Boots Takes TQ, Bloomfield Wins

The first round of the 2011 BRCA 1:8 Off-Road National Championships took place at Frankley this past weekend. There were lots of team changes this year that would be sure to make it for a very interesting series. Pre-season favourites would be Darren Bloomfield the reigning champ, still with the TLR 8ight 2.0EU but powered by nVision, Simon Willetts now driving the Mugen MBX6 but like Darren, again with nVision engines. Neil Cragg would be on board with his trusty Associated RC8, Elliott Boots now with Durango and Graham Alsop behind the wheel of the Hot Bodies. With 117 drivers booked, in it was sure to be a hard fought affair.

Qualifying

Elliott Boots drew first blood in qualifying and proceeded to dominate it by taking TQ in all three. Graham Alsop and Craig Drescher were second and third respectively in round one whilst Neil Cragg, Simon Willetts and Darren Bloomfield all had a round to forget. Round two saw Darren pull his socks up to get a second in round followed by Grahamy, Simon and Neil. Round three was an odd affair and the weather played havoc with the like of Simon and Jon Hazlewood having to qualify in a downpour. Neil, Chris Doughty and Darren would round out the top four of round three. and with Elliott on pole, the finals were going to be very exciting.

Finals

Two drivers would embark on the near impossible mission of bumping to the A final. First up was Richard “Tricky” Taylor who would start in the H final after a dismal qualifying. Tricky would bump all the way to the C with a epic attempt to make the final, fighting his way through five finals just to get to the C final, although it was not to be and his day ended here.
Simon Willetts would join in this attempt at the E final stage and to put it bluntly, showed his class to bump all the way to the A final with some superb driving. Joining Simon from the B final, would be local Milan Dragojlovic, John Holmes and Richard Barton.
The A final got underway and Darren Bloomfield took charge on lap two and never looked back. The reigning champ was dominant despite Simon Willetts best efforts, as these to stayed out in front all race. Elliott Boots had a mechanical and dropped out early otherwise I am sure he would have figured. John Holmes was another bumper to have a great run to come home third with Graham Alsop fourth and Neil Cragg fifth. So thats your early championship top five. Round two is at Coventry’s dirt track in early May but before that, we have Neo11 – see you there!