Blinding Boots! – BRCA 1:8 Rallycross National Round 6

By admin On August 3, 2010 · Add Comment

Blinding Boots! – BRCA 1:8 Rallycross National Round 6

Location: Up North – like Burnley North
Track: Pendle
Report By: Rob Cuss

It was nice to see Pendle back as a national track this season after a year out, I just wish it was a tad closer to home! We arrived Saturday evening to some varied weather and the track report was it was damp, much like the warm-up the week before. With that bit out of the way it was off to the pub for some dinner and a few beverages. The usual suspects were in the pub, Team DXR, The Sawyers, Sambuca Taylor and a lot of others. TQ though went to Reece Sawyer who was sporting a very brave pink shirt which prompted a northern lass (we think) to pass her phone number to him.

We arrived at the track on Sunday morning to find a really great looking track, Dave and Stan Crompton and the Pendle club members had worked their socks off to prep the track. Pendle is a very flowing track which is great to drive.

Tyre choice was key as well as local knowledge – the guys who attended the warm-up the week before were confident and it showed. Small block tyres such as JConcept Double Dees and Pro-Line Holeshots seemed to be the tyres of choice in a Green/M4 compound.

Qualifying got underway and it was local lad DC (Dave Crompton) who showed the rest how to navigate this small stretch of dirt followed by Neil Cragg who seemed to be back to his best and showing why he is a multiple British champ. Mr Boots would take 3rd in the round with a tidy run, Bloomfield was in 4th with Losi team mate Lee Martin in 5th.

Round 2 was all about Boots and DC with Boots taking it by a weasels whisker. Bloomfield came in 3rd looking much better in this run, local boy Stuart Mahon put in a stonking run to come in 4th, Lee Martin came in 5th and Neil Cragg 6th.

Round 3 and TQ was still up for grabs, Neil Cragg stole the show with a awesome run followed by Boots and then DC. All 3 of these guys ended up on a total round score of 398 so it went to count back and DC took the TQ honours from Boots with Cragg in 3rd, Bloomfield 4th, Martin 5th and local driver Stuart Mahon in 6th. Current championship leader Simon Willets was down in 14th with a less than convincing performance, another driver that struggled was Reece Sawyer in 39^th while young Calum Niblett had his best qually session and ended up 47th.

So a few drivers would have to take the bump up route, but who would be the bump up king??

Young Jonathon Skidmore bumped up 3 finals, Richard Cree bumped up a couple to make the A final, but it was Reece Sawyer who bumped the most from the D to the A which was a whopping 28 places.

So we go to the B final, and this was a tasty warm-up to the main final, Willets and Cree got away from the main pack and would bump to the main, the real battle was for 3rd and 4th but 3 cars don’t fit into 2 spots, Teddy Truman was holding 3rd until his pace slowed a little due to a lack of superglue holding his front tyres on, considering this he was driving brilliantly he tried his hardest to keep Jon Hazlewood and Reece Sawyer with their Xrays behind him, however it proved a little too much and they just pipped him. The Xrays were looking pretty quick so whatever changes the boys made from qualifying were working.

The main final was a delight – a 5 star rated extravaganza of RC racing in fact. The flag dropped and DC led them away for a couple of laps from Mugen team mate Boots then the RC8 of Craggy with Bloomfield in 4^th. It was around the 2-3min mark Boots got past DC with a Ferrari like move….

DC was on a different fuel strategy to the rest of the top 5 and would have to make one less stop.

Craggy was charging and was the quickest car on the track until gremlins struck and killed his steering servo, it was a sad end to Neil’s race as he had been solid all day – I hope he gets some luck in the last 2 rounds.

DC was reeling Boots in with some quick laps and a better fuel strategy, Bloomfield was running 3rd with a hard charging Willets in 4th, Nearing the end of the race it was about 2 battles – Boots and DC for the win and Bloomfield and Willets for 3rd.

DC was flying and reeled the youngster in. It was neck and neck for 4 laps swapping positions all over the place, they came down the back straight and had a Red Bull moment, these boys were not on team orders. They crossed the loop and then DC run out of fuel, luckily 3rd and 4th didn’t cross the loop before the time expired so he kept 2nd.

Willets came in 3rd after snatching it from Bloomfield with another great drive, almost a repeat of his Clanfield drive.

Bloomfield came in 4th which is bit of shock as he has been dominant in the previous rounds, with only 2 rounds left it may go down to the wire. Will Willets make it easy for himself and qualify better, will Bloomers regain his form or will Boots get a hatrick??…who knows!!! Until next time folks!