weatherly won the Modified class. Results
Round 1: Super Modified: 1 Jason Bleasdale (Vauxhall VX220) 4m44.919s; 2 Slawomir Woloch (BMW M3) +2.984s;
3 Fred Ling (Ford Fiesta); 4 Oliver Foord (BMW Mini); 5 Paul Johnson (BMW M3); 6 Stanley Bovill (Ford Escort). Production: Harry Vaulkhard (Citroen Saxo); Junior: Caitlin May (Suzuki Swift); Production 4x4: Bradley Sampson (Mitsubishi Evo); Modified: Max Weatherly (Suzuki Swift); Classic: Vince Bristow (BMW 318i).