BRCA National Warm Up At Frankley
The annual BRCA National Warm Up event took place at Frankley over the weekend and saw Craig Drescher state his intentions for the forthcoming season.
The weather turned out to be dry which looked pretty unlikely in the week up to the race, but dry it was.
In qualifying the Associated RC8B’s of Craig Drescher and Neil Cragg were on fire, taking all the round wins between them and putting Neil Cragg on pole position. Neil & Craig were using the new ST version of the Reedy engine and Reedy 2039 pipe set which are both due to be released soon. Neil was also the only driver able to get through for the sacred 9 lap run, which on this largely unchanged track layout, only Neil and Darren Bloomfield have ever achieved.
ST version of the new Reedy engine.
Craig was able to put his RC8B second on the grid and these two looked to have the measure of the competition based on qualifying form. Last years national winner Elliott Boots was very fast but struggling to get consistency from his RB/Savox equipped car. CML drivers John Howells (Hobao/RB/Savox/Byron), Dave Bailey (AE/RB/Savox/Byron) also place their cars directly into the main final.
The B final saw two more CML drivers get promoted to the main final with Anthony Potter (AE/Byron) and Joe Adams (Hobao/RB/Savox/Byron) progressing. Joe is the latest addition to the CML fold, and at a tender 12 years old is already pushing the established drivers very hard and should be congratulated on making the main final in such a high quality event.
The main final turned into a three way battle as Elliott Boots managed to improve his car enough to offer a challenge to the Associated guys. It was Craig Drescher who took an early lead which he was never to relinquish.
Neil dropped back after a slow pit stop which took him out of the fight. Elliott pushed very hard in the closing stages to try and apply pressure to Craig who was struggling with frozen thumbs. Craig had decided to go without a tranny muff and was suffering as a consequence with being very cold by the finish. Craig managed to hold on to take an impressive victory with the Reedy/Byron powered RC8B with Elliott in second and Neil third. CML Drivers John Howells and Dave Bailey completed the top five with fine drives.
Congratulations to Craig on getting a great confidence inspiring result on the eve of the season, which should lead him nicely into the NEO international race this weekend.
Source: CML Distribution
