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Some of this stuff can't be explained - THIS IS 100% Off Road, this is how we are.

Round three and Ellis Stafford once more showed the pace of his XFactory car to take the round - 6 seconds quicker than in round two, the track getting quicker through the day as 14 drivers made it through for the 13 laps. Ellis finished on 13 laps in 311.68. Neil Cragg went second in round a couple of seconds behind Ellis on 13/313.78 - with Lee Martin thirds on 13/315.43.
Super star oOple driver Paul Rotheram just missed out on the 13 laps with a 12/301.73 to place 10th in round.

Round four Ellis Stafford took his third successive round win to easily take overall TQ. Ellis did it in 13 laps 313.23 - 4 seconds ahead of second in round Lee Martin, with Kevin Lee taking third.
Neil Cragg had a crash and knowing he was in the A already and couldn't improve spent the rest of the race trying new lines - some of which worked, some didn't. Eventually he broke a shock tower but carried on regardless to finish 31st in round.

A Final - Leg one
Ellis took an early lead from Neil Cragg and Lee Martin. Ellis made a mistake allowing Neil into the lead - Ellis second and Lee Martin still third. Ellis made a brave pass coming over the double and re-took the lead, Neil was forced wide and Lee Martin was up to second as Cragg slipped to third with Paul Bradby slowly closing in on the leading trio.

Ellis pops a wheelie off the line

Ellis leading them round

Ellis leads from Lee and Cragg

Another lap and the positions are all reversed

The positions kept changing on the challenging layout - eventually with Ellis out front he made a mistake allowing Lee Martin into the lead. Ellis wasn't happy and laid down a stellar last lap to close the gap but couldn't find a way past. Ellis had one last ditch attempt on the last corner but collected Lee Martin - Ellis waited and Lee went through for the win, Ellis second and Neil Cragg third.

Pos

Car

Name

Result

1

4

Lee Martin

13/ 317.87

2

1

Ellis Stafford

13/ 318.13

3

2

Neil Cragg

13/ 319.08

4

5

Paul Bradby

13/ 320.97

5

3

Darren Bloomfield

12/ 300.26

6

6

Chris Doughty

12/ 306.14

7

10

Tony Truman

12/ 308.73

8

7

Matt Benfield

12/ 311.11

9

9

Tom Cockerill

12/ 314.25

10

8

Kevin Lee

12/ 322.51

A Final - Leg Two.
Ellis got a nice early lead over the course of the first lap - two seconds over Lee Martin in second place by the end of lap one. Coming round to start lap three Ellis had more than the length of the main straight over Paul Bradby who was now up to second after Lee made a mistake. Ellis kept increasing his lead over the rest as now Darren Bloomfield took up the chase in second place. Bloomfield lead a charge with Bradby and Doughty following - slowly catching Ellis, but a mistake from Bloomfield put him on his roof and back down to fourth - the battle for second place was really hotting up.

Hellis into the first corner	Bloomfield, always fast

Chris Doughty	Doughty uses Trishbits brass rear pivot block on his B4

Bradby took over but only for two corners as Doughty passed and kept it together for the rest of the race - pulling away from Bradby and Bloomfield to take a solid second place. Ellis was somewhere far in the distance, 13 seconds ahead to take the win.

Pos

Car

Name

Result

1

1

Ellis Stafford

13/ 311.89

2

6

Chris Doughty

13/ 324.09

3

5

Paul Bradby

12/ 300.26

4

3

Darren Bloomfield

12/ 300.59

5

10

Tony Truman

12/ 305.69

6

7

Matt Benfield

12/ 306.55

7

8

Kevin Lee

12/ 308.11

8

4

Lee Martin

12/ 311.81

9

9

Tom Cockerill

9/ 242.38

10

2

Neil Cragg

2/ 61.35

A Final - Leg Three.
Only Ellis, Lee Martin and Chris Doughty could win the meeting and by the end of lap one Lee Martin was out. Ellis and Bloomfield pulled away from the rest - Bloomfield right with Ellis for a lap, looking for a way past at every corner, eventually getting sideways and allowing Ellis to pull away a little.

With around a 4 second lead, Ellis looked pretty untouchable - so it was a race for second. Bloomfield was swiftly caught by Cragg and Bradby. Bloomfield eventually made a mistake on the back section and Cragg went through on the inside. On the next lap Cragg hit the same bump and Bloomfield forced his way back to second - all this time with Bradby biding his time in third with all three grouped closely together.

Bloomfield rolled after the double and both Cragg and Bradby were through for second and third respectively - and that's how it stayed with Ellis winning 7 seconds ahead of Cragg.

