Photos & Video of Stu Evans around the Oswestry track.

After a rather wet and miserable start to the National series at the previous round in Kidderminster, the weather leading up to Oswestry National was all sorts of 'good' - promising a nice warm and dry National (for a change). Last year the National at Oswestry was rained off on the Sunday for 4WD - the all-grass track becoming a muddy field by the time things had been called off.

Oswestry is located on the border of England and Wales - the venue itself being an ex Army camp and now a showground with excellent facilities - the best of any National venue. The Oswestry club has a small astro-turf permenant track located at the same venue - but it's too small for National racing so the track for this event is laid out in the days leading up to the event on a gradually sloping area of grass (fancy way of saying a field really).

Thunder and lightning preceeded some heavy rain during the night - so racers woke up to a rather wet track.

Saturday 10th May 2008 - 2WD Day

After a wet start from the previous nights thunder storm, the track was starting to dry out slowly. During practice the fastest tyres seemed to be Ballistic Blue spikes, which dug into the soft ground more than the regular green compound. The track is mainly grass with some man made jumps added to make things interesting. A huge table top in front of the drivers stand caused a few issues during first practice - a small gap at the top of the up-ramp was causing some issuses - but even with a repaired ramp there weren't many jumping this feature - most prefering to land on top and drive off.

Reigning 2WD National champion Darren Bloomfield didn't attend the first round of this years Championship - and had to miss this one also due to 8th buggy commitments. This time he was joined by Neil Cragg as the pair head out to Greece this weekend to compete in the 1/8th European Championships warmup race.

supported by PIESPEED - without them there would be no report!

The track is an all-grass affair, built from scratch in the week leading up to the event. The track is actually on a slight incline up away from the drivers stand. There aren't really any natural features or undulations to challenge the drviers - and this is one criticism that's often made - but the Oswestry team do a good job of working with what they have. For this event three new jumps were created, a large table top, triple jump and a small hump in the bottom left corner. The TableTop jump and triple jump both had short up&down slopes with high angles that sent the cars skyward. The triple itself was very hard to land properly, and in 2WD the tabletop wasn't much better. The 4WD cars had a better time on the tabletop however mainly because of the slower approach speed.

Round one of qualifying was taken in a commanding style by Ellis Stafford driving the XFactory X6 - almost a full 10 seconds ahead of second place finisher Chris Doughty, with Phil Channon coming in third.

Top ten drivers in round 1 of qualifying

The second round of qualifying was faster, the track having dried out a little - but at the same time the racing line was already looking muddy

Stu Evans was like 'stu speilberg' at Oswestry - with his awesome videography skills. He was a little disapointed that this attempt didn't work because I'd done something wrong (he called me a 'nob') but thankfully his final was videod from start to finsish	Matt Dodd goes wild-style over the table top.

Round 3 results.

Round 4 results

Overall qualifying after 4 rounds was as follows.

Schumacher had their two pre-production 'SX' 4WD buggies racing just like the previous National - in the hands of Matt White and Simon Moss, the latter whom finished second at that event. There were a few changes to the cars not previously seen - and with the designer Phil Booth on hand to help with the cars, we got an exclusive look at the updates and changes that will likely see production soon.

The idler gears which do the job of changing the direction of the transmission were originally destined to be halved in width - but it was decided to leave them wide and as strong as possible. A gear cover now protects things.	The gearbox tops front and rear are now a moulded compositie material to lower the centre of gravity, reduce costs and reduce weight.
The front suspension now features 1 piece front hinge pin holders instead of the multi peice + washer approach. These are interchangable to adjust front castor/kick up. 10 degree blocks are installed but some 7.5 degree blocks were also on display.
Above - the latest 'LiPo' version of the CAT SX was pulled from the back seat of Phil Booths car for some photos. The car has all the latest parts as shown from the cars above. This car hasn't been raced yet - the BRCA rules don't allow LiPo at this time, but the team have practiced in private. The car will accept regular 'stick pack' style LiPo packs.

Ellis Stafford took the TQ with two round wins, Lee Martin lined up second and Chris Doughty third. oOple Star driver Stu Wood lined up 9th with his B4 with a best of 5th in round.

A Final Leg 1
With two round wins Ellis Stafford took TQ and pole for the A finals. Ellis lead from the start but quickly made a mistake, allowing Lee Martin past. Ellis was the quickest car on the track (taking 7 of the top 10 fastes laps) but every time he got anywhere near Lee he made another mistake. By the last lap Lee was cruising and held on to the lead, winning by just over a second from Ellis, with Simon Moss third.

Close racing!

Ellis leads Lee Martin	After lee gets past, Ellis goes for the big air to try and regain the lead - but can't manage it.

A Final Leg 2
Ellis lead from the start and quickly built a small lead. Lee Martin made an error & got stuck on a pipe. Tom Yardy was the only one able to challenge Ellis but it wasn't enough and Ellis took the second leg, Tom Yardy second and Simon Moss third again. Stuart WoOd of the mighty (!) Team oOple came in fourth with his AE B44.

Ellis didn't make a mistake this time, leading from start to finish

Lee made the mistake in leg two	McGee leading Lee Martin around the track

A Final Leg 3
Ellis made a mistake on the first lap allowing Lee past - Ellis dropped to third with Chris Doughty taking up second behind Lee Martin. All Lee had to do was hold onto the lead to take the win - but Ellis wasn't through. Chris Doughty was up to second with Ellis chasing - these two a long way off Lee who was out front. Ellis tried for several laps to get past Chris, but Chris wasn't going to make it easy for him. Eventually Ellis made his move and was up to second with his sights set on Lee Martins orange B4.

