Adam Catchpole Wins Cotswold 1:8 On-Road National

The sixth round of the 2012 BRCA 1:8 On-Road National Championship was the first visit of the year to the Cotswold circuit near Cirencester. With the weather set to be good, we all anticipated two dry days and the chance to gain some good championship points while the two main contenders, Branson and Green were on 200mm European duty in Italy.
A strong driver line up however was still on display in the form of recent regular convert from 200mm, Adam Catchpole (Mugen/Picco Murnan), Andy North (Mugen) and Neil Diver (Mugen). Daniel Bancroft (Motonica) returned after missing a couple of recent rounds, and not to forget the returning drivers from the recent Euro champs in Vila Real, recent series round winner Neal King (Mugen), Andy and Pete Hastings (Shepherd) and Tim Wood (Serpent). Also capable of upsetting the normal order was Serpent trio of John Carr, Jason Frost and Ross Simons.
We arrived at the track Saturday morning to the now renowned customary construction of the large pitting gazebo that over the years of hard toil, seems to be finally getting easier. Free practice then commenced with engine tuning being the main activity which would aid with cleaning the green track to then allow for chassis set-up work in the afternoon sessions. From data gathered over the years, the lap times are around the low 15 second mark so this was the initial target to aim for and ultimately try and better. The drivers who showed this pace consistently were Catchpole, King and Wood who recorded 15.2 second laps times. The remaining pack of North, Hastings and Diver where on a 15.4 second pace. Andy North was testing all his available engines to see which was quickest and most consistent to enable a decision to be made ready for race day.

Sunday arrived with a dry track but this dramatically changed into a thunderstorm which persisted for two hours and prevented any racer attempting to go out. Andy North however decided to try his car on damp tyres which seemed good. With rain getting worse, the first round was cancelled and a committee meeting was called to make a decision of which it was decided to continue after the rain cleared and the sun started to shine. The tyres which worked initially were full rubber wets due to the standing water which soon cleared. This then resulted in damp tyres being the way to go and this saw Pete Hastings taking TQ in round three. The track was then getting to the point of dry tyres since the soft damps would simply wear out and overheat. This meant that the last heat would be the fastest since it would see the track almost having a full dry driving line.
The last two heats would therefore determine the final qualifying order. The track was very slippery and required full concentration to be fast and avoid going off the track. A number of drivers including North and Diver made errors and lost time that would make it touch and go to see if they made the final. In the end, Diver did not make the cut but decided to race the lower final to gain more track time with his new MRX-5 chassis. The final qualifying results were as follows:

1              Tim Wood – Serpent/Exceed – 22 laps 318
2              Adam Catchpole – Mugen/Picco Murnan – 17 laps 314
3              Daniel Bancroft – Motonica/Vox – 16 laps 304
4              Pete Hastings – Shepherd/Sonic – 16 laps 305
5              Jason Frost – Serpent/Mega/Exceed – 16 laps 315
6              Neal King – Mugen/Sirio ABC 2012/Contact – 15 laps 300
7              Andy North – Mugen/Sirio ABC 09/Contact – 15 laps 300
8              John Carr- Serpent/Mega/Exceed – 15 laps 301
9              Andy Hastings – Shepherd/IDM/Shepherd – 15 laps 304
10            Ross Simons – Serpent/Exceed – 15 laps 312

A Final
The final blasted away but due to a long hold on the line, Andy North was slow to get away. Adam Catchpole jumped into the lead with the top four starting to pull out a slight lead up to the first fuel stops. Dan Bancroft was the first front runner to hit problems and put him back down the order, but the first casualty was Neal King after hitting the pit lane barrier. Pete Hastings then dropped back due to some minor issues which promoted Andy Hasting and Andy North to fight for the final podium position which ended in favour of North. Up front the battle between Catchpole and Wood Continued with Tim Wood taking the lead on lap 76 and then on lap 94 both drivers hit each other with Wood losing a little ground so Catchpole showed great sportsmanship and waited so that the battle could continue which was eventually won by Catchpole. The final results were as follows:

1              Adam Catchpole – Mugen/Picco Murnan – 110 laps
2              Tim Wood – Serpent/Exceed – 109 laps
3              Andy North – Mugen/Sirio ABC 09/Contact – 108 laps
4              Jason Frost – Serpent/Mega/Exceed – 107 laps
5              John Carr- Serpent/Mega/Exceed – 104 laps
6              Pete Hastings – Shepherd/Sonic – 100 laps
7              Ross Simons – Serpent/Exceed – 100 laps
8              Andy Hastings – Shepherd/IDM/Shepherd – 74 laps
9              Daniel Bancroft – Motonica/Vox – 72 laps
10            Neal King – Mugen/Sirio ABC 2012/Contact – 27 laps

The next round is at the Halifax circuit on 2 September. Look out for a more detailed report and results in a future issue of Racer.