The penultimate round of the 2009 BRCA 10th off road championship was held at the 100% astroturf Stotfold track.

Drivers briefing was a sparsely attended affair - many drivers unable to negotiate the maze of tents and cars crammed together behind. It was announced that - for the first time - only one number (on the front of the car) would be used since they'd mysteriously run out! Paul discussed the normal Li-Po situation with overcharging, and other stuff.

In a break from tradition Charlie dropped a massive bomb-shell, explaining that entry forms for the EOS finals are available from the BRCA web-site, and MUST be used by entrants booking in with their drivers rep.

Danny McGee took round one of qualifying running the mid-motor Atomic Carbon CR2 conversion for the Losi XXXCR - setting a quick 13 laps in 315.00 - over a second ahead of his nearest rival, Tom Yardy with 13 laps in 316.15. Lee Martin looked like he might steal it, running in the top heat - but finished half a second behind Tom to take third.

Round 1 Qualifying

Danny McGee improved his round one winning time by two and a half seconds in round two - but it wasn't enough and Kev Lee went better with 13 laps in 311.01 - Lee Martin was ON FIRE however and set a blisteringly quick time with 13 in 307.80 to take the round.

Novak TEAM driver, Dan Greenwood was extolling the virtues of the new Novak motors that powered him to an extraordinary 9th in round one. He LOVES them. He also said the new XFactory 4WD is a long - long way off.

Lee Martin has so many sponsors he hardly has a paint scheme any more!

Round 2 Qualifying

Southern warrior Trish of Trishbits superstardom was TQing round one after heat two, however this was soon snatched cruelly out of his hands when the fast lads took control of the track. Still, he had his moment of fame.

Anderson bike goes for a bit of off roading

Nathan Ralls studies something

Danny McGee took round three to go provisional TQ with the Atomic CR2 mid-motor warrior machine - again improving the best time by just over a second, whilst Lee Martin languised half a second behind in second. Grant 'gaw blimey mate' Williams came in third.

Round 3 Qualifying

I won't lie - my back was badgered and I couldn't even walk at this point so went for a nap in the tent with a heat pack and some pain killers. Thankfully it felt better after that but we still missed all the gossip from round four - but Ellis Stafford took the round just ahead of Lee Martin with Grant Williams third.

Round 4 Qualifying

OVERALL Qualifying - After 4 rounds     position name 1 Danny Mcgee 2 Lee Martin 3 Tom Yardy 4 Grant Williams 5 Ellis Stafford 6 Kevin Lee 7 Phil Sleigh 8 Simon Reeves 9 Neil Cragg 10 Andy Griffiths

Ellis had a hard time in qualifying, starting off well with a 6th in round one, but struggling through rounds 2 and 3 with a 39th and a 13th respectively. An impressive performance in round 4 however secured Ellis 5th on the grid in the A final.

Three mid-motor Losi-based cars made the A final - together with the XFactory cars this made 6 mid-motor cars in the top 10!

Bad Doggy

Good Doggy.

The ORIGNAL Mid-Motor LOSI
Simon Reeves also made the A final at Stotfold - running with the 'original mid motor Losi' - developed by Ellis Stafford with Chris Doughty, the car was never really seen running in public at the time, but we heard it made its way over to the USA where Travis Amezcua tested it whilst he still ran for the Losi team - and rumour has it he was faster than with the standard car by the end of the day, rumours eh!

The car was FAST back in the day - but due to political reasons was never seen in public. The recent appearance of the Atomic CR2 which was heavily influenced by this car meant that the opposition to it finally hitting the race track has subsided.

The car uses a modified XXXCR gearbox and twin deck carbon fibre chassis arrangement.

Simon built up the car using his own XXXCR and Ellis Staffords custom chassis parts.

Light rain showers had plagued qualifying all day but literally a couple of minutes after the last leg of the A final the ominous dark clouds dumped their watery load and all activity ceased.

A Final Leg 1 - 2wd

Pole man Danny McGee lead the pack cleanly around the track for the first couple of laps, but coming onto the straight to start lap 3 Danny performed a roly-poly, landing neatly on his wheels but not in time to stop Lee Martin slipping through into the lead. Danny held on to 2nd place but chaos ensued behind the pair as Ellis suffered a blow out to the power of which his wheel flew off, seeing an early end to his race.

