Archives 2022

Wigan racer Tony Lynch has belatedly been crowned as the 2022 Retro Rallycross Championship title winner after the cancellation of the planned season finale at Lydden Hill.

Tony and his Landsail Tyres Team Geriatric outfit had made the trip to the Kent circuit on the weekend of 5/6 November having already wrapped up the Retro class title, and with an advantage over Super Retro champion John Cross in the battle for overall honours.

On his first outing on the revised Lydden Hill layout, which underwent extensive work earlier this year to re-profile the opening turn and install a new jump, Tony enjoyed a solid start to the weekend when he led the way in the opening qualifying heat.

Weather related issues then prevented the field from being able to run the planned second qualifying heat on Saturday evening, with plans to run the remaining qualifying heats and the season finale on Sunday.

Unfortunately, worsening weather conditions overnight would leave event organisers with no option but to abandon the meeting before any track action was possible on the second day, with no decision taken on how the abandonment would impact the championship standings.

After initial suggestions that points may be awarded based on the results of the qualifying heats run, it has now been confirmed that the Lydden meeting would be declared null and void, with the championship instead being decided based on the standings following the penultimate weekend of action at Pembrey.

As a result, Tony and the team were able to celebrate a second championship victory of the year to add more silverware to an already impressive resume.

“Obviously it isn’t the way that we wanted to wrap up the championship title, but at the same time, we’re delighted to have clinched the overall Retro Rallycross crown,” he said. “We’ve had some fantastic battles on track in our class this season, particularly with Terry Moore and Simon Hart, and it’s been a really enjoyable year going up against them.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the various sponsors who have backed us this year, and of course, without the hard work of my team behind the scenes to continually improve the car and get it into a position where we could consistently push for wins.

“Now we know the title is secured, we can start to focus on 2023, and hopefully we’ll be able to return to try and defend our crown!”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch will look to end his racing year on a high this weekend when the Retro Rallycross Championship season draws to a close at Lydden Hill.

Tony and his Landsail Motorsport Team Geriatric outfit make a long trip to the Kent circuit – widely regarded as the birthplace of the sport – looking to try and secure the overall Retro Rallycross title.

Last time out at Pembrey in Wales, Tony scored a double win at the wheel of his Toyota MR2, which allowed him to successfully secure the Retro class crown.

Whilst that championship is now secure, Tony could still take the overall Retro Rallycross Championship crown, with Super Retro class competitor John Cross being the man he is bidding to beat during the weekend ahead.

In the time since Pembrey, Tony and the team have been hard at work on the Toyota to ensure it is in the best shape possible for the final meeting of the campaign, where Tony will be part of an expanded Retro class field.

This weekend features just one round, with Tony bidding to give his all to end the year with more silverware to add an already impressive collection from the 2022 campaign.

“It’s been a while since we last raced at Pembrey, but we’ve spent the time busy working on the car to make sure we are as ready as we can be for the final round,” he said.

“Although we managed to wrap up the class title with a round to spare, there is still the overall championship to consider and if we were able to beat John to the title, it would be a great achievement.

“As we aren’t directly fighting with John on track, we just have to focus on doing the best job that we can and hopefully it will prove to be enough.

“Off track, recent weeks have seen team member Tony Wylde get the all clear in his cancer fight which is something that has given us all a boost.

“We’ll be racing this weekend for him, for Tony Rice who is currently undergoing treatment, and for anyone else who has been affected by the disease in the past.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch will make a special guest appearance at the 2022 running of the Historic Rally Festival this weekend in Shropshire.

With a gap in the calendar ahead of the Retro Rallycross Championship finale at Lydden Hill next month, Tony and his Landsail Tyres Team Geriatric Toyota MR2 will head to the event to be part of a static display of cars based at Weston Park – which will host competitive stage action on both days of the event.

The opportunity to take the Toyota – which has carried Tony to the Retro Rallycross Championship’s retro class title this year – will provide Tony and the team to showcase historic rallycross competition to a new audience and follows on from a number of similar show appearances in recent years.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Team Geriatric were regular attendees at the annual Autosport International Show in Birmingham – where Tony has appeared in the live action arena a number of times – and would also be regularly called upon to help represent former title sponsors Lucas Oil at events across the UK.

