Mark Stiles took over where David Spashett left off at the third round of the BRCA 1:12 Nationals as the series travelled to Tamworth
Round three of the 2012-13 BRCA 1:12 Nationals took place in Tamworth on the 8-9 December. The event saw another big turnout with nearly 100 drivers racing on each day of the event. On Saturday in the stock (10.5T blinky) class, Chris Kerswell set the early pace before Mark Stiles took TQ driving the new ‘Altered Ego’ Xti chassis from CRC . Third on the grid was Matt White followed by Mick Farrell and Zak Smith.
In the A final Mark and Chris got away cleanly at the front and by the two minute mark had left the rest of the field in their wake. until a back marker delayed Chris allowing Mark to cruise to the win with Zak driving superbly in the final to take his first podium in third place.
In the 17.5T stock class, Andy Sawyer took a comfortable TQ and win for Corally/LRP, while in the GT12 class it was an all-Schumacher SupaStox front row for the A final with Sam Clifton lining up ahead of Chris Ashton. In the A final the positions were reversed though with Sam making a mistake and Chris cruising home for the win.
In open modified on Sunday, Mark Stiles picked up where he left off on Saturday by setting the fastest time in the opening qualifier and then bettering it in round two. Going into the final qualifier, Stiles looked to have TQ in the bag as he held a half second lead over Kerswell with 30 seconds to go, but a mistake allowed Chris to take over the lead and then snatch TQ by just half a second. Mark would have to settle for second overall, with Zak Smith third, Matt White fourth and Mick Farrell fifth. The A final was a role reversal of Saturday’s. Now it was Mark’s turn to try and force a mistake from Chris. The pair led the field away and within a minute of the start had already pulled a half lap lead to third placed Nigel Hale. The battle between Mark and Chris raged on throughout the whole final and when Mark re-took the lead for the second time, he held it to the end as Chris finished second with Mick Farrell third.
In the 10.5T blinky class Jim Spencer took an easy TQ and win, although the Associated of Keith Robertson wasn’t too far behind in the final. Adrian Thorpe finished third for Corally after a solid drive. GT12 was a repeat of Saturday; Sam Clifton took pole for the A final but a mistake cost him the lead and Chris Ashton took a comfortable win. It was Corally won the team event on both days.
The full results and standings will be available soon here. Videos from Saturday can be viewed here and Sunday here.
Round four of the championship takes place at the popular Plymouth track, but it’ll be two months before that as the calendar has been put back a month this season to accommodate the BRCA Autosport World GT Cup which is taking place in January.
