Double delight for Tony Lynch at Mondello Park

Wigan racer Tony Lynch strengthened his advantage at the head of the Retro Rallycross Championship standings with a double victory in the latest rounds of the season at Mondello Park.

Tony and his Landsail Tyres Team Geriatric squad headed to Ireland on the back of a strong opening meeting at Lydden Hill, where he had picked up a first win of the campaign in his Toyota MR2.

The defending champion was part of a slimmed-down field that made the trip to Mondello, which resulted in the Retro Rallycross cars running alongside the MINI All4 entrants during Saturday’s third round.

Having been top Retro runner in all three heats, Tony battled hard in the final to finish ahead of one of the quicker MINI runners and take the Retro class win.

For round four on Sunday, the decision was taken to allow the Retro and Super Retro cars to run together on track, with Tony putting in a giant-killing display in all three heats to end up qualifying in fourth spot overall for the final.

Put behind the Super Retro cars for the start, Tony blasted away from the line but was then caught up in a clash involving David Aiken and Steve Pascoe that cost him valuable time.

Despite that, he would end up battling at the sharp end in the final until contact from the Escort of Paul Pascoe damaged the rear suspension of the Toyota and brought his challenge to an end.

Even with that misfortune, Tony emerged from Sunday’s action with a second win of the weekend and has moved further clear of main rival Terry Moore after the Mini driver elected against the trip to Ireland.

“It’s been a great weekend on the whole, and the whole Irish paddock was so welcoming,” Tony admitted. “Saturday was a challenge as we weren’t really able to compete with the four-wheel drive MINI All4 but we still picked up the maximum points in our class, which is what we were there to do.

“We made some changes to the suspension of the car for Sunday to try a few things out and the car felt fantastic. Despite being less powerful than the Super Retro cars, we will able to get right in amongst them and it was just a shame that we got hit by one of the Super Retro cars – damaging a wheel and pulling out the driveshaft.

“Despite that, we still got the Retro win and it means we are in a great position going into the next round at Pembrey. We’ve got some work to do in terms of repairs but there is a lot we have been able to learn this weekend and a big score again in Wales will help us go a long way towards defending the title.”