Bradley Baird 2011 Irish National Champion

The fifth and final round of the Irish national championship took place at the fantastic all astro turf track at Navan hosted by the Navan Nitro Nuts.The facility was in great condition with a tricky layout. This was the crucial decider of the championship which could have gone three ways depending on the final results. Bradley walked into the final round with two firsts and a second and it was Christopher McCauley holding a first, a second, and a third so Christopher needed a win to help his championship hopes were as Bradley needed a top three finish. In qualifying it was a very up and down story. Christopher took TQ in round one with Bradley taking second in round. Christopher carried his fast pace through to round two and again claimed TQ and in round three it was Gary Baird driving the Kyosho who took TQ and Bradley again taking a second. So at the end of qualifying it was Christopher McCauley who took pole on the grid with Bradley in second with solid second places. In the B final it was Arron Vance who bumped straight through to the main after having a bad qualifing earlier in the day. At the start of the main final it was Bradley and Christopher who made the early break from the chasing pack it the battle continued between the two contenders went on for about the first fifteen minutes of the final until a crucial mistake from Bradley left him upside down between two jumps which let Christopher pull a huge gap and give himself plenty of breathing space to a recovering Bradley. Then after the last pit stop with only four minutes to go Mccauleys Novarossi powered Xray cut handing the lead back to Bradley and giving him the win and the 2011 national championship. Christopher recoverd and still hung on to second place and Alan Scroggie claiming the last spot on the podium driving his Novarossi powered Xray. So the championship is as follows:

• Bradley Baird - 399 points
• Christopher Mccauley - 396 points
• Alan Scroggie - 394 points

A big thank you must go to Andrew Rennick for all his help and support on and off the track this year, CML for all the help at every event, John Matthews for ensuring my RC8 was in top form and my brother Blaine for all the help during the entire year.