The battle was now on for 2nd place, as Yardy slammed the hammer down on Danny and sniffed desperately at his rear, waiting for a window of opportunity to pass the pole man.

Griff chases Cragg! WOW	Griff had a mishap

Yardy wasn't to be kept waiting long, as entering the wall of death he slipped in alongside Danny, but his 2nd place spot didn't last long as Danny floored his accelerator and threw some sand in Yardys face, snarling 'here, eat it'.
Danny was closing in fast on leader Lee, and an egg roll from Lee around the back section saw Danny close the gap furthermore, preparing to make his move for the lead. Danny shattered this opportinity coming through the middle section, where he binned it in the bomb-hole, giving Lee some breathing space and once again seeing Yardy make a move towards Dannys rear, followed closely by Phil sleigh.

Ellis waits for the marshall to tickle his soft underbelly - 3 wheels aint gonna help though.	Cragg loses a wheel also - it's bloody chaos!!!

Danny closes in on Lee	And closer still!

Another mistake from Danny McGee coming through the middle section saw him lose 3 places, as Yardy, Sleigh and Reeves slid through effortlessly, 3 seconds behind leader Lee Martin.
Yardys 2nd place stint again didn't last long, as an error coming onto the back section involving his car facing the wrong way, gave way to Sleigh and Reeves moving up to 2nd and 3rd. A flip from Reeves allowed space for Danny to pass as he started his climb back towards the top. Local hero Kev Lee, previous years Stotfold national winner started pulling some tricks at this point, shouting 'hey up, it's about time you gave me a mention too', and started battling with Danny McGee for 3rd place. With 1min 30 sec left to go, Lee Martin held onto the top spot, Sleigh in 2nd, McGee in 3rd. Lee continued to hold the lead through to the end of the race, with minimal pressure on his rear. Sleigh kept it smooth to take 2nd place, with a battling Yardy and McGee in the midfield.

Danny goes over	Kevin Lee pushed Danny hard.
Lee Martin took leg one in style

2wd - A Final Leg 1

A Final Leg 2 - 2wd

Danny kept it clean from the start with a keen Lee Martin hot on his tail; coming round to the end of the first lap Yardy and Ellis had an altercation on the wall of death, allowing some breathing space for Lee Martin to put the hammer down on Danny. With 4 minutes to go the race order was McGee, Martin, Yardy, Kevin Lee, Stafford.

Danny McGee lead Lee Martin around

Lee looks for a way past his mid-motor rival	Lee loses it

The tense race continued with McGee leading Lee Martin around the track, but keeping his back door tightly shut. A random flip from Lee two minutes into the race relieved some of the pressure from Dannys rear.
With Lee Martin down a few places the battle was now on between Kev Lee in 2nd place and Ellis Stafford who was keen to show what he's made of. Ellis was racing very close to Kevin, piling on the pressure eager to see a mistake, Ellis' car was clearly very fast as he made every effort to over-jump or swing around the side of a well composed Kevin. Ellis' eagerness wasn't to pay off however, as an attempt to pass Kevin coming through the wall of death saw Ellis sent off-line, giving Kev the all clear to hold onto 2nd place, and promoting Lee Martin to 3rd. The three cars continued to race very closely whilst Danny sailed off ahead (not literally sailing, the track was quite dry at this stage).

Lee Martin and Kev Lee tangle - Ellis and Reeves go through for 2nd and 3rd respectively	Simon Reeves mid-motor losi car

Coming through the S-section with just over a minute to race, Lee Martin and Kevin Lee became entangled on the kerb, and despite some quick marshalling they watched on in distress as a keen Ellis Stafford led Simon Reeves through to take up 2nd and 3rd place.
This was all the opportunity that Ellis needed, and he was soon slamming down his thumbs and gaining rapidly on Danny. Quivering in his boots, the so-far steady leader now had to hold off his southern neighbour for the final two laps of the race. Ellis put up a good chase but Danny was having none of it, and slammed his back door shut in Ellis' face, just in time to see Ellis flip over the middle section. Despite pushing hard, Ellis couldn't catch 1st place Danny but managed to hold onto 2nd place. Simon Reeves came through to take 3rd from 8th on the grid, good skillz.

