Crewe Off Road Club – Grand Opening Race
A very very wet Bank Holiday weekend was to be the setting for the grand opening of the fantastic Crewe Off Road Club. The facility is a purpose built Astroturf track set in three acres of Cheshire’s green countryside. Saturday practice was what can only be described as wet, in one of the rain showers the BBC report it dropped 23mm of rain in just over ten minutes. But a herculean effort by Kev Davies and his team of “warriors†got the track ready to run not once but three times in between deluges, but at 4pm with still no one run on the track the difficult decision was taken to abandon the practice day.
Sunday started promising, sun and blue skies, but yet even more rain throughout the night saw the CORC team yet again armed to get the track dried and ready for use. Racing eventually got underway at 11am only an hour after the normal start time. Considering the amount of water on the track it’s amazing they got the track dry at all. Richard Greenough was the early pace setter in qualifiers with Dave Blakely and Kev Davies hot on his heels in buggies and big Wayne Eley stamping his authority on the truggy qualifying. Some great battles took pace throughout the qualifiers and some fantastic sportsmanship if people tripped up over each other.
The finals got underway with Richard going home due to family commitments and Dave Blakely taking pole spot, Kev Davies in second and Martin Mills in third. The top three showed they were the class of the field and built up an early lead and were showing great pace and car control. Kev Davies had a few issues with his JQ buggy and slipped down the order to eventually come home fourth, which let CORC secretary John Wells into third, with Millsy coming home in second after a solid drive and Dave Blakely to take the win with his Associated RC8 with the new upgrade pack fitted.
 Truggies saw Wayne yet again get a blistering start and pull a huge advantage over the chasing pack until a front CVD pin failed on his Losi truggy and that was that for Wayne, which handed the lead to Ste Jones, who would take the victory with Duncan Neale finishing second and Winston Barnett to come home in third.
Sunday evening saw the Dash for Cash race take place. Every driver that wanted to race put in a fiver and the winner would take the pot. There is only one rule in a CORC Dash for Cash. If it’s on its roof your out with the winner being the first to ten laps! After a mass grid start carnage ensued on the third corner with argy bargy going on and people taking each other out. But the big man held his nerve, got to the front and kept his head whilst all others around him were losing theirs and take the pot. Wayne Eley and his Losi truggy took the win which was small compensation for the DNF in the main final.

Monday started wet yet again due to even more overnight rain – I think someone’s upset the rain gods – and the CORC team yet again had to dry the track so it could be used. But dry it they did and racing got underway at 10:30 but with a depleted field as the weather over the weekend had put many people off travelling to Crewe even though there was plenty booked in, but under the circumstances I can see the reasoning behind it. In buggies again it was the trio of Dave, Kev and Millsy heading the field in qualifying showing some true class and superb car control, and in truggies again it was business as usual for Wayne Eley, yet again showing the field why he is one of the best truggy drivers in the North of England.
The finals saw the truggies and buggies combined due to the lack of numbers, but it also saw a fantastic drive from Welshman Winston Barnett who took a commanding victory in the B final with his Associated truggy and take the bump up into the A final.
The A final saw Wayne Eley line up on pole, with Martin Mills taking buggy TQ in second spot and Ste Jones lining up third on the track. Yet again some fantastic fast racing saw the top guys raise to the fore with the buggy trio of Martin, Dave and Kev take an early lead with Wayne in tow and Ste not far behind either. But a few small mistakes saw Wayne take the lead and Martin out with a breakage, but Kev and Dave were chasing Wayne hard for the win. Twelve minutes in and the hard charging Kev Davies was also forced out of the race due to his engine moving. And so it was, Wayne way out in front with a massive lead over Steve, until Winston Barnett of Mold club found his feet and put on a charge and slowly picked his way through the field and moved up the order to eventually pass Wayne for the lead, and Wayne unable to do anything about it as he was nursing home his ailing Losi determined to get a finish! And so it finished Winston Barnett first, Dave Blakely second and Ste Jones third. Overall positions over the two days was what you needed to count for the prizes and the way it finished was:
Buggy:
1 Dave Blakely – wins JQ Products THE Car Kit
2 Martin Mills – wins Savox SC-1268 Servo
3 Robson White – wins PSR 3v2 Adjustable Clutch System
Truggy
1 Ste Jones – wins JQ Products THE Engine
2 Winston Barnett – wins Savox SC-1268 Servo
3 Duncan Neale – wins PSR 3v2 Adjustable Clutch System
Fastest lap of the weekend went to Wayne Eley who won a bottle of Byrons Gen2 race fuel and best Junior went to Robson White who won a Daz Wooley pit buddy. Many thanks go to GB Modelsport, CML Distribution, Daz Woolley, Pro-RC and Radio Racers for the generous donation of fantastic prizes. All the results can be found at www.corc-online.co.uk and the Pro-RC winter series will start on the 18 September. Thanks goes to CORC for this report.
