BDC Final Round Report

This is it – judgement day. It’s been a crazy year for the British Drift Championship which has taken teams and drivers to Silverstone, Lydden Hill, Donington and now Knockhill. What’s more, pro drivers Phil Morrison, Mark Luney, Simon Perry, Shane Lynch and Declan Munnelly have just 11 points between ‘em with 31 up for grabs. How’s that for close?! Over in the semi-pro class, Ian Phillips had already taken the title during round 4 with a whopping 38 points lead over second-place driver John Glaister. Nevertheless, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th place still needed deciding and likewise only 11 points separated them!

Knockhill kicked off on Saturday with something nobody expected from Scotland… sunshine! It’s sods law you can be in Kent during June and get drenched, yet Scotland in September and the sun’s gleaming. God bless the Great British weather – not a bad way to end the season though!

First out to qualify were the semi-pro drivers and the high-speed first corner of ‘Duffers Dip’ was catching out many of the first-time Knockhill drivers. One driver not fazed was Welsh-boy Jamie Kenyon in his SR20DET-powered MX5. An unfinished car and mechanical problems has seen Jamie fairly absent in the BDC during 2010, but with everything working Jamie pulled out an awesome 87-point run good enough to take the top spot over champion Ian Phillips. The snappy, turbo’d MX5 is a crazy car to watch especially on a course like Knockhill and we can’t wait to see more from Jamie in 2011!

Top 8 semi-pro qualifiers:

1. Jamie Kenyon – 87
2. Ian Phillips – 84
3. Matt House – 73
4. Danni Murphy – 71
5. Rich Tovey – 68
6. Mark Lappage – 68
7. John Glaister – 68
8. Adam Blackwell – 65

Onto Sunday and this was the big day – pro qualifying followed by semi-pro top 8 and pro top 16. As qualifying started all the championship contenders were on full form with Phil Morrison, Declan Munnelly, Shane Lynch, Mark Luney and Simon Perry all qualifying within the top 16. Using a borrowed car Japspeed’s Steve Biagioni also managed to crack the top 16 after a 2010 of ups and downs in the ever-developing Japspeed Impreza – a decent end to the 2009 champion’s season. At the end of qualifying it was the super-consistent Simon Perry who had the advantage qualifying first with a huge 95 points, but Driftworks’ Phil Morrison was closely behind on 94. The pro qualifying finished with:

1. Simon Perry – 95
2. Phil Morrison – 94
3. Paul Smith – 90
4. Declan Munnelly – 89
5. Mark Luney – 85
6. Keith Hammond – 80
7. Steve Whitbread – 79
8. Shane Lynch – 76
9. Gavin Cummings – 76
10. Stephen Biagioni – 76
11. Matt Carter – 76
12. Danny Eyles – 73
13. David Waterworth – 70
14. Ashley Stevens – 67
15. Jarack Federica – 61
16. Julie Robinson – 53

Back in the semi-pro class, it was finals time. With Jamie K, Matt H, Danni M and John G knocked out the final four was an all-too familiar bunch! First up was Rich Tovey vs Ian Phillips – a poor first run for Tovey gave Phillips a 2-8 advantage who followed it up with a second 4-6 advantage seeing Ian through to the final.

Next up was Mark Lappage and Adam Blackwell. Mark’s driving had been on form all day and it continued through the final 4, scoring a 7-3 advantage over Blackwell on both runs putting him through to the final against Ian. On the 3^rd place shootout, both Adam and Rich drove their socks off with Adam taking a 6-4 lead initially. Rich pulled it back taking a 7-3 advantage during the second run and finishing third place by the smallest of margins!

