First Win For Defending Champion In BRCA 1:8 On-Road

• Meeting: BRCA Round 6, 1:8 IC Circuit
• Date: 8th August 2010
• Location: Mendip, Western Super Mare
• Report: Andy North

The sixth round of the BRCA 1:8 On-Road Championship was a second visit to the Mendip circuit at Western super Mare. The usual man to beat, Mark Green was again absent due to concentrating on the up and coming 200mm European Championships in Sweden. Team Serpent however had reinforcements in the form of Kyle Branson after jetting back from the 200mm Worlds the previous weekend. This made the team Sirio driver a hot favourite to have a good result, similar to his win at Cotswold in October 2009. The main suspects all arrived early Saturday morning to run in engines and find the ideal setup. The weather however, prevented any racing in the morning since it rained heavy for a short period and it required 3 hours for the grip to return. A strong contingent of racers arrived from Ireland which also increased the competition at the top.

Sunday was a dry day with plenty of grip from the previous days practice. From Saturday, it was evident that the quickest Car was Kyle Branson closely followed by Tim Wood, Neil Diver, Pete Hastings, and Richard Hicklin. Clive Connolly experienced engine troubles on Saturday but was back on the pace come Sunday.

The final qualification results were very tight and unless you needed a very quick 19 laps to confirm a place in the final. With the top 5 all producing 20 laps, it became increasingly likely that some championship contenders could miss the cut. Unfortunately, this happened to John Carr by the smallest margin of 0.14 seconds. TQ was however secured by Kyle Branson, making it a Serpent 1, 2, 3 with Tim Wood and Richard Hicklin second and third respectively.

Qualifying

• 1)         Kyle Branson – Serpent – Sirio- 20 laps 311 secs
• 2)         Tim Wood – Serpent – Mega – 20 laps 313 secs
• 3)         Richard Hicklin – Serpent – Sirio – 20 laps 315 secs
• 4)         Pete Hastings – Shepherd – IDM – 20 laps 316 ses
• 5)         Clive Connolly – Mugen – Sirio – 20 laps 317 secs
• 6)         Neil Diver – Shepherd – IDM – 19 laps 300 secs
• 7)         Daniel Bancroft – Motonica – 19 laps 300 secs
• 8)         Ashley Gouveia – Serpent – Novarossi – 19 laps 302 secs
• 9)         Andrew North – Mugen – Reds – 19 laps 303 secs
• 10)       Andy Hastings – Shepherd – IDM – 21 laps 311 secs

The finals were probably the best racing we have had this season. I must however start in the E final which was won by John Glazebrook with a clear 7 lap advantage over Chris Moore and Earl Mclean who actually lost focus during a pitstop and started driving the wrong car with his going mad in the pitlane. The D and C finals saw welcome wins for Scott Nettleton and Chris Simons. The B final was however the race of the season. At the start, Karl Dransfield jumped into the lead with a close chasing John Carr and Dan Jones. At this stage, Jason Frost had some accidents and had to start a recovery drive from the back. After the first fuel stops, John Carr inherited the lead from Karl who started to slowly drop down the order. At this stage it was apparent that Jason was the quickest car and started about closing down the half lap advantage to John up front. With a different fuel strategy, Jason was now on the tale of John with a minute to go. It had the crowd on its feet with the lead changing every corner, but John eventually held his nerve to win. Great racing guys.

The main final blasted away without the TQ man, since he had engine tuning problems and had to start from the pitlane, but with his speed advantage would make for an interesting final. The first 3 minutes went without any real incidents except for Neil Diver’s slipping one-way drive. The first retirement was Andy North after clipping the first corner and breaking the servo spline. Tim Wood however was in front with Richard Hicklin close behind and Pete Hastings a comfortable third. This was consistent throughout the race but Richard could smell a chance of victory since he was on a one less fuel stop strategy over Tim but an accident in the pits led to an error on the track and he was out. This pushed Pete into second place but was adrift by half a lap and he was unable to make the time up. Down the order, local driver Ashley Gouveia drove a consistent race to finish on the podium.

A Final Result

• 1)         Tim Wood – Serpent – Mega – 110 Laps
• 2)         Pete Hastings – Shepherd – IDM – 110 laps
• 3)         Ashley Gouveia – Serpent – Novarossi – 108 laps
• 4)         Andy Hastings – Shepherd – IDM – 107 laps
• 5)         Daniel Bancroft – Motonica – 101 laps
• 6)         Kyle Branson – Serpent – Sirio- 63 laps
• 7)         Clive Connolly – Mugen – Sirio – 53 laps
• 8)         Neil Diver – Shepherd – IDM – 16  laps
• 10)       Richard Hicklin – Serpent – Sirio – Scrutineering  Infringement
• 10)       Andrew North – Mugen – Reds – Scrutineering  Infringement

The next race is back at Halifax on the 28th August 2010 and a strong entry is predicted. The Championship standings and further information can be found on www.BRCA.org