Pos

Car

Name

Result

1

1

Ellis Stafford

13/ 310.51

2

2

Neil Cragg

13/ 317.99

3

5

Paul Bradby

13/ 319.05

4

3

Darren Bloomfield

13/ 326.31c

5

9

Tom Cockerill

12/ 302.42

6

8

Kevin Lee

12/ 306.31

7

7

Matt Benfield

12/ 310.31

8

6

Chris Doughty

12/ 314.21

9

10

Tony Truman

11/ 307.12

10

4

Lee Martin

DNS

Pos

Car

Name

Result

1

1

Ellis Stafford

2 [ 2 1 1]

2

2

Neil Cragg

5 [ 3 10 2]

3

5

Paul Bradby

6 [ 4 3 3]

4

6

Chris Doughty

8 [ 6 2 8]

5

3

Darren Bloomfield

8 [ 5 4 4]

6

4

Lee Martin

9 [ 1 8 10]

7

10

Tony Truman

12 [ 7 5 9]

8

8

Kevin Lee

13 [ 10 7 6]

9

7

Matt Benfield

13 [ 8 6 7]

10

9

Tom Cockerill

14 [ 9 9 5]

With his win - Ellis Stafford became 2008 BRCA 2WD National Champion, with one meeting still to run.

Round one of qualifying and Simon Moss took the TQ with two of the top heats to go - with 12 laps in 307.81. Ellis Stafford went out in the next heat and went 1.5 seconds quicker - but it was Neil Cragg with the new Yokomo BMax that took the round with 12 laps in 303.74, and that was with a roll that lose him 2-3 seconds so 13 laps looked entirely possible.

Round 1 top 10.

Neil Cragg went even quicker to take the second round of qualifying - albeit by only 0.4 of a second faster than his previous time with 12 laps in 303.31 - Darren Bloomfield piloted his Losi to a very close second only 0.05 seconds behind Neil. Chris Doughty rounded out the top three 2 seconds further back.

Round 2 top 10.

Schumacher had some secret new tyres being handed out for testing (not at this event of course) The tyres are the much anticipated replacement for the traditional 'mini spike' - called surprisingly 'mini spike 2' WOW.

We weren't allowed to take photos of the tyres so we 'nicked' some from one of the drivers who's testing - who shall remain unnamed and totally anon.
Photo above right shows the original mini spike top, and new tyre beneath.

The new tyres have excellent well defined spikes compared to the current tyres, and a matt finish to the carcass instead of the shiney effect on previous tyres. There's also rumour about a new softer version of the popular yellow, called double yellow (or something daft) - which will sit alongside the classic Yellow compound rather than replace it.

Richard Lowe (above) driving the JConcepts car didn't have the sort of day he'd wanted - missing out on the A and poling the B final, then breaking and finishing last. Still - Richard is a hero to the likes of lil Ben Jemison, and if truth be told, even I have a soft spot for the mild mannered quiet one. Nice wheels richard!

Neil just snook through for thirteen laps for the first in round 3. Some of the drivers have been commenting that the heat has been making the track slightly slower, but on the evidence of Neils performance this must just be their personal experience or a poor excuse.

Round 3 top 10.

Mad Stuff: Stuart Evans finished 72nd in round with 11 laps in 308.17. Well done to a very special boy. In round four, Graham North had a confrontation with Ian Barnard on the rostrum. Apparently it got physical and the face-off was only calmed when Julie North (Grahams lady wife) put the lead back on her hubby.

Neil Cragg completed a shut out in qualifying with the UK Debut of the new Yokomo BMax - taking all four rounds of qualifying, putting in the only 13 lap run of the day in the process. Go Neil - you super guy you.

Brian Harris announced the drivers

The start of A final leg one

Cragg on his way to the win

Ellis pulls over to let the two leaders through

Neil Cragg had dominated qualifying and looked like he'd dominate the finals after a good start - the only real challenge coming from the Losi XX4 of Darren Bloomfield. And what a challenge! Darren pushed Neil most of the way - sometimes Neil taking a corners lead before Bloomfield pulled a little closer. Coming round to start another lap the pair were in traffic and with potentially only one or two laps to go the pressure was on Bloomfield. It told and a series of small mistakes saw him drop back from Cragg. Cragg took his Yokomo through for 13 laps but sadly Bloomfield couldn't quite make it through. Neil Cragg won convincingly, Bloomfield a solid second and Richard Taylor made a triumphant return to 10th off road with a third in leg.

