After some really nice weather in the preceeding weeks, things changed for the worse in the lead up to round 4 of the 2009 BRCA 10th off road national series.  Southport was fittingly the venue - a regular on the national calendar and one that sees more than its fair share of bad weather. 

Thankfully the rain stopped overnight and didn't make an appearance so the track quickly dried - though some areas under the trees remained slippery.

The track has seen a lot of work recently with lots of smart-looking new metal track markings and new astro turf along the tricky back section. The back section looks almost flat - but we're assured the new astro just covers the old and all the bumps are still there.

Round 1 Qualifying - Southport

Worlds We asked about - it seems no one from the UK is entered for the World Championships in a couple of months time in South Africa. There are a handful of drivers entered from Europe but no confirmations on USA drivers yet.

Reigning 4WD national champeen, Lee Martin, drove like a nutter in round one with a car that was apparently too quick for the conditions so he was right down in 95th after almost pulling off the track. Winner of the opening round of this years 2WD series, Phil Sleigh, went quickest in round one and was closely followed by XFactory team mate Ellis Stafford - Mark Stanley made it a 1-2-3 for XFactory before the onslaught of Associated cars made up the remaining positions in the top ten.

Mark Stanley lead a charge of mid-west heros in round two to take the round - 9 seconds faster than his previous time and a full 7 seconds ahead of Phil Sleighs round-1 winning time. Conditions were clearly getting faster. Simon Moss finished 1.6 seconds back with Phil Sleigh third.

Round 2 Qualifying - Southport

Round 3 - Ellis Stafford stormed around the track in his heat to set a new TQ time, but one heat later it was Neil Cragg with the tail wind on his side as he snatched the TQ time off his rival getting ever closer to a 13 lapper.

Lee Martin and Matt Benfield shared 6th in round with identical times down to the 100th of a second., crackers!

Round 3 Qualifying - Southport

Craig harris's (right) beloved 'flame cap' went missing last year - no one knows where it's gone :(

Round 4 - Ellis broke something, last we heard he thought it was his servo horn, but wasn't too sure. He needs to get to know his car better really.

As if to prove how open this years race series is - round four saw yet another winner, this time it was Danny McGee who again improved the FTQ and edged within striking distance of 13 laps. Craggy-cragg-cragg was just half a second down on McGee and Phil Sleigh came in third a couple of seconds further back.

Round 4 Qualifying - Southport

A final leg 1

Neil Cragg made a clean start and instantly began his move away from the rest of the pack - he never looked back. For the first half of the race the cars to watch were 2nd and 3rd place - Phil Sleigh and Mark Stanley, who raced very closely in the battle for 2nd place. Phil powerdanced past Mark as they came onto the straight to start lap 2. Phil kept hold of the lead pretty well, slamming his back door shut on Mark Stanley who kept looking for a way to sneak through. It was only when Sleigh had an altercation with the track marking that Stanley was able to sneak through and quickly pulled off.

Cragg leads them round - Mark Stanley goes wide	Bradby rides the tight line round the cobbles

Stanley looks for a way past Sleigh after losing 2nd	..The pair clash wheels but Sleigh says NO.

The battle to watch early on was the battle for second beween Stanley and Sleigh.

With Neil Safely in the lead and not really creating much excitement, the battle in the mid field was between Lee Martin, Simon Moss and local hero Chris Evison.

Anyway, it was pretty good and long time oOple favourite Neil Cragg took the win.

A Final Leg 1

A final leg 2
Neil Cragg lead them off and for the first 3/4 of a lap it was pretty much in qualifying order as the long train of cars snaked its merry way around. Coming around the concrete corner to start lap two Neil Cragg made an error - spinning out and losing two positions as Mark Stanley took up the lead followed by Phil Sleigh and a red-faced Cragg back in control.

These three stretched out a little lead - actually, quite a big one, over the course of the next couple of laps with Mark Stanley still in control. Coming around to where Neil had lost the lead on lap one, Mark Stanley rolled but managed to get underway almost immediately - only losing one position as he dropped to second with Sleigh taking it up.

Cragg saw his chance for a pass to second but it wasn't clean and Mark Stanley went spinning as a result and it was a warning for Neil but the position was his - a racing incident.

Cragg lead the chase for Phil Sleigh out front and it wasn't long before the three were again crunched together on the track. Cragg had the tricky back section dialled and closed on Sleigh - looking for a way past. But if Cragg was all over Sleigh, Mark Stanley was virtually glued to the rear of Neils car.

