The fourth round of the BRCA Off-Road National Series was hosted by Telford Model Car Club in the West Midlands. This was supposed to be the fifth round, but the Boughton national was unfortunately cancelled due to the UK weather flooding not just the track’s access roads but the villages in the surrounding area too. Thankfully it was a dry weekend for this national with the sun even coming out to burn the unprepared on Sunday.
The track is an all Astroturf affair and due to the change to the usual layout it was a bit bumpy in places with all sorts of features to test the drivers.
In 2WD qualifying it was the new Team Associated B6 of Neil Cragg that took the pole spot, but it was very close with Schumacher’s Tom Yardy and Yokomo’s Simon Moss sharing the round wins with Neil.
In the finals Neil proved to have it all in control with just enough in hand to take the first two leg wins and with them the overall victory. Behind him there was some really close racing and the final leg win for Simon clinched him the runner up spot with Danny proving super-consistent to take third on the podium.
Result – 2WD
- Neil Cragg – Team Associated
- Simon Moss – Yokomo
- Danny McGee – Schumacher
- Tom Yardy – Schumacher
- Lee Martin – Yokomo
- Craig Collinson – Team C
- Kevin Lee – PR Racing
- Chris Doughty – Team Durango
- Tristram Neal – Schumacher
- Richard Taylor – Schumacher
Sunday and 4WD saw a more technical track and it actually got a little slippery later in the day due to the ambient temperature and sand coming out of the Astroturf. Qualifying was pretty much all about one man. Simon Moss was the class of the field with his Yokomo as the others struggled to match his pace and he took pole position. Neil Cragg (Team Associated) was best of the rest in second with reigning champ Lee Martin (Yokomo) next up in third.
Simon took the first A final relatively easily but a crash in the second left Neil to take the win, doing a great job of nursing his car round with a spur gear that was clearly on it’s way out. The deciding leg was a tense affair as Simon, Neil and Tom broke away and gave it all they had. In the end Simon had just enough to take the win and seal the overall victory with Neil in second and Tom in third.
Result – 4WD
- Simon Moss – Yokomo
- Neil Cragg – Team Associated
- Tom Yardy – Schumacher
- Lee Martin – Yokomo
- Danny McGee – Schumacher
- Craig Collinson – Team C
- Kevin Lee – PR Racing
- Ellis Stafford – TLR
- Richard Taylor – Schumacher
- Chris Doughty – Team Durango
With the championships now being the best three scores from five due to the cancelled meeting it’s really thrown the scores up in the air. In 2WD Lee still looks the favourite, but Neil has put himself right back in the hunt whilst in 4WD it’s Neil that looks most likely with Lee as the closest challenger – but there are others in the hunt in both classes too. The final round will be at TORCGH in the middle of the August and Racer will be there!
Many thanks to Tony Evdoka (section PRO) for his help with this report.
