It was changeable weather at Stonehaven and District Radio Car Club where Round 1 of the BRCA Scottish regional series known as SORS was taking place. This series comprises of 6 rounds across Scottish clubs with 4 counting rounds to decide the 1/10th Off Road Scottish regional champions. With their newly laid out Astro track, everyone was keen to get started and tackling the technical course the committee has been working on for weeks prior to the race weekend.
Qualifying got underway with Allan O’Brien taking TQ in 3 of the 4 2WD rounds, initially getting some distance away from Daniel Pole, before Daniel caught up towards the end of the sessions. The McLeod brothers and Stonehaven’s very own David Scott and Martin Inglis were not far behind either!
4WD qualifiers. Daniel Pole, Allan O’Brien and David Scott were getting stuck right in, trading places throughout all the rounds. Daniel managed a 17 lapper too, which was very impressive!
All through the qualifying rounds, there was rain, then shine, then rain again, causing drivers across all heats to put careful consideration into tyres and setup, with some changing tyres with only minutes to go before their heat!
2WD finals and Reigan Bissett, Ian Petrie and Giancarlo Pallisco all held their qualifying positions in the D final, Reigan narrowly missing out on a 13 lapper, but oh so close! Well done all!
Paul Auld won the 2WD C final having come up from 5th on the grid, with Robert Forshaw narrowly pipping Stephen McArthur to 2nd place.
A similar success story saw Colin McCaffery winning the 2WD B final, closely followed by Paul Kerr and Allan Bridgeman.
2WD A and Allan and Daniel were trading places throughout the whole race, with thrills and spills a plenty! Allan got the big W in the end, followed by Daniel with Ewan McLeod completing the podium and David Scott following close behind.
2wd A Final Result
1 Alan O’Brien - Schumacher
2 Daniel Pole - Team Associated
3 Euan McLeod - Schumacher
4 David Scott - Schumacher
5 James Hamilton - Sworkz
6 Steven Harley - Schumacher
7 Gary Dunn - Losi
8 Martin Inglis - Kyosho
9 Fraser McLeod - Schumacher
10 Kevin McDowell - Xray
4WD now and Ian Hughes sensationally converted a 6th place starting grid position to a victory in the D final, with Giancarlo Pallisco getting his second podium of the day and John Minski following close behind.
C final and after a bit of an eventful start to the race, Blake Auld got 1st with John Wilson right behind him in 2nd. Aaron Carberry topped off the podium with SDRCC Chairman Mark Knowles narrowly missing out on 3rd.
Nick Lax converted his pole position to a victory in the 4WD B final with Allan Bridgeman coming up to 2nd from 4th on the grid. But the hero of the heat was Fraser McLeod, getting 3rd from 10th on the grid. Well done!
Finally, the 4WD A final saw Daniel Pole, David Scott and Allan O’Brien battling it out so closely, with Daniel getting 1st with another sensational 17 lapper, with David and Allan coming 2nd and 3rd respectively 3 seconds apart.
4wd A Final Result
1 Daniel Pole - Team Associated
2 David Scott - Schumacher
3 Allan O’Brien - Schumacher
4 Euan McLeod - Schumacher
5 Steven Harley - Schumacher
6 Paul Kerr - Xray
7 Martin Inglis - Kyosho
8 Kevin McDowell - Xray
9 James Hamilton - Sworkz
10 Christopher Mitchell - HB Racing
Well done to all who attended and don’t forget to sign up to Round 2 of the SORS in Dumfries on 18th June!
Until then….
The Stonehaven Crew
Race report courtesy of Mark Knowles.
