BRCA LMP12 National Championships finale – Report

Last weekend saw the final round of the BRCA LMP12 national championships take place at the Chesterfield club in the UK. The final round of the series saw all three championships still up for grabs, with David Spashett, Adam Catchpole, Ollie Payne, Craig Nutting and Aidan Ripley all hoping to claim titles. Saturday saw the 13.5 battle commence, with title favourite David Spashett stamping his authority over qualifying. Although Adam Catchpole and Ollie Payne were able to stay close to David’s Roche over the early stages of each race, David’s pace was relentless, and everyone else made small mistakes. This resulted in David taking pole position by nearly a lap.

The A-final saw a masterclass from David and his Roche teammate Adam Catchpole, with the pair pulling away from the field, and lapping the entire grid, up to and including Alexander Hagberg in third position. David’s third win of the season was enough to secure the 13.5 national title for Britain’s most successful on-road racer ever. Adam crossed the line in second, to secure runner up on the day and in the championship. The podium was completed by Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, who after a quiet day by his standards, battled through from eighth on the grid to take third.

13.5 final results:
1. David Spashett – Roche/Trinity
2. Adam Catchpole – Roche/Trinity
3. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/ORCA
4. Mark Stiles – Yokomo/Reedy
5. Ollie Payne – Roche/Trinity
6. Matthew Varrah – Roche/Trinity
7. Luke Burley – Xray/Trinity
8. Jimmy Maddison – Xray/Tekin
9. Andy Murray – Schumacher/Fantom
10.Craig Mawson – Schumacher/Fantom

The largest class on Sunday was the Sports Modified, which saw drivers sticking with the 13.5 motors used on Saturday. In this class Aidan Ripley had to win the meeting to prevent the title going to Craig Nutting. In the end Aidan showed that he and his Schumacher had the desire to claim the title by claiming pole position by just over three seconds from Matt Varrah, with championship rival Craig Nutting in third.

The A-final saw a clean start from Aidan, with the rest of the field tripping over each other. This left Aidan with nearly half a lap lead over Matt Varrah, who had to recover past Luke Burley and Craig Nutting, before heading after Aidan. At six minutes the race and championship looking to be heading to Schumacher and Aidan, but a small tap of the barrier while lapping traffic saw Aidan stuck and Matt through into the lead. This result saw the title move from Aidan to Craig, and as the flag dropped it was a win for Matt’s Roche from Aidan and Craig. This ensured a second title for Roche and a first for Craig Nutting.

Sports Modified final results:
1. Matthew Varrah – Roche/Trinity
2. Aidan Ripley – Schumacher/Fantom
3. Craig Nutting – Roche/Fantom
4. Luke Burley – Xray/Trinity
5. Ben Vincent – Schumacher/Fantom
6. Mark Jewitt – Roche/Trinity
7. Patrick Bandeira – Roche/Trinity
8. Niall Cochran – Zen/Trinity
9. Peter Craig – Schumacher/Fantom
10.Neil Diver – Roche/Trinity

The last title to be decided was in the Modified class, with the Roche trio of Spashett, Catchpole and German champion Ollie Payne all in with a chance of the win. It was Adam who took pole from Alexander Hagberg and David Spashett. The A-final saw an early mistake from Adam leave Alexander to cruise to his third win of the year, from David in second and Adam in third. This result was enough to give Adam Catchpole his first LMP12 national title, and with it Roche a clean sweep of the BRCA national championships in 2017.

Modified final results:
1. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/ORCA
2. David Spashett – Roche/Trinity
3. Adam Catchpole – Roche/Trinity
4. Andy Murray – Schumacher/Roche
5. Mark Stiles – Yokomo/Reedy
6. Chris Kerswell – Roche/GM
7. Matt Lax – CRC/ORCA
8. Ollie Payne – Roche/Trinity
9. Aaron Morley – Associated/Reedy
10.Mick Farrell – Associated/ORCA

Source: BRCA [brca.org]