The sixth and final round of the 2013-14 BRCA National Championship was held at what some consider the home of 1:12 scale racing, the Shirley Park Leisure Centre at Clay Cross in Chesterfield.
In the GT12 championships, both the Saturday and Sunday title was still up for grabs. The Saturday title could be won by either defending champion Chris Ashton or his Schumacher team mate Jamie McDonagh. Round one saw the Mardave of Jonathan Dixey set the fastest time with the Schumacher of Jamie McDonagh setting the next quickest time, but with his car failing scrutineering, this would move Chris Ashton up to second place and Alex Thurston into third. Round two saw Chris Ashton move to the top of the time sheets with Jonathan Dixey dropping to second place and Matt Lax into third. In round three Chris became the first driver to complete 22 laps with Jamie McDonagh now up to second place and Sam Clifton into third. The final round of qualifying saw Chris Ashton take TQ by only seven tenths of a second from his title challenger Jamie McDonagh, with Sam Clifton one and a half seconds behind in third. Alex Thurston would line-up fourth on the grid with the slowest of the 22 lappers, with early pace setter Jonathan Dixey in fifth. So the two title contenders would line up first and second on the grid, but with Chris only requiring a fourth place finish to retain his title, he would line up as favourite. A clean start from both Chris Ashton and Jamie McDonagh saw them quickly open up a lead over the chasing pack of Sam Clifton, Jonathan Dixey, Marcus Askell and Alex Thurston. With these four drivers all swapping positions for third place it meant Chris and Jamie opened up a comfortable lead over third place. Despite getting close to the rear bumper of Chris Ashton’s Schumacher for the majority of the race, Jamie McDonagh was unable to attempt any overtaking moves on the tight track and with Chris driving a faultless race he crossed the line three tenths of a second ahead of Jamie to take the win and with it retain his BRCA GT12 Saturday title. Sam Clifton finished six seconds behind in third place with Marcus Askell fourth and Alex Thurston fifth.

Results:
1. Chris Ashton – Schumacher
2. Jamie McDonagh – Schumacher
3. Sam Clifton – Schumacher
4. Marcus Askell – Schumacher
5. Alex Thurston – Schumacher
6. David Hall – Schumacher
7. Jonathan Dixey – Mardave
8. Andrew Carter – Schumacher
9. Niall Cochran – Schumacher
10. Matt Lax – Schumacher

Championship:
1. Chris Ashton – Schumacher – 599 points
2. Jamie McDonagh – Schumacher – 595 points
3. Sam Clifton  – Schumacher – 593 points
4. David Hall – Schumacher – 590 points
5. Marcus Askell – Schumacher – 589 points
6. Alex Thurston – Schumacher – 586 points
7. Stephen Lander – Mardave – 574 points
8. Matt Lax – Schumacher – 573 points
9. Andrew Carter – Schumacher – 572 points
10. Jonathan Dixey – Mardave 572 points

Sunday was once again a two-way battle for the title between Chris Ashton, who was looking to retain his Sunday title and add to his previous day’s glory, and early season pace setter and Schumacher team mate Sam Clifton. Round one saw Chris Ashton get off to the perfect start by setting the fastest time from Jonathan Dixey and Jamie McDonagh. Round two saw Chris improve his time to remain in first with Jonathan still in second and Alex Thurston improving to third. Chris continued to improve in round three with Alex also improving his time to move up to second place, dropping Jonathan down to third. Chris was unable to improve on his time in the final round but took TQ by just under a second from Alex with Jamie McDonagh moving up to third. Jonathan Dixey and Stephen Lander would line up fourth and fifth respectively. Having been hampered by issues throughout the day, Sam Clifton would line up seventh on the grid which would make it extremely difficult to get the win he required to take the title.
The final would see the top three cars of Chris Ashton, Alex Thurston and Jamie McDonagh get away from the grid cleanly. These three would quickly pull away from the chasing pack who was led by Marcus Askell who had a good start from sixth on the grid. With Alex Thurston having minor brushes with the track markings which would cost him a couple of tenths a lap, Chris was able to open up a comfortable lead over Alex. With a minute to go Chris went into cruise mode and came home to take the win on the day and with it the Sunday title. Alex Thurston finished in second place, two seconds behind Chris, with Jamie McDonagh a further two seconds behind in third. Marcus Askell finished fourth with Stephen Lander fifth.

Results:
1. Chris Ashton  – Schumacher
2. Alex Thurston  – Schumacher
3. Jamie McDonagh  – Schumacher
4. Marcus Askell  – Schumacher
5. Stephen Lander – Mardave
6. Jonathan Dixey – Mardave
7. Sam Clifton  – Schumacher
8. Andrew Carter  – Schumacher
9. Anthony Potter – Schumacher
10. Christopher Skidmore – Mardave

Championship:
1. Chris Ashton – Schumacher – 599 points
2. Jamie McDonagh – Schumacher – 595 points
3. Sam Clifton  – Schumacher – 593 points
4. Alex Thurston – Schumacher – 592 points
5. Marcus Askell  – Schumacher – 588 points
6. Matt Lax  – Schumacher – 578 points
7. Stephen Lander – Mardave – 578 points
8. Andrew Carter – Schumacher – 576 points
9. Anthony Potter  – Schumacher – 572 points
10. Mark Christopher – Schumacher – 561 points

Congratulations to Chris Ashton and Schumacher for a successful defence of the GT12 titles in what was an extremely competitive season.
A big thank you to Kev Creaser and the rest of the Chesterfield club for hosting a fitting season finale. Also thanks to the BRCA for an extremely enjoyable season and for allowing the GT12 class to support the main LMP12 classes. Hopefully this will continue for the 2014-15 season.

Source: Schumacher