Over in the final, Ian Phillips continued to dominate sealing the Round 5 win with an 8-2, 6-4 advantage over Lappage extending his overall championship win even further. After the semi-pro finals, the Round 5 point scorers were:

1. Ian Phillips 30 Pts (28 + 2 bonus for qualifying 2^nd)
2. Mark Lappage 24 pts
3. Rich Tovey 21
4. Jamie Kenyon 19 pts (6 + 3 bonus points TQ)
5. Adam Brackwell 18 pts
6. Matt House 15 pts ( 14 + 1 bonus for Qualifying 3^rd)
7. Danni Murphy 12 pts
8. John Glaister 10 pts
9. Phil Maclachlan 8pts
10. Robert Finn 7 pts
11. Andy Redmond 6 pts
12. Belinda Challis 5pts
13. Andy Stroud 4 pts
14. Damien Barrett 3 pts
15. Marcin Klawikowski 2 pts
16. Jordan Patton 1 pts

Now it was pro finals time – the one everyone had been waiting for. Before it could begin unfortunate news came from the Mark Luney/SATS team – his monster Supra suffered engine failure knocking him out the Top 16 and out the championship. Commiserations to the whole team who always put in 110% every event.

After the first round of knockouts four of the championship contenders still remained – Declan Munnelly, Phil Morrison, Simon Perry and Shane Lynch. Declan was first up in the mighty Mk2 Escort and quickly dispatched of David Waterworth with a 4-6, 3-7 advantage seeing him into the final 4. Next up was Shane Lynch vs. Phil Morrison, and whoever was knocked out would also be out of the championship running. Unfortunately for Shane, Phil’s recently-rebuilt S15 was on total form leaving him behind with a 3-7, 4-6 advantage. Danny Eyles vs. Jarack Frederico followed next with Danny scoring a 7-3, 5-5 advantage. Last of the top 8 pairings was Gavin Cummings vs. Simon Perry who managed to win by the closest of margins – scoring an initial 6-4 advantage followed by a 5-5 keeping Perry in the championship running.

Into the semi-finals and still three championship contenders remained with just two places up for grabs. Declan faced Phil, and despite driving the Escort right on the ragged edge he just couldn’t get close enough to Phil who took a victory with two 6-4 runs. The next run proved to be one of the biggest upsets of the day – Simon Perry vs. Danny Eyles. Danny absolutely powered through against Perry’s R33 taking a slight advantage each run, but another set of 6-4s was enough to put the Japspeed driver in the final against Phil.

Finals time, and despite Perry being knocked out he was still in for a shot with the championship. After a spin from Munnelly gave Perry the win in the 3^rd/4^th play-off, he still had enough points to win if Danny beat Phil. Off the two S15s went, and both refused to give even an inch resulting in a 5-5 after the first run and a 5-5 in the second! One more time it went, and an uncharacteristic spin from Danny gave Phil a 10-0 advantage and the championship if he could just hold it together. Despite the spin Danny still pushed hard taking a 6-4 advantage over Phil, but the championship was his – by a mere 3 points!!

Point scorers within the pro class were:

1. Phil Morrison 30pts (28 for the win – 2 bonus for 2^nd place qualifying)
2. Danny Eyles 24
3. Simon Perry 24 pts (21 for 3^rd – 3 bonus points for TQ)
4. Declan Munnelly 18pts
5. Shane Lynch 16 pts
6. Gavin Cummings 14pts
7. David Waterworth 12pts
8. Jarack Federico 10 pts
9. Paul Smith 9 pts (8 pts plus 1 bonus for 3^rd place qualifying)
10. Keith Hammond 8pts
11. Steve Whitbread 8 pts
12. Matt Carter 8 pts
13. Stephen Biagioni 8pts
14. Ashley Stevens 8 pts
15. Julie Robinson 8 pts
16. Wayne Keeber 8pts
17. Mark Luney 8 pts (Qualified but unable to compete in battles)

On behalf of everyone from the BDC we’d like to say a massive thanks to all the teams, drivers, fans and sponsors who have made 2010 possible. We wouldn’t be able to do it without you, and with 2010 being such a huge success we cannot wait to crack on with 2011!

A final big thanks to Lee Broadley for the quality snaps!