uk brca micro nationals silverstone round one race report

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Silverstone Round One

The BRCA Micro season started at Silverstone where the atmosphere was buzzing with chatter and laughter from the racers as you entered the track and pitting area. The track was mostly astro turf with slippery vinyl.

Booking in was at 9 o’clock and the race briefing was given by Chris Oxley the BRCA Micro chairman at 9.15, Chris introduced the BRCA Micro committee and explained the day’s format.

Practice started and the driving standard was high from heat one through to heat nine. The tyre of choice was the mini pin, with one or two running yellow rally blocks and the carisma tyre. Practice over the racers was making adjustments and repairs to their cars. The track side shop, Trackside Spares was there on hand to help.

With round one qualifying over, the top three drivers of the 4wd were Phil Sleigh, Andy Jones & Tony Bishop. Craig Harris was nowhere to be seen as he missed round one because he was eating a cake! The top three drivers in 2wd round 1 were Phil Sleigh, Tony Bishop & Craig Harris. The fastest lap was set by Phil Sleigh in 4wd at 21.60 and 2wd at 22.19 in round one. This year 2wd seen the new ruling of using converted 4wds which seen some new racers to 2wd.

On to round two, the top ten after round two 4wd Andy Jones, Tony Bishop, Phil Sleigh, Mark Hancock, Tom Roach, Dan Harding, Steve Davies, Chris Leighton, Andy Nancollis and Gavin Williams. The track was getting faster and grip levels were high, Tom Roach set the fastest lap in 4wd with a 22.13 and Tony Bishop set the fastest lap in 2wd at 22.31. The track had a twisted tricky inner section with roll over’s and a jump in front of the rostrum, with a long straight into a sweeping bend then onto a corner table top. The track was fast and flowing with technical sections.

Round three and the pace of the racing was getting faster the top ten Phil Sleigh, Andy Jones, Craig Harris, Tony Bishop, Keith Robertson, Rob Hancock, Tom Roach, Dan Harding, Steve Davies and Rob West. The fastest lap in 4wd was set by Craig Harris at 20.94 and 2wd set by Phil sleigh at 21.45.

So with the last chance to set a qualifying time in round 4 before the finals (best two rounds to count from four) the fastest lap in 4wd was Phil Sleigh with a 20.72 and 2wd with 21.48.

With the anticipation from the drivers waiting to see what final they made, Jamie, Andy and Chris worked them out. Stu MacDonald was the ref and commentator for qualifying and the finals. There was a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in the air and the banter was flying about

The finals run from A to H, this year seen the new junior championship with the top 3 qualifiers getting a nice shinny trophy 1st Morgan Rham 2nd Ben Young 3rd Philip Nash. The top three at the end of the season being crowned 1st, 2ndand 3rd junior champions. Freddie Thompson beat Philip Nash in the final but trophies were awarded based on qualifying.
The top three in the 4wd H final was 1st Jez Thorpe, 2nd Daniel Ayres and 3rd John Ryland, the race was comfortable win for Jez finishing on 11 laps in 323.02, one lap ahead of 2nd place.

The top three in the G final were 1st Ant Lucas, 2ndRob Hancock and 3rd Dave Hall. Rob Hancock lead most of the race with Ant on his tail a small error by Rob let Ant in for the win, Ant and Rob one lap above 3rd place and close racing from the rest of the field .

On to the F final, 1st Darren Moult, 2nd Robert Holloway and 3rd Steve Brewer, Darren won by a full lap ahead, 2nd and 3rd were less than a second between them and only 5 seconds from 2nd place to 5th place just showing how close the racing was.

Then on to the A final 2wd 1st Phil sleigh, 2nd Tony Bishop and 3rd Craig Harris. Phil lead from the start and looked solid wining by a full lap with close racing between Tony and Craig with only 1 second in it.

On to the E final 1st Nathan Powney, 2nd Jim Davis and 3rd Chris Oxley, the race started a bit scrappy but settled down a couple of laps in. Nathan had a comfortable 7 second lead over second place.

The D final 1st Steve Guppy, 2nd Mike Sanders and 3rd Michael Wright, Mike and Steve got off to a good start swopping 1st and 2nd then mike made 2 small errors that let Steve take the win.
The C final 1st Jimmy Whiteall, 2nd Andy Mountford and 3rd Mark Nash, the race was close from start to finish with only 3 seconds between 1st and 3rd Jimmy started 7th and drove smooth and smart to take the win.

On the B final 1st Chris Leighton, 2nd Morgan Rham and 3rd Gavin Williams the race started with a scrappy start for all the drivers but soon settled down with only 1 second between 1st and 2nd on the last lap Huw Jenkins had to use a little push off Paul Knight down the straight as his spur striped weaving to keep Paul behind but at no joy but the car just got over the finish line.

The a final the main event 1st Phil sleigh, 2nd Andrew Jones, 3rd Keith Robertson, Phill got of to a great start with Joneys and Craig battling for second place but Craig made a error on the corner table top letting Joneys breath and real in Phil and putting Keith in 3rd. Phill had a good lead but Phil made a small error on the triple roll over and Joneys was hot on his tail. Joneys made a small mistake giving Phil some breathing room but Phil makes a mistake and the car is on its roof allowing joneys back on this bumper. Joneys made a move on the last but one corner but it didn’t come off and Phil kept his cool to take the tq and win in 2wd and 4wd
· Race report by Huw Jenkins BRCA Micro section Public Relations Officer


sorry for the delay on the race reports