On Sunday the 12th June, the Mini Sport Mini Cup Championship entered it’s fourth round of the season at Caerwent, Monmouthshire for the Garth Tyre and Auto Services Midsummer stages. As competition gets tough following Adrian Kermode’s unexpected win at Down Ampney, we were certainly expecting some great performances from these year’s competitors on the well-known MOD venue.
Due to the challenging conditions, affected by heavy rain from the day before some Mini’s were struggling on the first couple of stages with Shane Gamble facing clutch issues ahead of the event. However, Paul Price took a quick lead from the second stage in his Morris Mini Cooper S, whilst Mini Sport sponsored drivers Clive King and navigator Anton Bird were on top form in the wet conditions until a broken driveshaft, failed them minutes into stage 3. Shane Gamble and Bob Ward were lucky to escape impact with a building on stage 3 but damage to their Morris Mini Cooper S roof and roll cage, meant that the team could not compete for the rest of the event. Last year’s champions Andrew O’Hanlon survived a scare with a curb only to retire on stage four following engine failure. Despite a strong lead, a misfortune with some lose wheel nuts eventually failed Paul Price who was forced to retire by the fifth stage.
In light of Paul’s misfortune on stage five, Jim Brindle managed to push into 2nd place before taking the lead for the rest of the round. Ironically, Jim had visited Mini Sport in the previous week for a rolling road tuning from our own diagnosis doctor, Rob Waddington and was performing at his best following repair of his Mini due to a devastating accident in the first round of the Championship.
Jim Brindle & Sam Bould eventually came in first, followed shortly by Adrian Kermode and Maurice Beckett with Eric Davis and Russ Joseph positioned just 18 seconds behind. Father and Daughter duo, Paul and Jemma Taylor took class honors on the round finishing 37th overall.
After helping Adrian Kermode to victory in Round 3 and supporting Clive King in various wins across some of the UK’s most notable rally championships, a win for Jim Brindle following a rolling road tuning at Mini Sport has certified the power and skill of our Rolling Road Wizard, Rob who has been helping transform Mini’s into first-rate rally contenders with decades of experience.
Jim Brindle got extra lucky at the Midsummer stages, taking home this rounds Yokohama UK prize. Peter Ellerby was also fortunate enough to win the Snap-On Tools prize supplied by fellow contender and Snap-on dealer, Andrew O’Hanlon.
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