“With a gap in the calendar before we head to the final round of the season, it’s good to have the chance to head along to the Historic Rally Festival this weekend,” Tony said.

“As someone who has done some stage rallying in the past, it’s always good to have the opportunity to see people throwing rally cars sideways on the stages – and this time there is the added bonus of being able to showcase the Toyota to a new audience.

“The fact that the organisers have invited us along is great and is a reflection of the work we’ve done as a team to make a success of our Retro programme in the last few years.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of people who are interested in the Toyota – particularly when they find out it was once a rally car – and hopefully they’ll want to come along and cheer us on in the future.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch wrapped up the Retro Rallycross Championship’s Retro class in fine style with a double victory on the penultimate weekend of racing at Pembrey.

Tony and his Landsail Tyres Motorsport Team Geriatric team headed for the Welsh circuit sitting pretty at the top of the standings, and looking to try and replicate the success it had enjoyed on a first visit to the venue earlier in the campaign.

With a number of changes having been made to his Toyota MR2 ahead of the weekend – which included tweaks to the suspension and the fitting of a new gearbox – Tony was optimistic about his chances on track.

After a solid run in practice on Saturday, Tony battled his way to victory in the opening heat of Round 6 and followed it up with two further top three finishes to earn himself second on the grid for the final.

Up against the rapid Mini of Terry Moore, Tony came through the final with an impressive victory having taken the lead at the start, with issues for Simon Hart giving him an unassailable advantage in the class points.

Celebrating in fine style in Round 7 on Sunday, Tony went unbeaten through the three heats before making it two wins from two in the final – meaning he would be unbeaten across the four rounds held at Pembrey over the course of the campaign.

With the Retro class crown now secure, Tony will go into the season finale at Lydden Hill in November looking to be crowned as the overall Retro Rallycross champion in a two-way battle with the Super Retro title winner John Cross, who also wrapped up his own title in Wales.

“Heading to Pembrey, the focus was firmly on picking up a strong haul of points so to come away from the weekend with two wins and having provisionally won the class title is fantastic,” Tony admitted. “The car was strong all weekend and we were able to show good pace in both rounds, which was reflected in the end results.

“To come away from Pembrey unbeaten across four meetings this year is something we’re very proud of, and a huge amount of credit for that has to go to my team. They continue to do a fantastic job in preparing the car for every meeting, and the effort every weekend to ensure we are able to fight at the front is second to none.

“I also have to thank Paul Waldron for the work he has put in alongside the boys this year on the Toyota as his support has been invaluable, as has the backing from all of our sponsors over the course of the year.

“When we made the decision to go down this route with the Toyota, our goal was to win the Retro Rallycross title and having won the Retro class crown, hopefully we can now secure overall honours when we head to Lydden Hill for the big finale.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch will seek to retain his place at the head of the Retro Rallycross championship standings when the series returns to Pembrey this weekend for the penultimate race weekend of the season.

As was the case earlier in the year, the South Wales circuit will play host to two rounds with racing taking place on both Saturday and Sunday, with Tony seeking to try and replicate his double win from the previous visit in his Landsail Tyres Motorsport Team Geriatric-run Toyota MR2.

That double success played a big part in Tony hitting the front in the points standings and he was able to retain his advantage last time out in Belgium, where he celebrated his first ever appearance at the Glosso circuit with a hard-earned podium finish.

Since returning from European soil, Tony and the team have been hard at work on the Toyota, with work having been carried out on both the suspension and gearbox to leave the MR2 fighting fit for the weekend ahead.

With an increased field set to do battle this weekend in the Retro class, Tony makes the trip aiming to try and add to his victory tally but with one eye also firmly fixed on the bigger picture of maximising his score to keep his title bid on track.

“We had some great results at Pembrey earlier in the season and it would be fantastic if we can go back to Wales this weekend and repeat them,” he said. “We know that won’t be easy, but I’m hopeful we can in the mix for some silverware and hopefully push for a win.

“We’re at that stage of the season where the points are more important than ever, so it’s important that we stay out of trouble this weekend to retain our position at the front.

