Rod Birley took his 200th victory at Brands Hatch in the Quaife Motorsport News Saloon Car Championship just over a week ago.
It is quite an amazing statistic in a career where the next target for Birley is a 600th career victory, and he isn’t far off that mark on 589 career victories.
Speaking to Kent Sports News about the previous race weekend where they supported the British GT championship, with some great entertainment.
Quaifying on the Sunday morning was interesting enough with incidents a plenty, as Rod explains: “Yes qualifying turned into a lottery due to the number of incidents/accidents.”
Race one was something that was just as entertaining with incidents before the first lap had even been completed, which Rod managed to avoid.
He added: “It all got a bit close going through the first couple of corners, but I managed to get inside Gavin Thomson at Druids hairpin, then nip past Dan Cowan just before Graham Hill bend. What happened behind me allowed me to escape, so I kept my foot down to build up a useful lead but then wondered if the safety car might appear. Luckily it didn’t so I just enjoyed driving the lovely GP circuit, which is a real thrill.
The final race was a bit more of a battle that Rod and the fans at Brands Hatch were expecting to see and one that everyone enjoyed.
“Yes, but the pressure was on to try and get the 200th win. I knew Malcolm would try and latch onto me so he was going to be much more of a threat. The other issue was the yellow flag zone after the crash barrier damage in an earlier race. On two occasions I caught back markers going through this zone, so I really had to concentrate not to overtake them but also not lose too much of my lead.”
Victory in the final race gave Rod that impressive 200th win at Brands Hatch and it is quite some achievement and one that he is extremely proud of.
He said: “Really over the moon. It is not something I ever imagined achieving. I am lucky to have good helpers, Barry and Stewart plus a terrific engine builder (Joe Stevens). They have all helped hugely.”
We asked Rod whether there were any of the race victories at Brands Hatch that stood out for him as holding any special memories.
He added: “Each one has special memories, but winning at big meetings is always good. I remember overtaking one adversary in the last few metres after a tremendous race long battle, it was really a last ditch effort that actually paid off.
“One event that does stand out was on 26th May 1997. It was the FIA international Group N race, and BMW had won every race in the past two seasons. I entered the race with a friend, Frank Cundell, in his Ford Escort Cosworth.
“The car was not as sophisticated as the BMWs and we were rank outsiders. However, we tried a very unusual tyre strategy mixing cross ply and radial tyres. The race was one hour long and somehow our strategy worked and we gradually picked off the more fancied runners, as they had to change tyres during the race. We won by over 23 seconds and I was very proud to hear our national anthem.
Next up is the 600 victories for Rod in his career, and that is definitely something that he has a chance to achieve this year.
“Hopefully I can reach this target, especially as I also have the opportunity to drive the Bevan owned Honda Integra in Tin Top races. The competition is still tough, but we have already had a win in this car last month.”
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