Danny fought off a late challenge from Ellis	Danny McGee says a little prayer of thanks

2wd - A Final Leg 2

A Final Leg 3 - 2wd

TQ man Danny McGee wasn't messing about for leg 3 of the 2wd A final; he slammed the cards down on the table and yelled 'this one's mine', before jamming on full throttle and racing off into the distance.
Lee Martins crumpet flipped and landed buttery side down on the first corner, followed by further chaos and fondlings coming over the back corner, causing distraction for the mashalls. The top four instantly pulled away from the chaos behind them; McGee in 1st place followed by Tom Yardy, Grant williams and Ellis Stafford, inhaling deeply at Grants gearbox. Ellis tried to pull a fast one coming over the jumps in the middle section, but Grant threw a steaming slice of chicken and leek pie back in his face and hollered 'ave it' before cruising off towards the leaders.

Bad start for Lee Martin as he slides out	FIGHT!! oooof

Ellis wasn't to be held back for long however, and a wheelie from Grant at the end of the straight gave Ellis the window he needed to make a pass. Piespeed powered Grant wasn't far back though, and kept his nose close to Ellis' tail, as 1st place Danny and 2nd place Yardy pulled away from the courting pair.
Tiring of this dance, Ellis handbrake turned onto the straight and instantly made a pass at Yardy, scoring and passing the young hero on the straight, and rapidly moved forth to give leader Danny a run for his money.
Ellis threatened Danny a couple of times but lost momentum coming up towards the wall of death, and on the following lap performed a rather impressive somersault over the back section, however trickery aside this would lose him valuable time in the battle for lead, and saw super-Yardy reclaim 2nd place, a previously quiet Phil-sly-Sleigh move up to 3rd place,
I couldn't figure out what else was going on at this point, because some sort of low flying aircraft passed overhead, and Tony Truman was going off his puppies on dogmilk and the tannoy didn't carry the sound very well to the camera. needless to say it was pretty exciting, and once the plane had passed the reporting could resume.

Danny leads the pack	Grant and Ellis wrestle

Danny resisted some early pressure from Ellis	More chaos

Like an act of wizadry and magic occuring, suddenly Sleigh held the 2nd place spot, whilst Danny continued to march ahead, edging towards victory. The racing remained close and exciting, with sleigh skillfully leading a keen pack around the track, followed by Neil Cragg who had battled his way up from 9th on the grid. The former world champeen was patiently waiting on Sleighs tail, looking for an opportunity to pass, when all of a sudden he sniffed the kerb a bit too closely, and proceeded to lose most of his well earned places.
Pie Warrior Grant williams now took hold of the 3rd place, followed very closely by Ellis Stafford, who attempted a rather impressive pass whilst mounting the track marker. This particular move wasn't to work in Ellis' favour however as he took a rather rough landing back onto the track. Ellis' determination showed though, as yet another over-jumping attempt occured, and failed, over the middle section. Top marks for effort though.
The pressure was starting to mount up on Grant though, and just over 4 minutes into the race he cracked, and flipped on the back section, almost inevitably catching the chasing Ellis on his rear end, allowing Yardy and Reevsey through to take 2nd and 3rd place.
Grant wasn't to be held back though, and he powered through past Reeves and commenced his descent on Yardys rear end, although came too close and was once again entangled through the back section, an error which gave way to the chasing Reevesy, and to be honest which was followed by so much further chaos and debauchery that I couldn't really make out who was doing what.

2wd - A Final Leg 3

Overall results - A Final

With his two leg wins - Danny McGee took his first National of the season. With 6 of the top ten cars using some sort of mid-motor layout, it's pretty clear that this formula is working and becoming more and more dominant - 4 of the 5 nationals thus far have been won by cars with this layout. Atomic Carbon took their first national victory with the CR2 - a massive achievement for such a small brand which will surely see a few XXXCR's being bought in the coming weeks.

With just one round of the championship left to run, only two drivers can possibly win the 2WD championship - Phil Sleigh leads the points whilst reigning 2WD champion and team mate of Phil, Ellis Stafford is within striking distance.

