June 14, 2021

Jefferies & Finlay take Rd1 of BRCA TC Nats

After missing out on a race series in 2020 the BRCA National touring car series got back underway this weekend with the first round of 2021 hosted by the Eastbourne club on the south coast. Numbers were a little down on previous years but with covid restrictions still in place this season is likely to have an unusual feel to it as drivers ease themselves slowly back to the track. Aiming for a fifth consecutive modified title Olly Jefferies made a dream start taking TQ ahead of Chris Grainger, but one the stars of qualifying was Ben Moorey, the local driver upsetting the established order with the fastest time in round three of modified qualifying, a result that put him third on the grid for the A final.

Zak Finely had very little pre race track time at Eastbourne despite this the ARC driver still managed to take TQ in 13.5 stock, as always stock times are very tight and behind Finlay the chasing pack headed by Marcus Askell and Billy Fletcher were looking very racey.

Two leg finals would decide the overall results and in modified Jefferies made a clean start easing his Xray away from Grainger to take what looked like a reasonably comfortable win in leg one ahead of the Awesomatix driver, a good run from Kyle Branson saw him net third in leg one after a race long dice with Harley Eldridge

Modified leg two and one again Jefferies eased a small gap early on, then disaster for Grainger as he crashed making Jefferies job all the more easier, second for Zak Smith was reward for some hard work over the weekend for the Schumacher driver and third for Harley was also well deserved, these three would be the podium on the day with Jefferies making a the best possible start to his title defiance. Kyle Branson would finish fourth for Capricorn with a very disappointed Grainger completing the top five.

A first corner shuffle of the order behind Finlay allowed him to take a comfortable lead and go on to win in leg one of the 13.5 A final ahead of Ricky Copsey and a recovering Marcus Askell. For leg two Finlay once again showed good pace and composure, but on the very last corner Finlay clipped a kerb and smallest of body tucked allowed the Xray of Askell to get along side, it was then a sprint to the line both cars crossing the line together, it was that close it was possibly down to the positioning of the transponder that gave Askell the leg two win ahead Zak.

By virtue of a quicker time in Leg one Finlay took the overall win from Askell with Ricky Copsey finishing third. Disappointing day for Billy Fletcher who showed great pace all weekend but just fell short of a podium place by virtue of a tie break, defending stock champion James Hart had a frustrating weekend finishing fifth for Schumacher.

Round two takes place at Colchester, a club that has not hosted a full blown BRCA national before.

Source: BRCA [brca.org]



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