January 23, 2018

BRCA Formula Indoor Nationals Rd3 – Report

The third round of the BRCA Formula Indoor nationals took place at the Midlands Raceway permanent indoor venue near Birmingham. The snow during the early hours of the morning meant some drives could not get the venue with traffic disruption but 16 drivers made it to the great facility. Despite being a small track area the layout was fairly flowing and suited to Formula racing. The ETS spec carpet provided good grip for drivers once a few rounds of practice were done. During the two rounds of practice it was Luke Lee, Michael Lee and Ben Cosgrove who seemed to have dialled in to the track setting some quick lap times.

In the first qualifier, Ben got off to a good start winning the round ahead of Luke and Michael followed by Stephen Lander’s Capricorn and Mark Trinder’s Xray. For the second round Ben went even quicker to ensure pole position. Michael got second, Luke third, Stephen forth and James Greener fifth. For the last qualifier it was all about the battle for the grid slot next to Ben on the front row. Impressively Ben won the round again, Michael driving well to claim another second and Luke retiring after a crash. This allowed Stephen to finished third followed by James Greener and Mark Trinder.

Qualifying results:
1. Ben Cosgrove – Xray
2. Michael Lee – Xray
3. Luke Lee – Xray
4. Stephen Lander – Capricorn
5. James Greener – VBC
6. Mark Trinder – Xray
7. Clive Maland – Team Associated
8. Gordon Dempsey – Xray
9. Rob Jones – Team ssociated
10.Lewis Hopkins – Xray

There were lots of new names making it into the A-final. Clive Maland and Rob Jones improving well over the day with their Associated F6 cars. Gordon Demsey with his Xray getting P8 and a brilliant drive from 8 year old Lewis Hopkins bringing his Xray X1 home to claim the remaining A-final grid slot. This young man a wizard with an Formula car for his age and will surely be claiming positions higher up grid in future races. The first final started with an issue as Michael Lee touched the inside of a corner. Luke was able to avoid him, but the field all pilled in. Ben and Luke created a gap and made their own race while lapping the slower cars. Ben took the flag with a reasonable margin from Luke followed by Stephen Lander third. Michael Lee recovered well to finish forth and James Greener fifth.

For the second final Ben asked for an emergency transmitter battery change as the cars were waiting to go on the grid. The field mostly made up of gentlemen waited a few seconds for the fastest transmitter battery change ever made. The second final was soon underway and there was a great battle for positions in the opening laps. Luke was able to avoid an accident after Stephen and Michael came together and was hot on Ben’s tail. After trading some lap times and navigating back markers the pair were separated by less than 0.5 seconds at the line with Ben taking the win. Michael was able to recover very well yet again from that earlier incident to finish third with Mark Trinder fourth and Stephen Lander fifth.

Overall results:
1. Ben Cosgrove – Xray
2. Luke Lee – Xray
3. Michael Lee – Xray
4. Stephen Lander – Capricorn
5. James Greener – VBC
6. Mark Trinder – Xray
7. Clive Maland – Associated
8. Gordon Dempsey – Xray
9. Rob Jones – Associated
10.Lewis Hopkins – Xray

With this round 3 result Luke Lee is the BRCA National Indoor Champion. The next and final round of the series is at Hinckley Radio Control Club on Saturday 3rd March.

Source: BRCA [brca.org]



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