Kev Lee Shows No Mercy At Stotfold

• what: brca national
• where: stotfold
• class: 1:10 off-road
• report: racer staff

With some five drivers in with a mathematical chance of claiming the 2010 BRCA 2WD National Championships, the final round hosted by Stotfold was sure to see some fireworks.

A regular venue on the scene, the final round of this years BRCA National Series headed to Hertfordshire and he Stotfold club located in the sleepy village of Hinxworth, just a stones throw from the A1(M). The track is an Astroturf one and features lots of grip in the dry, but proves to be a real test of driver ability and car set-up when its damp due to the nature of the surface and direction in which it is laid.

Heading into the event, the two out in front and tied on points were Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill and Tamiya’s Lee Martin. Just three points behind was Tom’s team mate Grant Williams with X Factory’s Ellis Stafford a further point behind. Danny McGee was fifth overall and after securing a maximum points haul at Southport, could be in with a shot of the title should he again take TQ and the win with other results going his way.

Saturday

The forecast for Saturday and the championship finale was not great and after heavy rain on Friday, the racers were greeted with a wet track. Initial thoughts were that the conditions would favour the rear-motored cars like Lee Martin’s Tamiya TRF201 but how wrong were they. The conditions changed throughout the day and as soon as the track began to dry, the heavens opened. Twice the racing had to be stopped during qualifying and this sometimes meant that the conditions were radically different from one heat to the next.

National round winner Kev Lee topped qualifying with his X Factory car from team mate Ellis Stafford (X Factory) and Lee Martin (Tamiya) third. Championship leader Tom Cockerill (Schumacher) was in the B final with Danny McGee (Atomic Carbon/Losi) so that meant that all Tom could do was watch and see what happened to Lee and Ellis.

In the first leg, Ellis took the win under severe pressure from Kev but the positions were reversed for leg two when Kev ran away from the chasing pack led by Ellis to set up a third leg decider. With Lee unable to now win the meeting, the championship would go down to the wire – Ellis would have to beat Kev to score 130 points from the meeting and pip Tom. Kev though was in fine form and once again, disappeared off into the distance leaving Ellis to take second overall. As a result, Tom would clinch the BRCA 2WD National title for Schumacher from the Tamiya of Lee with Ellis, the 2009 2WD Champ taking third for X Factory.

Sunday

After such a weather-disrupted day, Sunday was much better although for the first time in a long time, the computer caused problems and so the BRCA settled for a safety first arrangement of backing up the results after every round at the expense of the schedule. Another theme that was carried over from Saturday was Kev Lee’s driving and he raced to an impressive pole position with four round wins with his Team Xtreme Predator car. Schumacher’s Simon Moss would take second from Lee Martin’s Tamiya and the Associated of Paul Bradby. A couple of spots back in sixth was Neil Cragg making a return to the series and preparing for the Euros next week. After a tough day with his 2WD on Saturday, it was nice to see Neil back where he belongs in the A final with his Associated B44.

In two of the three finals, Kev Lee dominated winning by substantial margins in legs one ad three. The only negative was in leg two when he suffered a mechanical failure, but this was only temporary and usual service resumed for the final race of the 2010 series. Second place overall went to the CAT SX2 of Simon Moss.

Championship-wise, Lee Martin and Tamiya had wrapped up the top spot in 2010 at Oswestry in round four, but it was Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill who took second overall with Paul Bradby third for Associated.

Racer will have a full report from this race meeting in the December issue, on sale 4 November 2010. Also, Racer will be taking an in-depth look at Lee Martin’s championship-winning TRF511X and finding out all the little secrets of his Tamiya Racing Factory car very soon.