Cragg Wins Epic Battle
The 6th round of the BRCA 1/8th Off Road series held at the Clanfield track near Portsmouth, produced a cracker of a main final that saw defending champion, and current series leader Neil Cragg take the spoils.
The track was very bumpy and very dusty in the early stages of qualifying, and it was Neil Cragg who came out of the blocks hardest to take TQ in the opening round just ahead of team mate Craig Drescher. The Reedy powered RC8B's looking both fast and safe on the really choppy surface. Graham Alsop was third with the European Champion RB B9 Engine powering his car.
The second round saw Elliott Boots (Savox) as the man who set the pace with a very quick time, securing top spot, in front of Lee Martin, who was looking very consistent with his RC8B/Reedy combination. Round 1 winner Neil took third despite a couple of costly errors that would have seen him eclipse Elliott's time by a couple fo seconds had he kept it wheels down.
In round 3 it was Lee Martin who came out on top of a very close three way battle for round honours, Lee beating the times by Kevin Brunsden and Craig Drescher by 0.05 and 0.5 seconds respectively. This result would give Lee the overall TQ for the meeting and the extra point that goes with it. Lee would line up ahead of Neil Cragg and Craig Drescher to complete a top 3 lockout for the Associated/Reedy camp. Tony Truman, new to the Associated team would also place his RC8B/Reedy combination in the main final by qualifying 8th.
The later finals saw a light and constant sprinkling of rain that would make the track damp, but not really wet. From the 'B' final Richard Taylor with Reedy power took the win and following him up into the 'A' final were Simon Willetts, Tommy Chung and Richard Barton who made it 5 Reedy Powered RC8B's in the main final.
The main final turned into a classic, the drivers all were a bit into the unknown as they had to go with an untried tyre choice in the damp conditions. From the off it was pole man Lee Martin who took up the running, closely followed by Craig Drescher. These two were the swapping the lead between them and up to about the half way point were looking the most likely to go on and take the win.
Neil Cragg had a made a tyre choice that wasn't really suiting the damp conditions and he just couldn't match the leaders pace in the early stages and dropped back to 6th. Graham Alsop and Elliott Boots both had poor starts and were fighting back through the pack.
By this stage it had stopped raining and the track was changing a little again. Both Lee and Craig started to lose ground from this point and got swallowed into the pack. Graham took up the running with his RB powered car and was pulling away at the front. When the rain stopped Neil started to find a little more grip and after the last round of stops he drove totally flat out to put the pressure on Graham. This was inspired driving from Neil as he didn't have as much grip as Graham, yet he was able to close the gap and exert enough pressure to force an error that allowed him to sneak through. Elliott was also flying behind Neil and the lead three were only 2 or 3 seconds apart going into the final laps. Neil managed to see these out and take his third win of the season from Graham second and Elliott third. Lee and Craig finished fourth and fifth respectively with Richard Barton making it four RC8B's in the top 6.
This result puts Neil in a strong position in the Championship and a good result at the next round could see him wrap up his hat trick of BRCA 1/8th titles.
The second round saw Elliott Boots (Savox) as the man who set the pace with a very quick time, securing top spot, in front of Lee Martin, who was looking very consistent with his RC8B/Reedy combination. Round 1 winner Neil took third despite a couple of costly errors that would have seen him eclipse Elliott's time by a couple fo seconds had he kept it wheels down.
In round 3 it was Lee Martin who came out on top of a very close three way battle for round honours, Lee beating the times by Kevin Brunsden and Craig Drescher by 0.05 and 0.5 seconds respectively. This result would give Lee the overall TQ for the meeting and the extra point that goes with it. Lee would line up ahead of Neil Cragg and Craig Drescher to complete a top 3 lockout for the Associated/Reedy camp. Tony Truman, new to the Associated team would also place his RC8B/Reedy combination in the main final by qualifying 8th.
The later finals saw a light and constant sprinkling of rain that would make the track damp, but not really wet. From the 'B' final Richard Taylor with Reedy power took the win and following him up into the 'A' final were Simon Willetts, Tommy Chung and Richard Barton who made it 5 Reedy Powered RC8B's in the main final.
The main final turned into a classic, the drivers all were a bit into the unknown as they had to go with an untried tyre choice in the damp conditions. From the off it was pole man Lee Martin who took up the running, closely followed by Craig Drescher. These two were the swapping the lead between them and up to about the half way point were looking the most likely to go on and take the win.
Neil Cragg had a made a tyre choice that wasn't really suiting the damp conditions and he just couldn't match the leaders pace in the early stages and dropped back to 6th. Graham Alsop and Elliott Boots both had poor starts and were fighting back through the pack.
By this stage it had stopped raining and the track was changing a little again. Both Lee and Craig started to lose ground from this point and got swallowed into the pack. Graham took up the running with his RB powered car and was pulling away at the front. When the rain stopped Neil started to find a little more grip and after the last round of stops he drove totally flat out to put the pressure on Graham. This was inspired driving from Neil as he didn't have as much grip as Graham, yet he was able to close the gap and exert enough pressure to force an error that allowed him to sneak through. Elliott was also flying behind Neil and the lead three were only 2 or 3 seconds apart going into the final laps. Neil managed to see these out and take his third win of the season from Graham second and Elliott third. Lee and Craig finished fourth and fifth respectively with Richard Barton making it four RC8B's in the top 6.
This result puts Neil in a strong position in the Championship and a good result at the next round could see him wrap up his hat trick of BRCA 1/8th titles.