Neil looked for a way past after another succesful dance down the back section - clipping Sleigh and sending them both spinning as now Mark Stanley again took the lead - Sleigh got away first and Cragg again down to third. It wasn't long before Neil made a pass where it didn't look possible - but somehow made it, leaving Sleigh wondering what just happened.

Sleigh and cragg got caught up - Mark Stanley went through for another bash at leading the race.

Mark Stanley promptly panicked and flipped - in the space of 5 seconds Cragg had made two positions and back into the lead. With a clear track in front Neil made no more errors and quickly stretched out a nice lead over Phil Sleigh - with a big gap back to the rest, who were similarly swapping positions like they were going out of style. Cragg took the win and with it the meeting.

Mark Stanley rolls for a second time	On the edge of control - Cragg took the win

A Final Leg 2

Mark Stanley rolls for a second time

A final leg 3
We were all gabbering away about Manolis coming to the Euros and suddenly there was only 1 minute of the third leg of the A final left - oops! Luckily our chum James Helliwell had taken a video and we still managed to get off a couple of snaps. Most importantly though, it was boring - Neil Cragg was chased hard by Mark Stanley but even he couldn't match Neils pace, and Neil managed to take the third leg of the A to complete a domination of the event - TQ and win all three legs.

A Final Leg 3

Neil Cragg went all superior-robot-being on us - giving the sort of performance he was world-renown for a couple of years back. He might not be a current national champion where it matter (just kidding!), but does have the 8th buggy title and proved today that he's still got it with the electrics. When Neil's at his best, he's in a class of his own.

Overall results - A Final

Neil Cragg gave Team Associated their first 2WD win of the 2009 BRCA National series - putting a damper on the dominance that XFactory have enjoyed thus far.

Southport is famous for its nights out - great stuff!

Sunday July 19th 2009 - Southport - BRCA 4wd National Championship Series - Round 4

Sunday morning meant the start of the 4WD cars and the high winds from the previous two days had disappeared (the tent was still on the ground) which we took as a sign that maybe the weather would turn nice..... no chance! The rain came out mid-way through the first round of practice.

The rain carried on all the way through both practice rounds and only about half of the drivers were brave/stupid enough to test their cars in the moist conditions.

Southport track drains quite well and there wasn't ever really any standing water on the racing line - but some areas of the track were slippery and without the correct tyres, Ballistic Green Spikes - it was hard to just get round in one piece. Sadly the Ballistic Greens had quickly sold out and none were available anywhere by the time racing started.

.....Lots of juice out on the track during practice

	GOSSIP from chief timekeeper Stuart Whyman is that Danny McGee took TQ in one round of qualifying yesterday yet didn't make the A Final. This is reported to be a rare occurence and Stuart was trying to think whether anyone else had done this since Richmond Rogers at Marston. Andrew Jones stated that Paul 'Robbo' Robinson did something similar once, but it might have been at the end of season finals, but all the same Robbo is into a bit of easter morning madness and he pulled last night. UPDATE: Following some more in depth research Stuart was able to provide a list of members already in the exclusive club: Neil Cragg achieved this status at Stotfold in 2007, Paul Bradby and Ellis Stafford are confirmed members, and Kevin Lee joined the club at the last Holbeach national.

Paul Worsley delivered the usual goods during drivers briefing, but started the extra meaty session with his moist weather predictions, stating that as usual if the weather became so poor that racing couldn't continue, it would be the finals that would be dropped rather than qualifying, and overall results would go by qualifying scores. He mentioned that drivers choose to enter the competition at their own risk, and that safety must come first.

119 drivers braved the rain for drivers briefing, following the posting of a notice on the rostrum stating that drivers briefing is mandatory and that qualifying will not commence until everyone has attended - who really wants to be the person who delays the start of qualifying?!

Stu's hairline recedes faster than his car drives.

Drivers briefing - it was moist.

By the time qualifying started the rain had settled down but the track remained juicy. A couple of short rain showers kept it interesting in round one though. Lee Martin put in a fast time, today clearly his car wasn't tooo fast for the damp conditions. Lee took the win in round one just ahead of Neil Cragg - both guys driving the Associated B44. Phil Sleigh took third with the XFactory X5.

Round 1 Qualifying - Southport

Lee Martin edged closer to 13 laps with a slightly dryer track - but local hero Colin May gave everyone a fright with his stunning run to place second in round. Richard Lowe put the vintage JConcepts BJ4we in third.

