Carisma Dominates BRCA Micro Championship
With the top 4 positions in the title race, the Carisma GTB wins – again!
The final event of the six round BRCA series was held at perennial favourite venue for micros racing, Caldicot RC Racers in south Wales. As usual the track was fantastic with a challenging layout, a good mix of surfaces and flowing jumps. The championship had already been decided at the previous round in favour of Ben Cosgrove, unfortunately Ben couldn’t attend this round due to illness which made it even more tense for the rest in the battle to complete the championship podium.
Qualifying started out as the Rob West show with the Welsh racer taking the first two rounds, but only just. The competition got their act together by round three though with Keith Robertson taking that round and Phil Sleigh the final round. This was enough for Rob to line up on pole position (his first ever TQ in any class of national – well done Rob).
There was great racing throughout the finals as drivers battled away but the main focus was on the three legs of the A final. The first leg saw Rob clear off into the distance as Phil, Keith and Craig Harris battled for second. There was drama in the last thirty seconds though as some lapses in concentration from Rob put the chasing three right on his tail. With the drivers right on the limit mistakes were made on the race to line and it was Keith who came through for the win, from Craig and Rob.
The second leg followed a similar pattern with Rob initially looking comfortable but again the field caught up towards the end and this time it was Phil who made the best of the last lap errors to take the win as Keith sneaked into second just ahead of Rob.
The deciding leg turned into a battle between Rob and Phil as Keith got caught up in accidents, and it was the pressure from Phil that paid off as he took the lead and headed off into the distance and took the win from Rob in second and Craig in third. This gave Phil the overall win, Keith in second and pole man Rob in third.
With Ben taking the championship in a cracking debut year, he chose the Carisma GTB as his weapon of choice and it paid off handsomely for him – congratulations! Former champ Phil took second place on countback with his Carisma GTB with Keith in third finishing off the Carisma GTB podium lock out.
Final championship positions:
- Ben Cosgrove Carisma
- Phil Sleigh Carisma
- Keith Robertson Carisma
- Craig Harris Carisma
- Rob West LC
- Tony Bishop Carisma
- Andy Jones LC
- Chris Bowater LC
- Ben Young LC
- Ritchie Thorn LC
Congratulations to the junior category (under 16) podium too. Ben Young taking that win from Ben Pugh and Callum Johnson. And to round things out it in the M2 class it was Andy Mountford who came out on top from Jason Potter and Bryan Burrows.
A big thanks to all the clubs and organisers for a great years racing, keep an eye out for next year’s dates so you don’t miss out on one of the most fun and friendly race series going. And remember that the annual Micro X extravaganza is set to be hosted in the Midlands area this year in late summer!
Thanks to RC Images and JP for the pictures. Click here for a full gallery of the event.
