Kyle Branson wins BRCA 1/8th Nationals Rd9

The final race of the 2014 national series was hosted by the Cotswold circuit at the Kemble airfield. With the championship already decided in favour of Mark Green, it was the remaining places which needed deciding and the GP2 and GP3 championships. Saturday was wet so no drivers ventured out on track until early afternoon when a dry line appeared and the grip steadily increased. The pace setters were North, King, Hastings, Carr and Wood until the practice was cut short due to rain. Kyle Branson with his Capricorn / XRD factory setup did not practice but was booked in to race for Sunday.

Sunday was a wet start but no rain was forecast so the track would eventually dry out to at least expect a full dry round. All drivers posted times in the first 3 rounds as the track dried out. The only area which was suspect was under race control but this soon fully dried out ahead of the last round which would ultimately decide the final qualification positions.

So into Round 4 and heat 1 was won by Justin Heath with 14 laps ahead of Amando Ludena and Dave Jones. Heat 2 and it was current GP3 championship leader Vincent Menzies on 15 laps ahead of Mike Manning and Earl Mclean. Heat 3 and Sam Snell won the heat with 17 laps ahead of Marlon Mckulsky and Steve Smith. Heat 4 and it was John Carr who won the heat with 18 laps and confirmed his position in the top ten. Richard Hicklin was second behind Chris Simons on 18 and 17 laps respectively. Ashley Gouveia was unlucky since his main drive belt came off and he had to retire. Into Heat 5 and it was Wood who secured the win and TQ from Branson by 0.4 seconds with North in third ahead of Andy Hastings and Bancroft.

The top ten:
1. Tim Wood – Serpent / OS / Elite Fuel / Savox – 19 Laps 304 secs
2. Kyle Branson – Capricorn / XRD / Runner Time / Contact – 19 Laps 304 secs
3. Andy North – Mugen / Sirio / Contact – 19 Laps 309 secs
4. Andrew Hastings – Shepherd / Sonic / Matrix / Meccamo – 19 laps 309 secs
5. Daniel Bancroft – Motonica / CBR / Meccamo – 18 Laps 301 secs
6. John Carr – Serpent / OS / Elite Fuel – 18 Laps 302 secs
7. Jason Frost – Serpent / Sirio – 18 Laps 302 secs
8. Neal King – Capricorn / XRD / Runner time – 18 Laps 304 secs
9. Richard Hicklin – Serpent / Sirio – 18 Laps 314 secs
10. Chris Simons – Serpent / Novarossi / Exceed – 17 Laps 304 secs

The Lower Finals:

The D Final:
With a poor qualifying position which prevented him challenging for top GP3 honours, it was James Healey who put this aside and won this final by 2 laps from Andrew Watson and Dave Williams.

1. James Healey – Shepherd / RB – 60 laps
2. Andrew Watson – Serpent / Mega – 58 laps
3. Dave Williams – Serpent / IDM – 54 laps

The C Final:
This final was a close battle between current Drivers Rep, Jack Garrett Line and the current chairman Andy Mollett with Jack coming out on top by 4 seconds. Mike Manning was third with a 5 lap advantage over Simon Smith who had a big crash towards the end.

1. Jack Garrett Lines – Capricorn / Capricorn – 60 Laps
2. Andy Mollett – Capricorn / OS – 59 Laps
3. Mike Manning – Shepherd / Vox – 58 Laps

The B Final:
This was a very close race at the start but once it settled down, Pete Hastings confirmed his pace advantage by taking the lead and comfortable win. Pete had been suffering with radio problems all day and after changing for a completely new setup, it worked and therefore produced a good result which on paper would have put him within the top ten. Second was Sam Snell with brother Chris in third.

1. Pete Hastings – Shepherd / Sonic – 69 Laps
2. Sam Snell – Motonica / Sonic – 67 Laps
3. Chris Snell – Shepherd / Sonic – 62 Laps

The A Final:
The final started with congestion at the first corner behind the leaders which resulted in Hastings having a chunked rear tire and North having to work his way from the back. At this point Neal King / Bancroft had taken full advantage and move d up into third and fourth places respectively. Up front Branson had taken the lead after 5 laps and started to increase his lead after mistakes from Wood allowed King to move up to second. Further mistakes from North during the race prevented a potential podium finish with the finishing order of Branson, King, Wood and Bancroft. This result therefore confirmed Wood finishing second in the championship and Bancroft finishing third 1 point ahead of King.

The final results were as follows:
1. Kyle Branson – Capricorn / XRD / Runner Time / Contact – 113 Laps
2. Tim Wood – Serpent / OS / Elite Fuel / Savox – 110 Laps
3. Neal King – Capricorn / XRD / Runner time – 110 Laps
4. Daniel Bancroft – Motonica / CBR / Meccamo – 108 Laps
5. Andy North – Mugen / Sirio / Contact – 107 Laps
6. Jason Frost – Serpent / Sirio – 106 Laps
7. John Carr – Serpent / OS / Elite Fuel – 105 Laps
8. Andrew Hastings – Shepherd / Sonic / Matrix / Meccamo – 102 laps
9. Chris Simons – Serpent / Novarossi / Exceed – 98 Laps
10. Richard Hicklin – Serpent / Sirio – 19 Laps

The Final Championship Tables are as follows:

National Championship
1. Mark Green 602 points
2. Tim Wood 596 points
3. Daniel Bancroft 587 points
4. Neal King 586 points
5. Jason Frost 581 points
6. Andy Hastings 578 points
7. Andy North 578 points
8. Richard Hicklin 561 points
9. John Carr 556 points
10. Chris Simons 538 points

GP2
1. Chris Snell 603 points
2. Sam Snell 602 points
3. Steve Smith 588 points

GP3
1. Vincent Menzies 598 points
2. James Healey 590 points
3. Andrew Watson 582 points

So this ends yet another season and congratulations to all the above winners. See you racing around during the winter and I look forward to doing it all again in 2015.

Thanks to Andy North for the report.