BLACKBURN THE CHAMP

At the end of his second season racing a Fiesta ST150, Michael Blackburn achieved his goal of winning the Vinyl Detail ST-XR Challenge with his Class D entry but the former Class B (Escort XR3i) champion had his title hopes on the line right up until the last lap of the season. Dave Williams reports.

cars and bringing out the red flags. The crash left the pair with ill-handling cars for the rest of the weekend so they were unable to prevent Blackburn from recording a hat-trick of wins.

Jones was back in his ST150 for Donington Park and did the double as Blackburn was plagued by understeer.

When the campaign got underway at Oulton Park in April, third was the best Blackburn could manage just ahead of Sam Beckett. A pair of Chrises finished in front of him – Jones, the reigning champion, took the win with Grimes second. Before race two later in the day, Blackburn made some tweaks to his suspension and replaced a front hub. With his car now handling to his liking, Blackburn was able to finish a close runner-up to Jones with Beckett third. Grimes charged up the order to finish fourth from the back of the pack having missed a gear at the start.

There was to be no repeat of Jones’ titlewinning campaign from the previous year as he didn’t compete in the next six rounds at Snetterton and Anglesey with his ST150 although he gave his beloved Escort XR3i a run out at the latter meeting.

In the first leg of Snetterton’s Triple Header, Blackburn came out on top in a five-car battle for the lead before surviving brake failure at the final corner to pip Beckett at the line in race two. Blackburn used the same tyres at Oulton Park and Snetterton therefore by the third contest in Norfolk they were very worn which meant he had to settle for third behind Grimes and Beckett.

A lapse of concentration by Grimes saw him plough into Beckett during the opening encounter in Wales causing extensive damage to both

Matt Pimlott was bang on the pace at Cadwell Park and started the weekend with his maiden win. Next time out, he followed Blackburn home before winning again after Blackburn had a coming together with Beckett in race three. His retirement allowed Class A title-winner, Simon Robinson, to be the only Fiesta XR2 driver to finish on the podium this year.

Beckett was another to win for the first time when the series headed north to Croft. He could easily have won all three contests but a missed gearchange allowed Jones to take the honours in the second encounter.

That brace for Beckett put him within striking distance of Blackburn heading into the final Double Header at Oulton Park. In race one, Jones won closely followed by Blackburn and Beckett. Later in the day, they were running in the same order when trackrod failure pitched Jones into the barriers. This meant Beckett would be champion if he passed Blackburn. He could have done so when he accidentally hit the new leader in the back bumper under braking for Hislop’s but that was not how he wanted to take victory so he allowed his rival to re-join ahead of him. Blackburn was then able to keep him behind until the chequered flag at which point he took the title with some relief.

For 2023, this series will merge with the national championship for the ST150 model and become the Fiesta ST150 Challenge to be run alongside the Fiesta ST240 Championship.