Round 2 Qualifying - Southport

Richard Taylor - sponsored by DOGmilk

Adam 'Durango' Skelding

Just guys hangin out

After a poor start to the day involving broken cells and rear ends, Tricky Taylor saved his comeback for round 3, where he stormed around in style, taking 3rd in round behind top spot usual suspects Lee and Neil.

Lee Martin managed another round win to confirm overall TQ but team mate Neil Cragg was a mere 5/100ths of a second behind to take second in round. Another solid run from Colin May should see him in the A final.

Round 3 Qualifying - Southport

As the track continued to dry throughout the day, the times being pumped out by the top lads had improved by a full lap. Neil Cragg took the final round of qualifying to go second overall. Richard Lowe took second in round to place third overall.

Round 4 Qualifying - Southport

Adam Skelding is the main man in the UK at Team Durango - well, he's the team manager among other things, so we caught up with him to see what the score is with the new DEX410 buggy that was at its first UK National meeting.. You've recently left HPI where you were a designer, to join Team Durango UK - can you tell us more about this, what does your job involve? Basically working with Durango I'll be on the design team and doing a lot of testing for the new platform that will be coming out from durango, there will of course be a 2wd car and we're also working on an 8th scale car - we'll be looking at all racing classes. Team Durango UK seem to be quite heavily involved, not just a distributor - with a designer like yourself joining up, will you be contributing anything using your design skills? Yeah basically as part of the design team, all the guys have their own input into the cars. I've already picked up a few things on the DEX410 which are being sorted out. Really it's almost bug fixing, going from prototype to production there're always going to be slight changes in the materials. I've been helping out with the manual too. Mainly because I've come into the project quite late it's a fresh set of eyes on the car. The only two recent competition cars with an alloy chassis I can think of are the Durango DEX410 - and the Hot Bodies D2, which coincidentally you designed. Just a coincidence or an alloy-chassis conspiracy? I'd like to say conspiracy but probably just a coincidence. Maybe Gerd copied my ideas. I think alloy chassis are always going to be the way forward. They are fairly cheap to make, and a good consistency between chassis' for everyoone who buys one.

The Durango DEX410 seems idealy suited to UK conditions - poor weather just gets brushed off this car - literally!

Is anyone else in the UK currently racing the DEX410 or 'signed up' to run one in the near future?
No, we're still looking for team drivers, we've had a lot of applications through the website. This is the only DEX410 in the UK at the moment, a few people have had a go with it but I cant tell you who they are. It's hard work getting someone to commit half way through the year. We'll be looking at getting some club guys running the cars through shops, very few team drives will be direct through durango. so if people are intrerested go and badger the local hobby shop.

We heard Mr.Skelding cried after seeing what the harsh Southport track did to his chassis - but a couple of scratches won't slow him down.

What are the plans for a team over here? A lot of manufacturers have released a lot of nice cars in the past and failed to support them or promote them - what are you going to be doing to support the DEX410?
Hopefully we're going to have a couple of local/regional guys in each region, and through those they'll be looking after the guys who are supported through shops. We're looking for well known, good approachable drivers, no arseholes. Female drivers are welcome too if she's good enough.

How does the organisational structure differ from your previous employer to team Durango?
Because it's a smaller company, everyone does a lot more multi tasking, more than one skill is very handy. There is probably less paperwork and we can make quick decisions, it's like a close family rather than a big family.

What are your aims and expectations for the car in its first year debuting in the UK as a full on competition model?
obviouslty i would like to see it make an A final but Ii dont know whose hands in, if it was in mine that would be a miracle. I want to make sure that the customers who have already sagined up to the car are happy with it, and to get some good results straight out of the box.

Will the car be driven at the Euros next month, and which team drivers are you expecting to be competing in the event?
Martin achter from germany will be driving, and ebi beck from germany will be at the euros. I am hoping to maybe get a reserve place, i'd like to go along.

i'd like to say thank you to oople because it's been well received on the forum, lots of positive feedback and everyone has been really impressed, it's been good advertising.

A final leg 1
Lee Martin lead them off in leg one of the A main and around the first couple of corners things looked pretty much how they'd lined up. Cragg went a touch wide in the number two spot and Richard Tricky Taylor shot up on the inside only for Cragg to bloody his nose - Tricky went up on two wheels but recovered as Richard Lowe closed up to make it a foursome up front.

