Coventry Model Car Club hosted round two of the BRCA 1:8 Off-Road National Championships and despite the changeable weather, thankfully it remained dry for most of the weekend. Lee Martin (Mugen) continued his strong form after winning round one at Westmill by backing up this result with a very solid qualifying session taking rounds one, two and four. Elliott Boots (Kyosho) was the only driver to challenge Lee taking rounds three and five with Lee taking second in both these rounds. Therefore Lee’s Mugen MBX-7 took a convincing TQ followed by Elliott Boots’s Kyosho and Darren Bloomfield’s TLR in third.
Into the semis and Lee and Elliott both had really strong finals winning them respectively with Lee being just one second faster than Elliott after 20-minutes of racing so denying the latter pole position for the main final.
In the 45-minute final the top three set off at a very strong pace. Neil Cragg (Associated) would get amongst them as the lead four pulled away from the pack. It soon became a battle between Lee and Elliott, which was no surprise as these two had been at it all weekend. The lead changed between these two as small errors crept in and with both on similar fuel strategies, it was going to be about who could hold their nerve. But fate was to play Elliott a cruel hand as he flamed out and this promoted Neil to second who had had a very determined drive through from fifth and Darren into third. Elliott would come home in fourth after recovering from his engine cut.The next stop is Wakefield, but with Lee winning the first two rounds, this package is looking strong for the title in 2013.
Look out for a full race report in the September issue of Racer, on sale 1 August 2013.