BRCA 1/8th Nationals - Rnd 7
The penultimate round of the BRCA 1/8th Off Road series was held at a new venue for this year, Junction 12. The name in Reference to its proximity to Junc. 12 of the M40.
Before the event there was a lot of chitter chatter about the track, all saying 'it's this, it's that. I've heard it's rubbish etc' Well, all that can be said is that proved to be totally unfounded and the track was excellent. It is a fairly fast track, with three fast chicanes that really put an emphasis on being accurate, with a couple of high speed jumps that were quite spectacular. The surface was also really good and during the day would produce a fantastic 'blue groove' that was offering up a lot of traction.
The challenging chicance section.
Qualifying was a very close affair with Darren Bloomfield (Proline) taking the first round with a stonking time in front of Simon Willetts (Byron) and Kevin Brunsden (RB/Byron). In the second round the track was starting to clean up and was producing more traction and this saw Neil Cragg (AE/Reedy/Proline/Byron) move into contention with a round win.
Neil had to re-arrange travel plans to attend this meeting as the 1/10th euros start the following day, and he will have to miss a couple of rounds of practice at that event to do so. Neil had switched to the Proline Caliber tyre for round two and found an immediate improvement. Elliott Boots (RB/Savox) took second in this round with Simon Willetts in third.
The final round was a shoot out with four drivers in the hunt for TQ. Neil was the first to go out and he set down a tough target by setting the fastest time of the day up to that point. Darren went next and he failed to beat Neil's time by a couple of seconds and with Elliott also not having a good a run it was all down to Simon in the last heat. Simon went out and produced a cracking run to beat Neil by 1 1/2 seconds to take the overall TQ from Neil on the count back score. Fourth in the final round was Dave Bailey (Hobao/RB/Proline/Byron/Savox) who drove an excellent round to be only a few seconds off the ultimate pace with his Hyper 9.
The main final got off to a chaotic start on the first lap, where Simon made a mistake in the middle of the track and Neil and Darren were so close they were unable to avoid him. The resulting pile up caused mayhem and the marshall did his best but he put Simon and Darren down near the front and by the time he got to Neil the whole field had gone by!
By the time of the final most drivers had mastered the jumps.
Simon and Darren quickly pulled a gap at the front and were off and running. Craig Drescher (AE/Reedy/Proline/Byron) had made a great start from ninth to be second at the end of lap one, but a small error that lead to a marshal stopping the flywheel put paid to his race.
Neil was attempting to make a fight back as he knew a good finish would see crowned as BRCA champion for the third year in succession. The high speed nature of the track and some good driving by the others meant that it wasn't until after the last pit stops that he got up to third and into a championship winning position.
At the front Simon had about a ten second lead after Darren had made a mess of the pit exit at his first stop, and this was allowing Simon to cruise at a pace that was still fast, but safe and he never looked like putting a foot wrong. Darren tried very hard over the last few minutes but it was to no avail and Simon went on to take his second national win and the fifth from seven for Byron Race GEN2 fuel this year. Darren took a comfortable second and Neil finally made it to third after a battling drive through the pack. This result would give him the Championship he so desired and see the Associated RC8 take its third BRCA title and the Reedy engine become UK Champion at its first attempt.
Neil would like to thank all of his sponsors, Team Associated, Reedy, Proline, Byron Fuels, Upgrade RC and CML for their help and assistance in 2009.
Congratulations from all at CML to Neil on a great success.
The challenging chicance section.
Qualifying was a very close affair with Darren Bloomfield (Proline) taking the first round with a stonking time in front of Simon Willetts (Byron) and Kevin Brunsden (RB/Byron). In the second round the track was starting to clean up and was producing more traction and this saw Neil Cragg (AE/Reedy/Proline/Byron) move into contention with a round win.
Neil had to re-arrange travel plans to attend this meeting as the 1/10th euros start the following day, and he will have to miss a couple of rounds of practice at that event to do so. Neil had switched to the Proline Caliber tyre for round two and found an immediate improvement. Elliott Boots (RB/Savox) took second in this round with Simon Willetts in third.
The final round was a shoot out with four drivers in the hunt for TQ. Neil was the first to go out and he set down a tough target by setting the fastest time of the day up to that point. Darren went next and he failed to beat Neil's time by a couple of seconds and with Elliott also not having a good a run it was all down to Simon in the last heat. Simon went out and produced a cracking run to beat Neil by 1 1/2 seconds to take the overall TQ from Neil on the count back score. Fourth in the final round was Dave Bailey (Hobao/RB/Proline/Byron/Savox) who drove an excellent round to be only a few seconds off the ultimate pace with his Hyper 9.
The main final got off to a chaotic start on the first lap, where Simon made a mistake in the middle of the track and Neil and Darren were so close they were unable to avoid him. The resulting pile up caused mayhem and the marshall did his best but he put Simon and Darren down near the front and by the time he got to Neil the whole field had gone by!
By the time of the final most drivers had mastered the jumps.
Simon and Darren quickly pulled a gap at the front and were off and running. Craig Drescher (AE/Reedy/Proline/Byron) had made a great start from ninth to be second at the end of lap one, but a small error that lead to a marshal stopping the flywheel put paid to his race.
Neil was attempting to make a fight back as he knew a good finish would see crowned as BRCA champion for the third year in succession. The high speed nature of the track and some good driving by the others meant that it wasn't until after the last pit stops that he got up to third and into a championship winning position.
At the front Simon had about a ten second lead after Darren had made a mess of the pit exit at his first stop, and this was allowing Simon to cruise at a pace that was still fast, but safe and he never looked like putting a foot wrong. Darren tried very hard over the last few minutes but it was to no avail and Simon went on to take his second national win and the fifth from seven for Byron Race GEN2 fuel this year. Darren took a comfortable second and Neil finally made it to third after a battling drive through the pack. This result would give him the Championship he so desired and see the Associated RC8 take its third BRCA title and the Reedy engine become UK Champion at its first attempt.
Neil would like to thank all of his sponsors, Team Associated, Reedy, Proline, Byron Fuels, Upgrade RC and CML for their help and assistance in 2009.
Congratulations from all at CML to Neil on a great success.
