BRCA 1/12th scale Nationals Rd2 – Report

The second round of the 2018/19 BRCA 1/12th nationals took place in Birtley last weekend. The event saw a continuation of the increased entry from the first round with 70 drivers attending the event. The Birtley club laid a fast and flowing track which developed a high grip level throughout the weekend requiring a fast and consistent drive to achieve a good result. On Saturday racers competed in the 13.5 Blinky Stock championship with the field split into F1, F2 and F3 grades. In the F1 class current European Stock champion Ollie Payne put his car on pole ahead of defending British Champion David Spashett and a fast charging Adam Catchpole in 3rd. Ollie was to take a tone to tone win gaining a small advantage early on and maintaining this throughout the race. The front two cars had a relentless pace and lapped the whole field. Adam Catchpole unfortunately caught a track marker early on and had to retire his car allowing Mark Stiles to secure 3rd place from 5th on the grid.

F1 Stock result:
1. Ollie Payne – Roche
2. David Spashett – Roche
3. Mark Stiles – Team Associated
4. Matt Rice – Team Associated
5. Mick Farrell – CRC
6. Niall Cochran – CRC
7. Louis Parker – Schumacher
8. Graham Raistrick – Xray
9. Ben Vincent – Roche
10.Adam Catchpole – Capricorn

In F2 Andrew Smith took pole by 8 tenths of a second from Josh Coult after a day long battle in qualifying. Rob Jackson completed the top three. In the final Andrew had the measure of Josh and pulled away in the opening laps driving cleanly for the eight minutes to take the win. Josh brought his car home in second ahead of Rob Jackson.

F2 Stock result:
1. Andrew Smith – CRC
2. Joshua Coult – Schumacher
3. Rob Jackson – Roche
4. Simon Harris – Xray
5. Stuart Barber – Destiny
6. Steve Donald – Team Associated
7. Barry Lynch – Schumacher
8. Nigel Hale – Team Associated
9. James Stewart – Team Associated
10.Danny Mountford – Team Associated

In F3 Gareth Hollis took TQ from Paul Frewin and Martin Harris. Gareth took a commanding victory lapping the field with Paul and Martin finishing in qualifying order.

F3 Stock result:
1. Gareth Hollis – Team Associated
2. Paul Frewin – n/a
3. Martin Harris – Team Associated
4. Chris House – Roche
5. Lee Moss – Roche
6. Lewis Barker – Yokomo
7. Paul Oakland – n/a
8. Russ Giles – Roche
9. Geraint Williams – CRC
10.Chris Hudson – Xray

On Sunday the field was split into Modified and Sports classes. The Sports class again running 13.5 blinky motors. In Modified round 1 winner Ollie Payne was again the driver to beat putting his car on pole ahead of Mark Stiles and Adam Catchpole. Ollie would build a lead at the start of the final while Mark had to defend from a hard charging Adam Catchpole. After a few minutes Adam began to fall back from Mark who set about chasing down Ollie whose car had also lost some pace. Mark managed to close down Ollie and we were treated to a great show of driving with the two cars lapping inches apart at very high speed. A lunge for the line resulted in contact between the two drivers with Mark being deemed to have impeded Ollie and being given a time penalty giving Ollie his second win of the championship. Adam completed the top three with a welcome return to form.

Modified result:
1. Ollie Payne – Roche
2. Mark Stiles – Team Associated
3. Adam Catchpole – Capricorn
4. David Spashett – Roche
5. Louis Parker – Schumacher
6. Andy Sawyer – Schumacher
7. Nathanael Goodban – Schumacher
8. Andrew Smith – CRC
9. Jonathan Simblet – Roche

In the highly competitive Sports class round 1 winner Ben Vincent again put his car on TQ from Mick Farrell and Niall Cochran with the top three drivers separated by only three seconds. Ben pulled away early on and took a commanding victory with a superb drive. The battle royale was for second place between Mick and Niall with the two drivers lapping nose to tail for most of the race before an unfortunate incident while passing a back marker would see Niall drop back. This allowed Gavin Clinch to capitalise and complete the podium after a stunning drive from 10th on the grid.

Sports result:
1. Ben Vincent – Roche
2. Mick Farrell – CRC
3. Gavin Clinch – Destiny
4. Matt Rice – Team Associated
5. Niall Cochran – CRC
6. Tim Wood – Roche
7. Mark Jewitt – Schumacher
8. Joshua Coult – Schumacher
9. Andrew Edwards – Team Associated
10.Jim Spencer – Roche

The next round of the championship takes place at Tamworth in December.

Source: BRCA [brca.org]