Super 106 Cup Round 7 - Tour of Flanders - 10 Sept '00

Posted: September 11, 2000 11:55 AM

Martin Sansom took 7 of the 9 competitive stages today, to pass overnight leader Paul Wedgbury and take the maximum points available. He now heads the Super 106 Cup championship table by one point from Andy Burnell who just failed to take 3rd place by one second, and with it the points needed to keep him in the top spot. Sansom took 20th overall.

With the Trackrod looming at the end of the month, all the above drivers have every chance of winning the Championship, so all is to play for on the last round.

Wedgbury had a 9 second cushion this morning, and Sansom immediately took 5 seconds back on the first stage, with another 1 on the next before Wedgbury started matching him on the 3rd and taking another 1 back on the 4th. They matched again on the 5th, then Martin started a charge, taking 7 seconds on the next 2, to overtake him then stretch the lead to 14 seconds by the end of the day. This was after a strenuous week rebuilding his car, after rolling out of contention on the Woodpecker Rally last weekend. Wedgbury had planned to drive neatly and keep his lead but couldn't match Sansom after two overshoots whilst "trying too hard". Perhaps the fact he hadn't been to Belgium before was counting against him. Michael Brew was having the drive of his life, easily maintaining his 3rd overall, until a Belgian ditch beckoned, dropping him ten minutes and into 10th, throwing away a potential £1000 of winnings. Rob Russell was another "on the ragged edge" trying to keep Burnell at bay, and succeeded by the narrowest of margins, a mere 1 second splitting the pair at the end.

Andy Burnell was ruing his excursion into a ditch on the very first stage, dropping him some 3 minutes, meaning he played catch up for the duration of the rally. With 2 stages cancelled today, he literally ran out of mileage in his fight back. Third would have kept him his championship lead, and the fourth he achieved drops him to second in the Super 106 Cup standings, albeit only by 1 point.

Neil Edwards was having the drive of his life, having just managed to get a co-driver at the eleventh hour and was delighted with his local Belgian find - Bruno Gerard - as he achieved fifth place in only his second year of competition. Dave West was another with a battle royal on his hands, he too kept the charging Chris Rimmer at bay, the difference in his battle only 2 seconds. Mike Faulkner lost a wheel yesterday after his wheel nuts sheared, and he managed to get back into eighth despite the car handling badly. Eugene Meegan, on only his second event as a driver, took the Motoring News Best Improved Award on his way to 9th, while Michael Brew was disappointed to round off the Top Ten.

Trevor Martin, Kevin Lee, James Gloster and Grace Owen were the last of the 14 finishers, Gloster owing his finish to Grace after she stopped on the penultimate stage to tow him out a ditch. For this, she earns the Esso Ultron Spirit of the Rally Award, whilst Martin's crew take the Hella Service Crew Award for assisting three other crews during the event.

Stage results are available on www.digilife.be/amv, championship positions to follow. 306106.