Sunday August 2nd 2009 - 4WD

Despite the moist conditions from the previous evening, Sunday started out with blue skies, white fluffy clouds and a touch of sunshine. Drivers briefing was delivered promptly and Paul Worsley even gave oOple a special mention - requesting that forum-posters don't complain about the 'fussy neighbours' asking for the noise to be kept down, this is the crunchyside afterall.

Charlie Fraser had been sent around the pits, yelling at all the drivers to attend drivers briefing, after concerns voiced by residents of the neighbouring village, 2 miles away, had resulted in alterations to the tannoy system in the pitting area. This was the best attended drivers briefing we have ever witnessed - ever.

Danny started out the day as he meant to go on, having previously been heard to say 'I'd like to do at least as well in 4wd as I did in 2wd' - nothing like setting your standards high, Danny TQ'd round one over 2 seconds ahead of rival Neil Cragg.

	Round 1 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Danny McGee 13/ 303.13 2 Neil Cragg 13/ 305.55 3 Lee Martin 13/ 306.37 4 Kevin Lee 13/ 307.84 5 Johnathan Palmer 13/ 308.16 6 Matt Benfield 13/ 308.64 7 Simon Reeves 13/ 309.86 8 Nathan Ralls 13/ 311.04 9 Nathan Waters 13/ 311.80 10 Tom Yardy 13/ 312.31

Ellis Stafford made an early exit - melted spur!

With the track drying up nicely in the intermittent sun, round two saw Grant Williams on top early on with the first 14 lap run of the meeting, but his time was eclipsed by Lee Martin running in the following heat. In the top heat Kevin Lee was on fire and put in the fastest lap of the meeting to that point - an error saw Tom Cockerill take the lead just outside of Lee Martins time. Kev managed to claw his way back to the top spot and take the round with his Team Xtreme predator X11 '08. Tom Cockerill - who'd had a nightmare in round one when his wheel flew off, came in second with his XFactory car and Lee Martin had to settle for third.
Ellis Stafford had another stripped spur gear in his XFactory car - meaning he had everything to do in rounds three and four to have any chance of making the A.

Quick track repairs halted racing mid-round	Danny McGee tried a new line - it didn't work.

	Round 2 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Kevin Lee 14/ 319.94 2 Tom Cockerill 14/ 320.03 3 Lee Martin 14/ 322.20 4 Grant Williams 14/ 323.68 5 Johnathan Palmer 13/ 300.51 6 Nathan Ralls 13/ 302.24 7 Paul Bradby 13/ 302.80 8 Simon Reeves 13/ 303.59 9 Tom Yardy 13/ 303.83 10 Andrew Jones 13/ 304.17

Water-damaged lenses make for good effects	Brian Predds has new colours!

3 Time Euros A finalist Tom Cockerill went #1 in round three	Kev Lee going strong

Kevin Lee was again fastest on the track in round three but it was XFactorys Tom Cockerill who with newly tightened wheels, took the top spot with a blisteringly fast 14 laps in 318.97 - putting him TQ overall after three rounds of qualifying! Lee Martin was just a second behind on 319 with Grant Williams a couple of seconds further back in third place. The top six drivers in round all managed 14 laps.

Round 3 Qualifying

Kev Lee finally showed what he could really do and took the final round by four seconds from reigning champ Lee Martin.

Round 4 Qualifying

A FINAL LEG ONE
Kev Lee lead them round the first lap in qualifying order, stretching out a little gap over Cockerill who likewise had a small gap on Lee Martin. As Kev came over the small corner-double at the top left hand side of the track he tumbled and ended up facing the wrong way. He just managed to get underway and keep his lead but as he slowed for the next corner Tom touched - utter chaos ensued and Kev made an error, which collected both Tom and Lee Martin. Somewhere in the debauchery Lee Martin escaped and took the lead with Tom Cockerill hot on his tail with poor Kev Lee feeling violated - well down the order.

Kev leads them around the first corner	Kev slams into the face of the second double

Kev clips a corner and Tom looks for a way through	All three cars make contact as Lee Martin and Tom Cockerill dance off holding hands.

Lee Martin lead now but Tom Cockerill wasn't done and couldn't be shaken by the 2007&2008 Champeen. Grant Williams meanwhile was working his way through the field to close in on Tom. Coming to the corner where Kev went out of the lead on lap two, Lee slowed up and Tom was on top of him like a..... like a...... something thats on top of you that you'd rather not be there type of thing... I digress, Grant Williams made the most of the situation and thrust his Schumacher CAT through the inside past the mating cars to take the lead.

