Cobley’s off to a flyer with class win in British Cross Country Championships

Edd Cobley took the class win in his season debut in the opening round of the British Cross Country Championships.

His drive in Skippy 2.0 – his custom-built Landrover 110 – marked an historic first competitive victory in Class 3 (modified production) for Davanti Tyres’ Terratoura A/T at Parkwood Off Road Centre in Tong, West Yorkshire.

Racing with John Tomley as his co-driver, Cobley went all-out on the challenging course.

“It was fantastic to be out there again tearing it up,” he said. “We knew Skippy was fast but she was really rapid and she flew over the jumps. The racing was brutal but that’s how we like it.

“We’ve built and prepped her ourselves and this was her first proper race so to see her not just hold up well but put in serious times was amazing. We were competitive against vehicles you’d expect to leave a Defender for dust.

“After that performance I am confident we can get more out of Skippy and start to really push the overall championship leaders.”

Racing at speed over dust tracks, gravel, mud and jumps, it was a tough introduction to off-road racing for Terratoura A/T.

“When you’re travelling at those speeds on tough terrain you have to trust your tyres,” said Edd. “If they aren’t up to the job you’ll quickly be in all sorts of trouble. Thankfully we put Terratoura A/T through the harshest tests before the race and it paid off as we never had to worry about them.

“The fact they’ve now been successfully battle-tested however is a major bonus – racing is always much different to testing.”

As the race wore on issues with the rear axle bushes, rear damper mounts bending and minor electrical faults tested Cobley and Tomley, but they were still able to claim the class win.

“Now we’ve got the first race under our belts and we know we have the pace and reliability we need to focus on squeezing every last bit of performance out of Skippy for the remaining three weekends.

“There’s a couple of minor adjustments we want to make that will help us carry some extra speed but we’ve got a few weeks to get that sorted.”

The next round of the championships is at Sweet Lamb in Mid Wales on July 17 and 18.

Before then Edd will join Davanti Tyres at the Billing Off Road Show on June 26 and 27 where he will be showing what Skippy can do on the off-road course.

Photo courtesy of Songasport.co.uk