which allows people to watch racing from a great viewpoint and looked superb. The track was in great shape too with grip coming up quickly and times tumbling.
This was a special race for the 1/8 section being the brca’s 50th anniversary and our section having been around since the beginning, after practice on Saturday there was a celebration with food, drink and cars etc from different decades that racers had kindly brought. We thank John and Muriel Russell for arranging and spending time on making this possible.
It was great to welcome a number of new and returning racers to the series with a lot of drivers coming on Saturday to practice and fine tune cars, the electric class had two strong full heats of racers including Mr RC Disco himself Greg Hill having his first experience of 1/8 circuit racing Xray and six year old Alfie Wadsworth racing a Serpent in his first national. Steve Scott and Neil Wallace returned to the series after a couple of years away.
Qualifying
After four rounds were completed Alex Thurston took TQ in nitro from Tim Wood just ahead of Karl Dransfield both running Shepherd cars. It was also close for those competing for the all important top 10 position to get into the 30 minute A final. Bjorn Baldwin was to put in a stellar performance to take 9thand Jamie Paton 10th. Matthieu Dambrine would be BQ lacking in lack but had great pace. In Electric Michael Walton would head Lee Henson and Mark Boothman all getting 21 lappers, the electric cars clearly getting nearer to the pace of their nitro counterparts. Jim Spencer of BRCA executive fame would take BQ having a one off 1/8 appearance running electric.
Finals
The first of the nitro finals was the C-final, Rob Mckenna was on pole and ran a solid race keeping out of trouble to take the win with his Mugen from local racer Craig Illingworth by two laps. Craig getting the fastest lap with his Serpent. Roger Doran would come home third in this 20 minute race.
A highly competitive field lined for the B-final with Matthieu Dambrine leading it away after just missing an A-final position, unfortunately he was to retire after only 17laps. Ralph Crampton also had a strong qualifying and was at the front until he had issues. Leaving Geraint Williams to battle for the win, positions changed on many occasions as pit stops were made with Richard Boult the man to watch posting some quick lap times as he came through the field and able to win by just a second after 25 minutes of close racing ahead of Geraint and Andy Mollett who had started seventh.
The race everyone had been waiting for was the 30 minute nitro A-final to see the battle between Thurston and Wood continue plus who else would challenge. The first two set off at super quick pace Alex recording a best lap of 13.47 and Tim 13.49 showing how close they were on pace. This battle went on for most of the 30 minute race as the drivers found their way through traffic Alex was able to get extend his lead over Tim a little at a time and winning again for Capricorn/One engines. So Tim was second for Shepherd/Picco, Mark Green and Andy Hasting fought it out for the final podium place with Mark taking it for Serpent. It was great to see relatively new A-finalists in Bjorn and Jamie Paton also competing.
In electric drivers compete in three 5 minute legs and this gave plenty of chance for different drivers, in the electric B finals Jim Spencer took the overall win from Ian Coates with Pete Yaffia taking third, young Alfie Wadsworth came in just behind and it was said by many people how great it was to see such a young driver competing and coming through thanks to all the hard work of his Dad John.
Electric A finals were quite eventful with a few small bumps, Michael Walton was able to win all three legs with his Serpent, Justin Heath and Lee Henson battled it out for second with Justin just taking it although Lee had shown to be very quick all weekend it didn’t quite come together for him. Greg Hill had a good run through in the final leg taking second from Matt Blowers.
Results
A final Nitro:
1st & TQ - Alex Thurston
2nd - Tim Wood
3rd - Mark Green
B Final Nitro:
1st - Richard Boult
2nd - Geraint Williams
3rd - Andy Mollett
C Final Nitro:
1st - Robert McKenna
2nd - Craig Illingworth
3rd - Roger Doran
A Final Electric:
1st & TQ - Michael Walton
2nd - Justin Heath
3rd - Lee Henson
B Final Electric:
1st - Jim Spencer
2nd - Ian Coates
3rd - Pete Yaffia
Junior Prize:
Alfie Wadsworth in center below. (6 years old!)
