Mark Green wins Rd5 of BRCA 200mm series

The 5th round of the British 200mm championship was held at the excellent Cotswold circuit. The forecast for the weekend looked really bad with heavy rain predicted for both Saturday and Sunday. Current championship leader Mark Green faced some tougher competition at the front this meeting with the returning Kyle Branson looking very quick during practice. Much of Saturday’s practice was spent testing damp/rubber tyres under the wet conditions. Around 1 hour from the 6pm finish time the track was almost completely dry which caused a big rush of drivers trying to get out on track. They actually had to queue up for a space on the rostrum as everybody tried to make the most of the remaining time.

During Saturday night there was more rain, so it was no surprise that the track was wet and greasy in the morning. Unexpectedly, the sun came out just before the start with the drivers hoping it could dry the track in time. Onto qualifying and for round 1 the track was still slightly damp but had dry patches on the racing line. This made the tyre choice quite difficult. Joe Kerry took provisional pole using his Serpent 747 for the first time after deciding on slick rubber tyres. Team Shepherd’s John Zottl was 2nd overall but was around 10 seconds behind Joe’s time. Meanwhile the Kyosho R4 of Matthew Cook just edged ahead of Mark Green to take 3rd spot.

Round 2 and the track was much improved with full dry tyres and set ups now being used. Kyle Branson moved to the top of the timesheets beating Mark Green by around 4 seconds. Alex Thurston was 3rd a further 3 seconds behind Mark.

In round 3 Kyle extended his lead at the front with an incredibly quick and consistent run to record the first 19 lap run. John Zottl improved to take 4th overall while there were also improvements for Joe Kerry, Simon Wood, Andrew Hastings, and Dave Gerard who all cemented their places in the top ten. The final round of qualifying was extremely close as Kyle and Mark both went for FTD. In the end Kyle just managed to take first place, only 0.14 seconds ahead.

Qualifying results:
1. Kyle Branson – Mugen-Sirio-Contact – 19 laps 312secs
2. Mark Green – Serpent-Novarossi-Xceed – 19 laps 312secs
3. Alex Thurston – Kyosho-JP GI MAR-Contact – 18 laps 306secs
4. John Zottl – Shepherd-Sonic-Matrix – 18 laps 307secs
5. Matthew Cook – Kyosho-Novarossi-Kronos – 18 laps 308secs
6. Andrew Hastings – Shepherd-Sonic-Shepherd – 18 laps 309secs
7. Joe Kerry – Serpent-O.S-Contact – 18 laps 311secs
8. Simon Wood – Xray-Reds Racing-Matrix – 18 laps 318secs
9. Dave Gerard – Xray-Novarossi-Matrix – 17 laps 317secs
10.Peter Spratley – Xray-Novarossi-Matrix – 16laps 300secs

It was a fairly clean start to the race by most drivers. Joe Kerry got caught up in a first corner incident and fell to the back of the pack. Everyone else held onto their positions during the first few laps, with Mark and Kyle beginning to open up a lead at the front. Matthew Cook was up to 3rd place and racing closely with Joe Kerry who had worked his way back from 10th. Approaching the halfway point and Mark was involved in an incident with a back marker which resulted in his car on its roof at the end of the straight. Just as Marks car was landing on the track, Kyle was racing down the straight and they hit. Fortunately for both, neither of them suffered any real damage and were able to continue after having their engines restarted. Mark was able to get back out before Kyle and just kept hold of the lead. Matthew and Joe were still fighting together but now for 2nd place instead of 3rd. Towards the end of the race Kyle had caught up to Joe in 3rd but just as he was coming in for fuel he ran out which effectively ended his chances of a podium finish. In the end Mark cruised to the finish line to take the win, with Kyosho’s Matthew Cook finishing 2nd, his best ever result. Joe Kerry took 3rd just 4 seconds behind. Dave Gerard also recorded his best ever result at a 200mm national after staying out of trouble and driving a consistent 30 minute race to take 4th.

Final results:
1. Mark Green – Serpent-Novarossi-Xceed – 106laps
2. Matthew Cook – Kyosho-Novarossi-Kronos – 102 laps
3. Joe Kerry – Serpent-O.S-Contact – 101 laps
4. Dave Gerard – Xray-Novarossi-Matrix – 96 laps
5. Peter Spratley – Xray-Novarossi-Matrix – 94laps
6. John Zottl – Shepherd-Sonic-Matrix – 88 laps
7. Kyle Branson – Mugen-Sirio-Contact – 81 laps
8. Simon Wood – Xray-Reds Racing-Matrix – 75 laps
9. Andrew Hastings – Shepherd-Sonic-Shepherd – 61 laps
10.Alex Thurston – Kyosho-JP GI MAR-Contact – 2 laps

Round 6 of the championship will take place at the Halifax circuit in 3 weeks time.

Thanks to Joe Kerry for the report.