“We’ve put a lot of work into the car with our suspension partners AVO and Paul Waldron has assisted with the new gearbox so we should be in good shape, and I’ll be giving my all to deliver the results on track.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch produced a battling performance on track at Glosso to maintain his lead in the Retro Rallycross Championship standings.

The Landsail Tyres Motorsport Team Geriatric driver made the trip to Belgium seeking to add to the fine double win at Pembrey that had seen him move to the head of the championship standings.

Despite never visiting the circuit before, Tony was quickly up to speed at the wheel of his Toyota MR2, with a series of changes made to the car ahead of the weekend paying dividends as he won the opening heat of the weekend and then took second place in heat two.

Further improvements to the car were then made overnight ahead of the remaining two qualifying heats, with Tony once again fighting at the sharp end of the field to ensure that he would line up in second place for the final.

Fighting hard to get ahead of the Mini of Terry Moore off the line, Tony grabbed the early lead before coming under attack from his rival, who would battle his way back to the front.

Tony however would follow him home in a solid second place to ensure a solid haul of points that enables him to retain his position at the head of the standings ahead of Rounds 6 and 7 of the campaign at Pembrey later this month.

“It would have been nice to come away from the trip to Belgium with victory, but second place is a good result in terms of the championship as we were able to finish ahead of our main rivals,” he said.

“Having never visited Glosso before, we weren’t sure how the car would perform but the pace was good from the outset. The work we did ahead of the weekend proved to be positive, and we made further improvements that will benefit us going forwards.

“Terry just had a little bit too much for us in the final, but the important thing is that we stayed out of trouble and put some good points on the board. Now we can look forward to the return to Pembrey later this month and hope to replicate our winning form there.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch will seek to maintain his strong run of form when the 2022 Retro Rallycross Championship season resumes this weekend at the Glosso circuit in Belgium.

Tony and his Landsail Tyres Motorsport Team Geriatric will make the trip over the English Channel looking to mainland Europe eager to build on a fine performance last time out Pembrey, where Tony stormed to a double win at the wheel of his Toyota MR2.

Those two wins allowed Tony to hit the front in the championship for the first time this season, with the two month break since the Welsh meeting providing the team with the opportunity to continue work on improving the Toyota.

Alongside technical partner Paul Waldron Motorsport, the team has worked to resolve the suspension issues that Tony suffered last time out and has also spent time given the car a full overhaul to ensure peak reliability for the Belgian weekend.

Eager to reward the team for its efforts, Tony has his eyes firmly fixed on the top step of the podium to retain his place at the head of the standings.

“It seems like an age since we raced at Pembrey and I can’t wait to get back out on track,” he said. “Confidence is on a high after our double win last time out and we head for Belgium with one goal – and that is to bring home another win.

“Although we haven’t been racing, the team has worked hard with Paul Waldron to make sure that the car is in the best shape possible for this weekend as reliability is more important than ever when we are so far from home.

“If we were to have a failure on the car then it would be game over as we can’t just nip back home for parts, so hopefully all the hard work will help to give us the best possible chance of success.

“With Glosso being a new addition to the calendar, we’re all taking a bit of a step into the unknown, but we’re ready for the challenge and looking forward to getting our championship challenge back underway.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch enjoyed a near perfect weekend on track at Pembrey, with a double win allowing him to hit the front in the 2022 Retro Rallycross Championship.

Tony and his Landsail Tyres Motorsport Team Geriatric team made the trip to the Welsh circuit chasing a first victory of the campaign, having grabbed a podium finish from the opening meeting at Lydden Hill.

Although the Pembrey meeting would feature a smaller grid than usual as a result of issues for some of his rivals, Tony knuckled down and focused on the job at hand when track action kicked off on Saturday and he powered his Toyota MR2 to three wins from three in the qualifying heats to grab pole position for the final.

Seeing off the challenge of Rob Buckmaster’s Ford Fiesta on the opening lap, Tony soon started to build a gap out front and duly wrapped up his first victory of the campaign.

The day wouldn’t pass without problems for the Toyota however, with the team working to resolve an issue with the rear suspension ahead of Sunday’s action, which would see Tony doing battle in the opposite direction around the Pembrey circuit.

As had been the case the previous day, the Toyota would prove to be the class of the field across the three heats and final as Tony doubled up, despite running into further problems with the rear suspension.

