Local News
16
Steady Run At Knockhill for Rook
Downley’s John Rook and his Rallycross Team had a steady run in round 2 of the Hot Hatch BritishRallycross Championship at Knockhill in Scotland, which has now consolidated him in joint 3 rd place in the 2012Championship.
John went into the event on the back of a 5th place in round 1 at the Lydden Hill Circuit in an event whichhis “Spirit Health Clubs, Holiday Inn Maidstone-Sevenoaks, Swift Tuning, Sports Bar Maidenhead, MaidenheadAutos, Vinyl 4 All Stickers, Spoox Motorsport” backed car was troubled with problems all day. With improvements made to the car since Lydden, John was hoping for a good result at Knockhill.
John had never raced at the Knockhill Circuit and race day started with a thorough walk round the circuit, followed by a practice session with the aim of being on the pace when the racing began.
With practice over, John has 3 good qualification races finishing 5 th in Heat 1, 3rd in Heat 2 and 5th in Heat 3,with lap times getting better and better with each session. This qualification run meant that John started from5th on the grid for the final. A good start saw him up to 3rd place by the end of lap 1 with the decision made to take the joker lap early, John hopes to keep out of trouble. However with the nature of the Knockhill Circuit meaning races get very strung out, it actually worked against John, with competition not around him it was hard to judge his pace. It was only when the last lap started that John realised he was in 5th place and tried to increase his pace to get closer to Slomwir Woloch aiming to finish 4 th. As he came the to end of the final he noticed plumes of smoke coming from the car in front, with only a short run to the flag left, he was unable to better a 5th place finish.
“I am happy with the result, we had a 100% trouble free day, when others in my class suffered problems, and I am happy to come home 5th on a circuit new to me. I am now joint 3rd in the Hot Hatch Championship and with the 4 remaining events all at circuits i’ve raced at before and a car which seems competitive I am confident of some good results to come.”
“With 9 weeks to go until the Championship returns to the Mallory Park Circuit we have some ideas of improvements we can make which should ensure we are competitive at Round 3.
2012 British Rallycross Championship Calendar
R1 March 24th Lydden Hill, Kent
R2 May 12th Knockhill, Fife, Scotland
R3 July 22nd Mallory Park, Leicestershire
R4 August 26th/27th Lydden Hill, Kent
R5 October 7th Pembrey, South Wales
R6 October 28th Croft, County Durham
Anyone who would like to sponsor John’s 2012 BRC campaign are asked to get in touch on:
Jrrallyx726@yahoo.co.uk or call him on: 07581 467465