Pos

Car

Name

Result

1

1

Neil Cragg

13/ 321.86

2

2

Darren Bloomfield

12/ 300.04

3

7

Richard Taylor

12/ 311.83

4

4

Simon Moss

12/ 312.13

5

9

Tony Truman

12/ 313.88

6

10

Danny McGee

12/ 322.63

7

6

Chris Doughty

11/ 300.90

8

5

Ellis Stafford

11/ 303.39

9

8

Paul Bradby

11/ 303.60

10

3

Lee Martin

11/ 303.76

A final leg Two.
Neil Cragg lead them around the first few corners - Lee Martin and Darren Bloomfield giving chase. Half way through the first lap Bloomfield and Lee Martin were together, Bloomfield made a mistake coming over the small double in front of the rostrum but didn't lost time. Lee Martin immediately seemed to follow suit - not sure if they touched but it didn't seem so. Either way Lee was down to fourth and it was now Bloomfield closely followed by Richard 'Tricky' Taylor battling for second. The battle didn't last long and Bloomfield made a mistake a couple of corners before the line to start lap two - putting Richard Taylor up to second.

Cragg leads them over the double - lap one	Losi boys take it seriously

Tricky and Lee Martin collide - Tricky (right) waits	Tricky back in front of Lee

The battle was on for second and defending 4WD champion Lee Martin driving the Associated B44 kept Taylor in his sights as the pair raced the technical track looking for Cragg out front. Coming round for lap 6 Lee Martin had closed the gap and the pressure told as Taylor made a small mistake, clipping a corner too tightly and rolling over back onto his wheels - enough for Lee to make a pass and the race for second to resume with the order now reversed.

Tricky was on fire in leg two	Cragg on his way to win the meeting - easily!

Richard 'Tricky' Taylor confessed afterwards that he'd never heard of a sintered rotor before the weekends event started - but someone sorted him out with a setup and he used it to good effect - laying in second place he entered the main straight just after Lee and quickly reeled him in with sheer power. Richard looked for the quick pass back up to second - using his speed advantage to take the inside at the end of the main straight. The two collided and Richard waited. The chase was back on for only one more corner before the pair collided again - Richard was just too quick for his own good.

Lee pulled a gap on Richard but over the course of a couple of laps Richard reeled in the reigning champ - Lee eventually making a mistake over the technical back secion allowed Richard the gap he was looking for and he sneaked in on the inside of Lees car. Lee made another mistake and lost any hope of taking back second place.

Neil Cragg was out front the whole time to take another win - and with it the meeting. Richard Taylor came second and Lee Martin third.

Mick admires the scratches on his plastic winner	Jimmy pretends to be Neil Cragg

Pos

Car

Name

Result

1

1

Neil Cragg

12/ 306.18

2

7

Richard Taylor

12/ 311.14

3

3

Lee Martin

12/ 313.51

4

4

Simon Moss

12/ 315.75

5

2

Darren Bloomfield

12/ 318.38

6

5

Ellis Stafford

12/ 318.88

7

9

Tony Truman

12/ 325.69

8

10

Danny McGee

11/ 304.70

9

8

Paul Bradby

11/ 314.03

10

6

Chris Doughty

9/ 319.64

Richard Taylor was back racing 10th off road at Southport - his home track. Richard has been racing 8th scale buggies all year and really enjoying it. We caught up with him for a look at his unremarkable and fairly standard Losi XX4.

Apart from an XFactory carbon steering link, Trickys XX4 is pretty standard. There's not even a hinge pin brace on there. Tricky ran an LRP 5.5 with 12.5mm sintered rotor.

Richard Taylor gets some admiration from Mick Cragg

Tricky is 100% ACE

A final leg Three.
Neil Cragg had already won the meeting but winning the third leg would deprive anyone else that point - and in such a close battle for the championship there was everything to play for.
From the start it was Cragg followed by Bloomfield - Bloomfield was all over Cragg but coming over the concrete corner before the start of lap two Bloomfield just tipped the car on its roof and dropped down the order to 5th.
Lee Martin was now into second place and catching Cragg. Cragg got it slightly wrong over the technical back section and Lee closed the gap - another mistake and Lee was again right up on Cragg and it didn't seem like Lee would have too much longer to wait. Again coming through the back section Cragg made a mistake but this time ended up on his roof - allowing Lee to sail past for the lead. Cragg held onto second with a hard charging Bloomfield now back up to third.

Cragg followed by Bloomfield and Lee Martin	Bloomfield puts on the pressure before dropping back

Simon moss coming thru the cobbles	Lee Martin out front - Cragg now chasing.

Cragg wasn't about to give up his 'perfect day' without a fight and slowly closed the gap. With 1 minute to go Neil was right on the tail of Lees Associated B44. The pair came down the straight and Neil tried to find a gap on the inside - but couldn't do it. Cragg couldn't do it - rolling the car on the last lap and Lee Martin took the third leg.

Lees win in leg three gave him second overall and valuable points to keep him atop the national championship leader board with only one race meeting to go. Despite his best efforts on the day - Neils hunt for the title is over as he can't possibly better Lees score.

Overall positions after three legs:

Congratulations to Neil Cragg and Ellis Stafford on their wins!

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