Bennett takes two at Lydden. Karai tops Hungarian/CEZ order.

16 April / The British Rallycross Championship begins at Lydden Hill where Oliver Bennett achieves his first BRX win with his Mini Cooper Supercar. Bennett was fastest in each of the two heats, won semi-final one and the final of the first Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy event. Patrick O’Donovan (Fiesta) made a great Supercar race debut and ended the event in second place. After qualifying seventh, O’Donovan (18) progressed to place second in semi-final one and then race to second place in the final. Derek Tohill (Fiesta) placed third in the final having earlier won semi-final two. Jason Bleasdale (Vauxhall VX220) began the defence of his Supernational title with a dominant victory over Page Bellerby (Lotus Exige) and Darren Bleasdale (VX220) who was third in his first Supernational event. Max Langmaid won the Junior final, Luke Constantine was best of the Swift Sport field, Dave Bellerby emerged from the pack to win the BMW Mini final and David Bell was the only surviving runner in the Mini All4 class. and Sebastian Eriksson took a clear win in the RX150 final. The evergreen Jos Sterkens (Ford Escort MkI) recovered from problems in the heats to win the Super Retro final and Steve Cozens (Citroen AX) was the Retro winner.

17 April / The first round of the Hungarian Rallycross Championship is run at the Rabocsiring at Mariapocs where Tamas Karai (Audi S1) opens his account for the season with the win. The event is also a CEZ qualifier and Karai leads home Pole Zbigniew Staniszewski (Fiesta). Zolta Koncseg, racing a Karai Motorsport Audi, places third in the final after a strong event in which he had been fastest in Q1 and won semi-final one. Zoltan Vass was fourth in a third Karai Motorsport Audi. Istvan Antal and Ales Fucik completed the finishers, Mate Benyo (Focus) qualified second but missed the final after non-finishing in semi-final two. Jiri Susta (Skoda Fabia) beat Damian Litwinowicz (Audi A1) to win the Super1600 final and Akos Gonda won the Suzuki Swift-based Junior final. The STC classes were won by Tibor Vamosi (BMW E36) won the over 2000cc class, Hungarians Sandor Zentai (Ford Puma) and Gyorgy Janzer (Renault Clio) were the only finishers in the 2000cc final in which Peter Borka, Roman Castoral and Gergo Kormoczi all non-finished. Gergely Kailbach (Honda Civic) was best of the 1600cc class.

18 April / Werner Gurschler (Skoda Fabia) took a debut victory in the RX5/Supercar category who led home Maggiora boss Stefano Avandero (Fabia) and Maurizio Rossi (Hyundai i20). Michele Andolina (Fiat Grande Punto) was best of the Supercar entries. Paolo Popy Barbieri (Citroen C2) won the STC up to 1600cc class and Marco Valazza (Fiesta) was best of the combined STC 2000 and Super1600 field. Kartcross was again the biggest class int he event and best of the 25 starters was Christian Tiramani (Planet Kart Cross) who led the final from lights to flag, beating Maicol Giacomotti (Planet Kart Cross) and round one winner Marcello Gallo (LifeLive TN5).

18 April / Fresh from landing his first British RX win, Oliver Bennett repeated the feat on Monday to win round two at Lydden. Derek Tohill (Fiesta) qualified second, won semi-final two and then placed second in the final, the defending champion improving on his third place in round one. Julian Godfrey, fourth in round one, placed third with his trusty Ford Fiesta VI and Ollie O’Donovan took fifth place with his new Proton Iriz. The Supernational podium was a copy and paste of round one, Paige Bellerby second between the Bleasdale brothers and their Vauxhall VX220s. Dave Bellerby (BMW Mini), David Bell (Mini All4), Jos Sterkens (Super Retro) and Sebastian Eriksson (RX150) also doubled up on their round one successes. The Junior final was won by Owen Robbins and Max Weatherley took victory in the Swift Sport series. A Minicross racer as a young lad, historic racer of note Nick Swift made his first adult foray into rallycross and won the Retro Rallycross final at the wheel of the Mini usually raced by Terry Moore.

This weekend / The Polish, Czech and CEZ Championships come together at Slomczyn in Poland for what promises to be a full event. In Belgium there is the official reopening of the Glosso-Circuit at Arendonk, which returns to full action after years of persistent campaigning by the Glosso Racing Team which also marks its 50th anniversary this year. See our full events listing below.

pics: 5 Nations British RX, RX Italia, Zbyszek Staniszewski