The points scored across the two rounds mean Tony has taken a twelve point lead over defending champion Simon Hart in the standings ahead of the next round, which will be held at the Glosso circuit in Belgium in August.

“It was a shame that the field was a bit smaller at Pembrey, but when you are running older cars like we all do, there is always the chance that you can run into a few problems and repairs can take a bit longer to complete,” he said.

“We were all keen to put on a good show for the fans and in terms of the on-track action, things couldn’t have gone much better when it comes to the results we were able to pick up.

“The car performed well across the two days which is credit to the team for the work they put in to prepare it, and the only issue we had was with the rear suspension as the circuit proved to be a particularly tough on the cars.

“We know our partners at AVO will get that sorted before we head for the next round in Belgium and we’ve now got some time to sort out a few things with the car to make sure we can maintain our form through the rest of the campaign.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch will look to close the gap at the top of the Retro Rallycross Championship standings when the series heads to Pembrey this weekend for rounds three and four of the season.

Tony endured as mixed start to his campaign at Lydden Hill after gearbox issues on his Landsail Tyres Team Geriatric Toyota MR2 hampered his challenge in the opening two rounds, but he still makes the long trip to Wales sitting second in the early season points.

The Toyota has performed strongly at Pembrey in the past, with the car having undergone significant improvements since in a bid to try and help Tony challenge for class honours during the season ahead.

Whilst the car will continue to run with the standard gearbox that was fitted during the Lydden Hill meeting following the issue that developed with the racing ‘box, Tony remains confident of a strong showing on track at a venue where he tasted victory last year.

Although a repeat would be welcome this time around, the main goal is to try and take points out of current leader Steve Cozens to enable Tony to strengthen his position in the title race.

“We know Pembrey won’t be an easy weekend but we go there confident that we can challenge for some strong results,” he said. “We saw last season that is less of a power circuit than Lydden Hill and that plays to our strengths with the Toyota as the handling of the car is something that we know is very good from all the work that has gone in.

“We’ll have to see whether we can get into a position to fight for victories this weekend but I feel more confident abou our chances than at Lydden Hill last month and we’ll be giving our all to try and pick up some silverware.”

Wigan racer Tony Lynch was able to salvage a podium finish from what proved to be a challenging opening meeting of the Retro Rallycross Championship season at Lydden Hill.

The Landsail Team Geriatric driver headed for the Kent circuit hoping to make the most of a raft of upgrades carried out on his Toyota MR2 over the winter, although a lack of pre-season testing meant the first two rounds would be something of a step into the unknown.

The opening two heats for round one saw Tony grab a pair of third place finishes but an issue with the gearbox on the car then forced him to retire from the final qualifying heat.

Despite that, Tony qualified in third spot on the grid but the issues with the gearbox resulted in him being forced to pull off the circuit seconds after the lights went out – leaving him classified back in fifth place.

With round two taking place on Bank Holiday Monday, the team used the day off on Easter Sunday to replace the gearbox in the car – instead fitting a standard spare ‘box to the car to ensure that Tony could do battle on track.

Third in all three qualifying heats, Tony was this time able to contest the points-scoring finale where he brought the Toyota home to the flag in third to grab some hard-earned silverware.

Despite the challenging nature of the action on-track – which leaves Tony second in the early-season standings – there was reason to cheer as Landsail Team Geriatric was awarded the Martin Schanche Trophy for the best presented team in the Retro Rallycross paddock last season.

It marks the third time that Team Geriatric has secured such an award for presentation, reflecting the effort put in to ensure that the sponsors and partners are represented in the most professional manner over the course of a season.

“There are real mixed emotions after Lydden Hill,” Tony reflected. “On track, we were hoping for better results across the two rounds but the issue with the gearbox on Saturday was one of those things that we couldn’t control.

“The team did a great job to replace the ‘box for Monday and we were able to put up a good fight on track but ultimately, there was only so much we could do with the standard unit fitted.

“However, to be given the Martin Schanche Trophy was an unexpected surprise but one we are very proud of as a team. We put a huge amount of time and effort into our presentation because we know how important it is when it comes to representing the various sponsors who allow us to go racing. This award is for them as much as the team.”