Cragg slams the door on Tricky.	Tricky chooses to get out of shape on his own.

Tricky (right) got way out of shape coming up to the mid-track tabletop jump but just managed to hold it together as the front four broke away a little from the rest. Lee Martin, Cragg, Taylor and Lowe. Cragg was right up on Lee Martin in lap two - but Tricky was likewise looking for a way past Cragg as Richar Lowe back in fourth was biding his time. As the cars came onto the straight to start lap number three Tricky got alongside Neil but the pair collided - popping off a turnbuckle from Trickys XX4 as Neil spun around. Lowe went through for second as Neil managed to cling onto third. Ellis Stafford slammed into a limping Tricky, shunting him into the waiting arms of Losi team mate Danny McGee for a hasty repair job - Ellis didn't care as he was up to third despite the impact. This was only lap three!

Cragg and Tricky tangle - the crowd was very excited	....Tricky limps along with one wheel hanging as Lowe leads Cragg on the chase for Lee Martin.

Tricky gets more abuse - breaking the rear of his XX4 chassis as Ellis slams into him like a kick from a wild pony - on CRACK!	Lee Martin takes the corner at the end of the straight - waving at bits of Trickys XX4 as he goes by.

Lee Martin started to pull a few seconds lead over Richard Lowe back in second. Neil Cragg looked for a way past but made contact - Lowe got back on track but the fight for second was allowing Lee to pull ever further in front.

The next few laps were a little boring as the front three spread themselves out a little - Cragg started to close in rapidly on Lowe with a minute to go however and the race for second was back on. The pair came onto the straight almost together and Cragg had to back off as the pair came around the corner at the end of the straight, almost losing it in the process. As the last lap was announced Cragg took his best shot and pulled a brilliant move to go past Lowe on the inside before the tabletop - Lowe replied by jumping long and re-taking the position. The pair clashed wheels but Lowe was through and a roll from Neil on the last corner didn't change anything.

Lowe (left) jumps long to regain the lead as Cragg (right) noses down early.

Cragg and Lowe compare tyres - Lowe faces up and says 'you were never World Champion in 4WD - HAVE IT'.	Lowe comes around to take second in the leg - Hero to many, legend to one and all.

Richard Lowe didn't win the Leg, but he fought back Cragg for an impressive 2nd.

	A Final Leg 1
	position qualified name result 1 1 Lee Martin 12/ 304.00 2 3 Richard Lowe 12/ 308.09 3 2 Neil Cragg 12/ 310.31 4 9 Ellis Stafford 12/ 313.52 5 8 Kevin Lee 12/ 315.06 6 5 Colin May 12/ 316.21 7 10 Tom Yardy 12/ 317.56 8 7 Paul Bradby 12/ 320.91 9 6 Phil Sleigh 5/ 150.08 10 4 Richard Taylor 3/ 118.92

Never a good idea to hit the race director in the leg before the start of your final - especially after being told the straight is a go-slow area. OOPS!

Colin May made his National A final debut at Southport - well done!

A final leg 2
Clean start from pole man Lee Martin with Neil Cragg following close behind, keeping hot on Lees gearbox following nice and tidy around the first lap. The top three continued to race close and clean for the following few laps - Martin, Cragg and Lowe. one and a half minutes into the race Lee made a mistake coming over the back section and rode the grass, followed by Cragg, seeing the Trishbits-powered-JConcepts warrior machine that is Richard Lowes make its move into the top spot, Lee wasn't going to take any more madness though and slipped straight back onto the track with Cragg still sniffing his rear end for a way through. Ellis Stafford was now in 4th place and hot on the tails of the top 3. Tom Yardy had pulled some super moves from the back of the pack to sneak his yokomo through into 5th place and was nudging hard to catch the top 4 who were all racing pretty close.

The race begins!	Cragg put early pressure on Lee for the lead

Lee Martin and Neil Cragg go for some real off-roading and Lowe sees his chance!

Lowe and Lee Martin go shoulder to shoulder	Lee can't possibly jump through Lowe - NO!

