BRCA LMP12 Nationals Rd 1 & 2 – Report

Rounds 1 and 2 of the BRCA LMP12 Nationals were held last weekend in Eastbourne. The start of the new season was eagerly anticipated and a capacity entry of 80 drivers attended the event. This year’s championship offers 13.5 Stock and Modified classes and consists of six rounds with four counting rounds. The Eastbourne club laid out a large track at their Robertsbridge facility. The track design was a tale of two halves with a faster flowing section on the drivers right with a tricky technical section with a challenging entry to the main straight on the left. The layout certainly gave the drivers a challenge and an error free run was essential for a fast time.

Round 1 on Saturday would see an incredibly close battle for pole position in the stock class. Four drivers, David Spashett, Mark Stiles, Adam Mackman and Andy Smith, occupied the top three slots over the four qualifying rounds. David Spashett was at the front in the early rounds before a fantastic run from Adam Mackman would put him at the front in round 3. However, the final round would see David secure pole position by the slimmest of margins, 0.07 of second ahead of Adam with Mark in third. Andy Smith would drop to fifth with Sam Coult qualifying in 4th.  In Modified Ollie Payne was unchallenged lining up in pole position two laps clear of Daniel Robins and Markus Mobers.

In the Stock A final David would lead away from the front and built up a comfortable lead. He did have a small incident, but his lead was such that he was able to recover and stay ahead of the chasing pack taking the first win of the year. Second place was more keenly fought between Adam and Mark with the pair driving nose to tail around the circuit. A wide line from Adam in front of the driver’s rostrum was all the opportunity that Mark would need to make a pass and secure second place. Special mention to Michael Bolt who made the A final finishing 7th in his first attendance at a LMP12 national.

Stock A Final RD 1 Result
1 David Spashett – Destiny
2 Mark Stiles – Awesomatix
3 Adam Mackman – Schumacher
4 Andrew Smith – Schumacher
5 Sam Coult – Schumacher
6 Morgan Williams – Schumacher
7 Michael Bolt – Awesomatix
8 Andy Murray – Schumacher
9 Jody Sherratt – Schumacher
10 Aaron Morley – Awesomatix

In modified Ollie Payne took the win from pole position ahead of Dan Robins and Michael Lee who pushed third on the grid Markus Mobers into fourth place.

Modified A Final Rd 1 Result
1 Ollie Payne – Schumacher
2 Daniel Robins – Schumacher
3 Michael Lee –
4 Markus Mobers – Schumacher
5 Stephen Rogers –
6 Mang Cheng –
7 Michael Ogilvie – Schumacher

Sunday would see the drivers compete in round 2.  Slightly warmer temperature meant that grip levels in the hall raised slightly, and faster times were being posted by the majority of drivers. David Spashett wasn’t driving at this round so it was all to play for by the other front runners. The early rounds would see Mark Stiles top the timesheets with Michael Bolt finding even more pace and moving into second ahead of Adam Mackman and Andy Smith. Previous Stock World Champion Andy Murray was however finding form and moving up the timesheets and he was to move to the front in round three before improving again in round 4 to be the only driver posting a 38 lap time. Andy Smith would line up second pushing Mark Stiles down to third ahead of Sam Coult.

In modified Olllie Payne would again line up in pole position from Dan Robins and Markus Mobers.
In the Stock A final Andy Murray would open up an early lead and looked to be cruising until an uncharacteristic error on the entrance to the straight dropped him back down the order. This put Andy Smith into the lead and he was being chased by Adam Mackman and Ben Vincent. Andy put a wheel on a kerb bringing on a spin and this allowed Adam Mackman through. He recovered ahead of Ben Vincent but couldn’t close down Adam before time ran out. A first national win for Adam Mackman who had shown great pace all weekend and drove well to move from 6th on the grid to take the win. Andy Smith took second ahead of Ben Vincent who clung onto third from a hard charging Mark Stiles who was recovering from a first lap incident.

Stock A Final RD 2 Result
1 Adam Mackman – Schumacher
2 Andrew Smith – Schumacher
3 Ben Vincent – Schumacher
4 Mark Stiles – Awesomatix
5 Andy Murray – Schumacher
6 Morgan Williams – Schumacher
7 Sam Coult – Schumacher
8 Michael Bolt – Awesomatix
9 Louis Parker – Schumacher
10 Neil Diver – Destiny

However driver of the day has to go to young Finley Whitelock in the B final who drove a clean race to move from 9th on the grid to take the win! Well done Finley. In Modified Ollie Payne would take the win a lap clear of Markus Mobers and Dan Robins.

Modified A Final Rd 2 Result
1 Ollie Payne – Schumacher
2 Markus Mobers – Schumacher
3 Daniel Robins – Schumacher
4 Michael Lee –
5 Michael Ogilvie – Schumacher
6 Bailey Graves –
7 Stephen Rogers –

Thanks to the Eastbourne club who put on a fantastic event and all the volunteers from the club who put on a smooth running weekend and kept us all fed and watered. The championship moves to Tamworth in 5 weeks time.

Thanks to David Spashett for the report.