Tom closes in on Lee	The two tangle and the Schumacher of Grant Williams goes through

Grant lead Lee and Tom around as the three seperatred themselves from the chasing pack. Tom was first to succumb to the intensity of it all - getting the big table-top jump wrong and dropping back from the leaders. Grant lead with Lee unable to close the gap but a mistake saw him rejoin the track slowly which allowed Lee an unasailable lead.

Grant chased Lee to the line but couldn't quite catch him in time - Kevin Lee put in some solid laps and great passes to get back to third after such a bad start.

Tom closes in on Lee	The two tangle and the Schumacher of Grant Williams goes through

4wd - A Final Leg 1

Joe Cockill waits eagerly to catch an out-of-control car

oOple's own Stu Evans dominated his final

A FINAL LEG TWO
Kev Lee lead with Tom Cockerill right behind - these two had a small gap on Lee Martin who had his own hands full with the mighty Grant Williams pressuring him from behind. Kev came up to the slow unduating corners before the start of another lap and Tom ran straight over the top of him - no positions changed hands but Lee Martin was right on the bumper of Tom as they went down the straight.

Drag Race!!!!	Tom Cockerill leading

Cragg goes for the jump as Kev and Grant collide

Grant Williams made a move on Lee and almost had Tom as well - but as Tom closed the door Grant went for an impromptu roly-poly but recovered well and kept up the pressure. Kevin Lee was out front but made an error over the big table-top and Tom Cockerill sailed past for the lead as he rejoined in time to salvage 2nd place. It was Tom Cockerill, Kevin Lee and Grant Williams, followed by Neil Cragg.

Grant made a move to pass Kev Lee for second but the pair collided and Neil Cragg was quick to capitalise and take the number two spot for himself with Lee Martin in third. Tom looked confident out front and received encouragement from his many 'Tomette' fans, (and some sheep) but even this didn't keep his mind on the job in hand - Tom binned it over the big tabletop and dropped down the order as there was yet another lead change with Cragg taking the reigns.

With just a couple of laps to go, Grant Williams put on a charge to pass Cragg - closing to within a cars length leading up to the table-top - the pair went over together but Grant had the inside and hammer-punched into the side of Cragg as he tried to turn - I believe you call it a 'block pass' - Grant Williams was through but despite Craggs bloody nose it didn't last long as the positions again reversed and thats how it finished. Neil Cragg first, Grant Williams followed by Lee Martin.

4wd - A Final Leg 2

A Final Leg 3

Kev Lee made a rapid move away from the start, leaving behind some chaos which left Tom Cockerill and Lee Martin shifted down the pile, and Neil Cragg up to 2nd place. With Kev Lee holding a firm lead and Neil Cragg chasing hard, the race was on between Reeves and Williams for 3rd place, racing neck and neck.
An error from Neil Cragg mounting the track marker coming onto the straight saw the pair promoted to 2nd and 3rd place, with Williams pushing Reeves hard looking for a way through.

Jonathan Palmer	Cragg tries to escape the clutches of Grant Williams

Around 5 laps into the race, a medical emergency caused by overindulging in spicy goodness the previous evening resulted in a hasty exit from the rostrum for Bradby, who had actually worked his way up to 5th place on the first lap, bit of a shame that. Better luck next time eh.

Grant bacon rolled his piespeed powered Schumacher CAT coming up to the wall of death, a mistake which saw an eager Neil Cragg take up the 3rd spot.

Having had an unfortunate start to the race, Lee Martin eventually made his way back to 3rd place for the final few laps, behind a steady Cragg in 2nd place, and speedy Tekin-powered Kev Lee in the top spot - the only car to make it through to 14 laps in this race, but unfortunately for the local hero this wasn't enough to secure overall victory, as AE top dog Neil Cragg took the winners trophy home from this event.

4wd - A Final Leg 3

TQ man, Kevin Lee

Kev Lee's Tekin powered Predator

Overall results - A Final

Nosram powered Associated B4 of Cragg

Neil uses Rudebits brass battery trays to hols his Reedy lipo's in place.