UKMicroX Race Report

National Series Champions Craig Harris and Cris Oxley were in attendance on the day with Cris choosing to enter the Pro-Stock class with his FTX Blaze, this time with a Novak GTS ESC instead of his more familiar surroundings in the Modified class. Other ?superstars? on the day included the FTX Blaze?s of Steve Davis and Chris Bottle (running Novak GTX ESC?s) running in Pro-Stock and Bill Pier running Modified. The event was ran in a slightly different manner to previous events with two rounds of 3 minute practise taking place to give drivers enough chance to try afew different setups before the off. The track itself was a warmly received by all. Not only incorporating the famous COBRA wall ride, but a MASSIVE double at the back of the track that required a big dose of full throttle for most to clear comfortably. A trick tabletop separated the brave from the crazy and a really slippery drift section tested the throttle fingers of all. The unique track design makes micro racing even more fun! Pro-Stock In Pro-Stock qualifying Craig Harris once again showed the growing crowds why he took the National Series trophy home last month consistently taking each round of qualifying by considerable margins. Round 4 of qualifying saw Craig take TQ by entire lap against a field of top level drivers! Hereford superstars Steve Davis and Chris Bottle took 2nd and 3rd place respectively with Cris happy to have secured 4th place in a class he is unfamiliar with. WORM?s Si Osborne rounded out the top 5 with some brilliant driving on the testing COBRA track. Qualifying 1st - Craig Harris ? 15laps/5mins14.6secs 2nd - Steve Davies ? 14laps/5mins13.7secs ? FTX Blaze 3rd - Chris Bottle ? 14laps/5mins15.4secs ? FTX Blaze 4th - Cris Oxley ? 13laps/5mins9.3secs ? FTX Blaze 5th - Simon Osborne ? 13laps/5mins15.1secs ? FTX Blaze ST The Pro-Stock final was once again dominated by Craig who shot off into the distance with an average lap time one second faster than his nearest rival! Steve and Chris took 2nd and 3rd between them after consistent races by both drivers saw them tussling for position for the entire 5 minutes. After a strong start Cris dropped of the pace abit with Dan Osborne taking full advantage leaving Cris to battle with Luke Knight. Luke has impressed many with his ability to drive well under pressure and today was no exception. Certainly a name to look out for at future micro events! Final 1st - Craig Harris ? 14laps/5mins6.7secs 2nd - Steve Davies ? 14laps/5mins21.5secs ? FTX Blaze ? Novak GTX ? CML Distribution 3rd - Chris Bottle ? 13laps/5mins0.2secs ? FTX Blaze ? Novak GTX 4th - Dan Osborne -13laps/5m9.9secs ? FTX Blaze ST 5th - Cris Oxley ? 12laps/5mins3.4secs ? FTX Blaze ? Novak GTS ? CML Distribution 6th - Luke Knight 12laps/5mins4.secs ? FTX Blaze Modified With the Modified drivers trying to work out ways to lay their power down on the slippery COBRA surface Bill Pier followed on from his National success to top the sheets after Round 2. Local lad Thomas Graham came back in round 3 to take top spot by 3 seconds leaving Bill everything to do in the final round. A superb drive in the last round gave Bill the TQ by 3 seconds from Thomas in 2nd and Carl Venter?s Blaze ST in 3rd. Qualifying 1st - Bill Pier ? 13laps/5mins16.0secs ? FTX Blaze ST 2nd - Thomas Graham ? 13laps/5mins17.4secs ? FTX Blaze 3rd - Carl Venter ? 12laps/5mins1.6secs ? FTX Blaze ST 4th - Paul Knight ? 12laps/5mins12.3secs ? FTX Blaze 5th - Bede Constantinides ? 12laps/5mins13.5secs ? FTX Blaze ST The Modified final was very straight forward, but still highly entertaining for the large crowd that had now gathered. The speed of some of the brushless systems used by these drivers is unbelievable and a sight to behold. Bill, Thomas and Carl took the top 3 podium positions with Bede and ?Jam? Laird climbing up afew positions. Final 1st - Bill Pier ? 13laps/5mins17.2secs ? FTX Blaze ST 2nd - Thomas Graham ? 12laps/5mins1.6secs ? FTX Blaze 3rd - Carl Venter ? 12laps/5mins4.6secs ? FTX Blaze ST 4th - Bede Constantinides ? 12laps/5mins11.0secs ? FTX Blaze ST 5th - James Laird ? 12laps/5mins22.1secs ? FTX Blaze ST 2WD The 2WD class was an experimental idea by the event organizers with a view to seeing whether a 2WD class would be a success at National level. It turned out to be a success and was duely voted in as a class for the 2008-09 National Season. Dan Osborne?s home made Mini-B dominated proceedings using a hacked up RC10B3 chassis and some Mini-T bits! The level of dedication that some of these guys are putting into their home made cars is a credit to them all, and with the Class rules embracing such prototypes the future of the micro scene is one to look out for. Allan Davies and Luke Westwood ran similar extended chassis but experienced afew hiccups during the day. Carl and Simon Osborne rounded out the top 5. The most impressive thing from an organizers point of view was that the 2WD cars had the potential to lap as fast as the top 4WD boys. If you have a 2WD micro hiding away under your bed then I suggest you blow the dust off and get yourself onto the UK-MicroRC forum! Qualifying 1st - Dan Osborne - 12laps5mins0.3secs 2nd - Allan Davies ? 12laps5mins8.8secs 3rd - Luke Westwood ? 11laps/5mins4.9secs 4th - Carl Venter ? 11laps/5mins6.0secs 5th - Simon Osborne ? 11laps/5mins11.9secs Dan walked away with the win comfortably, with over half a lap to 2nd place Luke. Luke and Allan were separated by only a second though with Carl closing them down to take 4th place overall. 2WD looks set to be a very popular class at National level with a lot of emphusiasm from the drivers involved. Final 1st - Dan Osborne ? 11laps/5mins0.2secs 2nd - Luke Westwood ? 11laps/5mins17.9secs 3rd - Allan Davies ? 11laps/5mins18.2secs 4th - Carl Venter ? 10laps/4mins56.1secs 5th - Simon Osborne ? 10laps/5mins8.5secs All in all the first UKMicroX event was a huge success. Not only was it the most popular micro event in UK history, it also adds to the reputation that the UKMicroX team has built for themselves. With more and more superstars emerging in this class the micro scene is set to grow massively over the next 12 months and the organsing team are already planning UKMicroX 2, in Hereford, for November 2008! CML Distribution and Team Associated have always supported the micro scale race scene since ?the early days? and supplied 5 RC18R micro rally cars for the event. For more information of the UKMicroX events, BRCA Micro Scale Nationals and the micro scene in general please visit www.ukmicrox.co.uk and www.uk-microrc.co.uk