Richard Lowe kept his cool and was starting to pull away from the chasing pack, when in a freak incident in the EXACT spot where he pulled his move to take the lead, his super machine sausage rolled on the corner and he watched on teary eyed as Martin, Cragg and Ellis slipped past. The chase was once again on between 1st place Lee Martin and 2nd place Cragg, Lee tickled his door open as Cragg looked for a way through, but instantly it was slammed shut in Craggs face. Meanwhile returning superstar Richard Taylor was causing chaos and debauchery at the back of the pack, resulting in a drivers warning for bad behaviour. Naughty. As 4th place Ellis heard that the referees were both watching the rear end, he seized the opportunity to make his move on the top two, slamming the cards down and pushing for some sort of mistake to be made. These guys were having no nonsense though, and the pressure was momentarily relieved when Ellis went for a bacon roll around the back section, but thanks to some rapid marshalling he didn't lose any places.

Cragg surfs the Ellis Stafford wave	Ellis and Cragg go NUTS as they battle it out

The top two kept up the close racing with some intimate moments, these guys show us what it's all about. Neil made some impressive moves to try and get through, but Lee was keeping his back door well and truly shut, this is what the racing is all about.
Neils clammy thumbs started to feel the pressure with less than a minute to race, and coming onto the straight he went for a flip, Ellis tried to make his move but Neil was straight back onto his wheels and hurtled down the straight at full pelt, Ellis had a new confidence about him however and pulled an awesome move on Neil on the back corner, which was swiftly followed by Neil slamming his thumbs down to show Ellis who's the daddy coming around the infamous back section. Some chaos ensued and Ellis didn't like to be shown up in front of his kids, so slipped through into 2nd place, but Neil hit the kerb trying to race past him and flipped onto his lid, unfortunately losing two places just seconds before the finish tone sounded. Big shame after an amazing display of skill throughout the exciting race.

Last lap effort by Cragg didn't pay off	Lee came through for the win - and his first National of 2009

	A Final Leg 2
	position qualified name result 1 1 Lee Martin 12/ 309.52 2 9 Ellis Stafford 12/ 309.98 3 10 Tom Yardy 12/ 312.46 4 2 Neil Cragg 12/ 312.83 5 5 Colin May 12/ 318.94 6 3 Richard Lowe 12/ 319.19 7 7 Paul Bradby 12/ 320.93 8 6 Phil Sleigh 11/ 307.26 9 4 Richard Taylor 11/ 311.25 10 8 Kevin Lee 11/ 326.73

Our Belgian choco-friends came to Southport in their exploration vehicle!

A final leg 3
Lee Martin lead Cragg and Richard Lowe around the first couple of laps - Lowe in third was challenged by Phil Sleigh with the XFactory for a short time until he rolled and Tom Yardy (from 10th on the grid!) moved up to fourth and looked for a way past Lowe.

Coming onto the tricky back section Neil Cragg rolled whilst in second - allowing Lowe to slip through for second but managing to keep third. Lowe dropped off the pace slightly and allowed Cragg to close right up as Lee Martin again extended his lead.

Richard Lowe got it wrong coming into the back section - recovering he then hit the apex and Cragg had nowhere really to go. Cragg collected Lowe and the pair spun around - allowing Tom Yardy up to second as they danced the merry dance. Lowe was quick to regain the position on Cragg and things stayed the same for the remainder of the race - with Lee Martin way out front for the win, Tom Yardy a remarkable second and Richard Lowe a stellar third.

Gansta signs big- up the #2 overall position for LOWE	Lowe holding off Cragg - just

	A Final Leg 3
	position qualified name result 1 1 Lee Martin 12/ 304.11 2 10 Tom Yardy 12/ 311.73 3 3 Richard Lowe 12/ 312.05 4 2 Neil Cragg 12/ 312.20 5 8 Kevin Lee 12/ 313.38 6 9 Ellis Stafford 11/ 301.56 7 7 Paul Bradby 11/ 302.01 8 6 Phil Sleigh 11/ 303.52 9 5 Colin May 1/ 52.87 10 4 Richard Taylor 1/ 103.19*

Overall results - A Final

Lee used the Associated B44 to TQ and win at Southport - the same car he won last years championship with ofcourse. With the introduction of LiPo Lee has also added the rudebits.co.uk brass lipo tray and straps to balance the car better.

Lee's car had a few modifications to cope with the extreme weather earlier in the day. The ESC can't be sealed up but Lee made a spash guard from polycarbonate and some of the wiring is sealed with clear silicone sealant.

Lee has always used 27mhz for reliability instead of modern fangled 2.4ghz stuff. Lee sealed his KO receiver with more sealant to keep the juice out.

PHOTOS

2WD video - James Helliwell

4WD video - James Helliwell