At Mallory Park two weeks ago it was a disappointing weekend for Stuart Emery and the UK Battery Sales Rally Cross team.

Despite qualifying on pole position for the A final, engine issues meant that he couldn’t complete the race and challenge for the win that looked for the whole weekend that could be a real possibility.

Speaking exclusively to Kent Sports News about the race weekend, Stuart said: “The qualifying heats went well despite some problems along the way. The track was very bumpy and caused problems throughout the day.

“In heat one I lost my offside rear brake pads and the piston pushed out of the calliper, which meant after lap one I had almost no brakes! I pushed on regardless and won the race. Heat two and more problems; one of the bolts that holds the alternator on snapped and I lost the alternator belt, which dropped the voltage to the ECU and caused a misfire. I finished second behind Paul Wakeling.

“Thanks to the efforts of my amazing team, the kept fixing the problems! Heat three and finally a relatively trouble free run, although I had to work hard starting from the back row. I had to overtake everyone including Gary Dixon who was leading until the last corner! It was quick time too, as I set the fastest time of the day and combined with my heat two time meant I qualified on pole for the final.”

It meant that Stuart scored his first pole position of the season and he will be hoping that there are more of the same.

He added: “I was very pleased with the pole position. It was my first pole with 206 and the first time in a long time that Ash Simpson wasn’t on pole for the final. I knew I had the pace to challenge for the win, although I also knew that the fast starting RWD cars would get me off the line.”

Talking us through the start of the race it was clear that Stuart was right there in contention when disaster struck.

He said: “As the final got underway, I made a great start and tucked in behind the Lotus of Simpson and towards the end of the first lap I was already looking to challenge for the lead. Unfortunately Gary Dixon had a spin into the armco and the race was red flagged, so I had to do it all again.

“The re-start was not quite so good and I was third into the first corner. As I went onto the back loose section, something broke in the gearbox and I lost third and fourth gears. That was it for me as everyone else piled past, I pulled into the pit late… Absolutely gutted.”

As to what the issue is Stuart and his teammate are not sure as yet and it means a lot of hours spent in the garage trying to rectify the problem.

He added: “At the moment I’m not sure what the problem is. I will need to remove and strip the gearbox to find out, so if we can make it to Knockhilll is in doubt.

“Rally Cross is extremely tough on the cars, but the loose sections at Mallory Park eventually got the better of us. We are still working hard to get the car to the reliability level that we want.

It was the first time that Stuart had ever driven around Mallory Park and he was more than happy with the performance up to the issues in the race.

He said: “Although I came away disappointed with the final result, I was more than happy with my driving and the speed in the car. Having only seen the track for the first time on Sunday morning, to qualify on pole was more than I expected.”

Knockhill is next up for the UK Battery Sales Rally Cross team, but at the moment it is not clear whether the car will be in a position to line-up on the grid in May.

Giving his thoughts on Knockhill Stuart added: “Knockhill is a circuit I like and it should really suit my car where the power should be an advantage.

“If we can get the gearbox sorted in time for Knockhill, there’s no reason to think I won’t be able to challenge for the overall win again.

“As soon and I get home from a meeting, I am already thinking about the next one! Unfortunately, testing for Rally Cross is fairly limited, so it’s a case of having to wait until the next round.”

Pictures supplied by Phil Laughton