After the disappointment of narrowly missing out on the title to her friend and rival Charlie Bean last year, Northallerton’s Drew Bellerby got her 2015 MSA Junior Rallycross Championship off to a brilliant start by taking victory at the opening round held at Croft Circuit last Sunday.

The 16-year-old put on an impressive performance in front of the large crowd at her local track and signalled her intentions by winning the opening two heats in the Fuchs Titan Race and Sayers Road Tankers-supported 1300cc Suzuki Swift. Hopes of a clean sweep through the heats were dashed through when a clutch problem saw her finish second meaning the battle was on for the final.

From pole position, Drew stormed into the lead of the six lap race but was involved in a titanic battle with her main rival Bradley Durdin from Hertfordshire. Try as he might, Bradley couldn’t find a way past Drew who was driving well but on the penultimate lap, Bradley put a move on Drew which she defended excellently to go on to take victory by a second and a half.

Making it a successful weekend for the Juniors was Stockton on Tees driver Jennie Hawkes who was at the wheel of her Hawkes Fire-sponsored car. Still gaining speed to match her more experienced rivals, Jennie came home safely in third place in the heats before claiming the podium placing in the final whereby she was getting quicker each lap.

There was more success for the Bellerby family with dad Dave and elder daughter Paige also in action at Croft. 19-year-old Paige was driving the powerful Sayers Fuchs-backed Lotus Exige in the Super National class for only the second time and straight away showed her class by winning two heats and qualifying on row two for the A Final. From there, the Former Junior champion challenged for the lead but going down the back straight on the opening lap, made a minor mistake at around 100mph when she put a wheel off the track and after contact with another competitor, spun out and rejoined at the back of the field from where she battled to seventh.

Multiple British champion Dave Bellerby was celebrating his birthday with a rare outing in an RX150 buggy whereby after gradually acquainting himself with the unique machine through the heats where he finished second and sixth, he comprehensively won the third heat before showing the opposition a clean pair of heels to win the final.

For brother in law Kevin Procter, he too claimed silverware after finishing a battling third in the MSA Supercar A Final after a dramatic day in the Procters Coach2.com Ford Fiesta. With one of the best grids assembled in many years, Procter, from Leeming Bar, struggled with the launch control on his 550bhp car in the heats before winning the third and final heat to claim a front row grid for the eight-car final.

The double British Grand Prix winner made a decent start for once but was only third into Clervaux corner on the opening lap with Andy Scott’s Peugeot 208 and Procter’s old Ford Focus in the hands of Ollie O’Donovan in front of him. With his Scotch Corner based Tony Bardy Motorsport team having rebuilt the engine overnight following a problem in testing on Saturday, O’Donovan drove like his life depended on it and Procter simply couldn’t find a way past meaning he had to settle for third behind Irishman O’Donovan and Scotsman Scott.

Barnard Castle hotelier ‘Mad’ Mark Watson was also in action at Croft and after a very late shift on Saturday night too in order to finish off the Mend-A-Hose sponsored Citroen Xsara, he struggled with overheating problems throughout the heats before claiming eighth place in the Supercar A Final.

Brompton Super National driver Guy Corner had to resort to using one of Team Bellerby’s Lotus Exiges as his own Corners Commercials Peugeot 206 was not ready and after acclimatising himself with the unfamiliar rear wheel drive characteristics, battled through the heats to qualify for the A Final on row three. From there, he made a great start and was well in contention with the leading bunch throughout the race, eventually finishing in a creditable fifth place in the race won by York BMW driver Gary Simpson.

Ripon brothers Kris and Keifer Hudson took first and second respectively in the BMW Mini final after Ferryhill’s David Bell suffered an engine problem whilst on the dummy grid for the final. Houghton le Spring driver Lance Foster brought his 1500cc BL Mini home to third in the Ripla Retro class, just ahead of Stokesley driver Stewart Bowes’ Austin Mini with Great Broughton’s Neil Maynard in sixth in his mighty 3.5 litre Triumph TR7V8. Northallerton driver Darren Grimston debuted his Vauxhall Nova in the Ripla Super Retro class whereby he battled with a broken sump gasket and wheel vibration to claim second in the A Final.