Ellis leads Lee around on the first lap	By the second lap Lee was on his own out front

Like a homing missile Ellis reeled in Lee quickly as Lee made a small error. Lee was still in front coming up to the top left corner of the track but looked very out of shape and Ellis was able to make up the room and pass cleanly on the inside as Lee went on to roll. Ellis went on to take the third leg and with it his first National win with the X6.

Chris Doughty drove well but couldn't hold back Ellis	Lee was out of shape and Ellis got along side

The two go side by side just before the main straight	Lee ends up on his roof as Ellis goes ahead - to the win

Overall results were as follows - Ellis Stafford first, Lee Martin second and Chris Doughty third.

As always at Oswestry - the on-site facilities provided a good evenings entertainment, with a quiz night hosted by the Oswestry crew. The North East A&B teams dominated the quiz of course - taking the first two prizes!

Sunday 11th May - 4wd day.
After the rather poor start to the 2WD event - Sundays weather was much nicer from early morning. The track hadn't changed a great dreal from the previous day, but to make things more interesting (and fair) it was being run in reverse from the previous day. Unlike with the 2WD cars - the 4WD cars looked a lot more confident and easy-to-drive on the tricky obstacles and loose worn grass / dirt corners.

The track started out damp from wearly morning dew, but soon dried up. Chris Doughty took the first round of qualifying with his Atomised B44 - but only just! Chris, Ellis Stafford and Lee Martin all finished within three quarters of a second of each other - giving a hint of things to come as these three would do battle all day like they had the previous day in 2WD.

Fastest 10 drivers in round 1 of qualifying

Chris doughty went on to take the next two rounds of qualifying ahead of Ellis Stafford (in second) on both occasions. Chris was by this point firmly planted in the top spot for the A final.

Round 2 Qualifying results

Round 3 Qualifying results

Just missing out on dominating qualifying, Chris Doughty had to settle for second in round four - Ellis instead taking the top spot on 11/312.26. Chris came in just over a second later on 313.51, and Danny McGee third on 314.55.

Round 4 Qualifying results

Overall Qualifying top 10

A Final Leg 1
Chris Doughty from pole got away cleanly, as did the rest of the field. Coming round for 1 lap the entire field was still in start order as Ellis Stafford started to push Chris Doughty for first. Chris lead until 4:40 then a small error cost him dearly as Lee Martin and Ellis Stafford went past. Ellis tried one of his trademark mid-air overtaking moves to take the lead but ended up on his roof. Lee Martin won, Ellis had to settle for second and TQ man Chris Doughty third.

Lee gets it sideways as Doughty leads them round	The fast three

Ellis, Lee and McGee over the table top	Lee puts pressure on Doughty

Ellis tries a pass over the triple but crashes	Ellis rolled again allowing lee some breathing room

A Final Leg 2
Chris Doughty got away cleanly closely followed by Ellis and Lee Martin. Coming to around a lap and a half into the race over the triple jump, Ellis rolled and dropped right down from 2nd to 8th. Lee was past and the chase was on for first. Another win from Lee would take the round win here at Oswestry to go with his win at Kidderminster. Lee got right up to the rear of Chris's car but a mistake over the table top dropped him back. Chris was cruising perhaps a little too much and Lee was right back on him again.
Coming around the last lap there wasn't much Lee could do to catch and pass Doughty but pushing hard Lee mad a final mistake & rolled after the triple allowing McGee through for second. Chris Doughty won after leading the whole race with the Atomised Associated B44, Danny McGee second and Lee Martin third.

Doughty leads Martin around the curved 'straight'	Lee clips the inside pipe - cartwheeling

Another mistake from Lee - but he wasn't done yet.	Lee's final error allowed Danny McGee through to 2nd.

A Final Leg 3
Chris wanted to play it safe in the final leg and got away with Ellis in pursuit and Lee Martin not far behind. Things stayed pretty static between the leading pair for 8 laps. Ellis tried to pass an overly cautious Doughty over the large tabletop jump - instead landing on the roof of Chris' car causing them both to lose time - Ellis waited so the order didn't change, but the chasing pack was now closer.

Chris Doughtys 'safe' driving didn't pay off and an accident left him in 5th - Ellis took the lead now with Lee Martin suddenly right back from 5th to second and chasing hard. Lee didn't have the time to pull anything out of the bad and Ellis held on to take the third leg.

Doughty leads them round	Ellis mid-air chases Doughty - McGee third

Ellis Stafford took the third leg - and with it, the win.	Chris Doughty talks with Mr.AtomicCarbon about what could have been.

A brief moment of suspense as the winner of the meeting wasn't announced immediately. Ellis' crash with Chris Doughty was being discussed by officials regarding possible penalties - it was decided quite rightly that Ellis hadn't expected the small jump from Chris, and that he'd gained no advantage in the move so no penalty was awarded. With his 1st and 2nd scores Ellis took the meeting with 3 points, Chris doughty second on 4 point with a 1st and 3rd, with Lee Martin finishing third overall also on a 1st and 3rd 4-pointer.

Well done to Ellis and XFactory on wrapping up a double win with the X6 and X5 cars.