Round 2 of the British RallyX National Championship was held at East Shrewsbury BRC club. Over the winter break a lot of work went into the track, and it proved to be a great weekend of racing with a fast layout creating some exciting races!
During qualifying, alike to the first round at HNMC, overall TQ was decided during round 5 on Sunday morning between Elliott Boots and Jonny Skidmore who were both tied on points by the end of round 4. Jonny Skidmore (Xray) clinched the overall TQ in the final round by just 1.3 seconds (!), followed by Elliott Boots (SWORKz) in 2nd & Neil Cragg (Associated) in 3rd.
The finals provided some exciting races throughout, with close racing the “bump up positions” – with the following drivers moving up: -
1/64B
1st Matty Box (WIRC)
2nd James Boulton (HB)
3rd Gareth Davies (Mugen)
4th Micheal Riviere (SWORKz)
1/64A
1st William Paul (Xray)
2nd Bruce Lee (AE)
3rd Ben Kennett (Agama)
4th Daniel Lewington (Agama)
1/32B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Chris Carlisle (Tekno)
3rd Dave Williams (Agama)
4th Rob Cockcroft (Mayako)
1/32A
1st Jake Dell (Agama)
2nd William Paul (Xray)
3rd Ben Kennett (Agama)
4th Clive Maland (AE)
1/16B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Jonathan Wolfe (Agama)
3rd Connor Hamblett (HB)
4th Allan Ward (Kyosho)
1/16A
1st Daniel Austin (Tekno)
2nd Darren Warburton (AE)
3rd Lee Bunker (WIRC)
4th Jake Dell (Agama)
1/8 B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Scott Walker (Mayako)
3rd Mick Butler (Schumacher)
4th David Shedd (WIRC)
1/8 A
1st Cayden Stenhouse (Mugen)
2nd Oliver Nattress (Kyosho)
3rd Jon Spencer (HB)
4th Michael Shorey (Agama)
1/4B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Jack Willetts (Mugen)
3rd Simon Reeves (HB)
4th Dave Bailey (AE)
1/4A
1st Luke Holdsworth (Xray)
2nd Max Mcdonnell (AE)
3rd Simon Willetts (Mugen)
4th Callum Mcloughlin (Kyosho)
A specific mention to Joshua Graham, who after a qualifying session beset with many problems, drive brilliantly in the finals – winning four finals in a row from 1/32 to 1/4 - an engine cut in the semis finally ending his great run!
Semi B:
Semi B was led by Boots from start to finish, however, at the 13-minute mark of the semi unfortunately a crash on the back step up saw William Skidmore retire from the race whilst running in 2nd place. Ben Simpson (AE) finally finished 2nd, Kev Brunsden (Agama) in 3rd, James Le Pavoux (SWORKz) in 4th, Jack Willetts (WIRC) in 5th, - making his first A Final at National level! Simon Reeves (HB) was 6th, and the last transfer out of Semi B was Taro Cradock (Kyosho) in 7th after a long and closely fought battle with Dom Nunn (HB).
Semi A
Semi A started with Jonny Skidmore leading the pack, however just 5 laps in Jonny made a mistake over the back of the track causing an early retirement. The remainder of the race saw a furious battle between Lewis Jones and Neil Cragg. Lewis Jones (WIRC) ended 1st, followed by Neil Cragg (AE), Michael Lewis (Mayako) 3rd, Josh Holdsworth (Xray) 4th, Graham Alsop (HB) 5th. Paul Crompton (Xray) qualified in 6th and Erik Lyke (Agama) securing the final spot in the A main in 7th place.
Grand Final
The A Final Started just after 4 PM, with an earlier start to avoid the forecasted heavy rain and was a race for the history books! The final started with Elliott leading and in race order, then the biggest shock of the race with Elliott Boots flaming out on lap 1, putting him a lap down.
A three way battle proceeded between Josh Holdsworth (Xray), Neil Cragg (AE) and Lewis Jones (WIRC). The lead was changing every few laps whilst Elliott slowly unlapped himself. Elliott had unlapped himself to 5th place by the 15-minute mark.
Sadly, at the 30 to 35 minute mark, Lewis Jones (WIRC) experienced a technical issue whilst in the lead causing him to retire from the race, with Josh Holdsworth then taking the lead. Shortly after this Josh had to retire with a technical issue with Cragg taking the lead. However, Elliott Boots had not only unlapped himself but charged all the way back to 2nd place! With 6 minutes of the final remaining Boots had caught up and passed Cragg, we then saw Cragg flame out, but he was also that far ahead of the rest of the pack he retained his second place.
Whilst the battle for the lead had been won, another battle for the final podium spot was raging on. Graham Alsop (HB) and James Le Pavoux (SWORKz) were closely fighting until the final lap, with both sending it full speed over the loop for 3rd. Graham Alsop came out on top and secured 3rd for the final podium spot and James Le Pavoux in 4th.
