Saturday 8th May 2010

2wd Day - Saturday 8th May 2010.

We landed at the track at 9am on Saturday morning, having left the bright sunshine further North the grim clouds loitering dangerously over the Robin Hood Raceway were not a welcoming sight.

It was cold at Robinhood Raceway during the 2WD event - top superstar racer Ben Riley had to hack up his Spongebob cuddly toy to warm his hands during racing.

On-site reporter Mr. Stuart Evans informed us that booking in opened 'about 7am, or maybe 7.30am'. Round 2 of practice was in full swing by the time we arrived, and no sooner had we warmed up with a bacon buttie (it's like a sandwich but from the North) when drivers briefing was being announced. For this event, as a special treat (and we suspect to maximise attendance figures) the drivers briefing was delivered in the marquee - Paul Worsley was down in the mosh pit with the lads. This drivers briefing had the highest attendance figures so far this month, with at least 20 drivers present. Paul Worlsey apologised on behalf of TomGod for the poor weather conditions - much to everyones amusement, and went on to comdemn the transmitter compound that had been painstakingly erected by local hero Timmy over the previous few months, due to strong wind entering the rostrum at high velocity.

To save their expensive equipment the drivers were allowed - or in fact forced - to take their transmitters to their pitting area and be 'trusted' not to use them whilst off-track.

Racing got underway at 10am with the lowest quality (!) drivers going out first in the rain - the premium deluxe drivers would go out last in heat 12. A full race meeting saw 120 drivers - apparently this year there's more drivers than ever before wanting to race in the 10th off road national series, awesome.

Tom Cockerill ruled the day at RobinHood Raceway national back in 2009 and set about things the right way in round one of the 2010 event by storming off in heat 11 to take the win by 5 seconds over Paul Bradby despite some small errors toward the end of his run. In the final heat (12) however there were still fast drivers left to run and Lee Martin immediately took control and lead Danny McGee and Simon Moss around for the full 5 minutes - eventually going a whole 3 seconds faster than Tom had to take the round - Danny McGee bumped Tom down to third by virtue of his 2nd in round.

	Round 1 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 11/301.27 2 Danny McGee 11/303.79 3 Tom Cockerill 11/304.05 4 Simon Moss 11/305.46 5 Richard Lowe 11/309.84 6 Paul Bradby 11/309.94 7 Craig Collinson 11/310.87 8 Nathan Waters 11/311.25 9 Nathan Ralls 11/311.82 10 Tom Yardy 11/312.20

Lee Martin

Tom Cockerill

Racer Magazines Matt Benfield hooning around

Qualifying Round 2

Dave Church "The A-Final is forming... right before your eyes"

TomGodCockerill pwned the track in round two, storming around with 12 laps in a really good time, with consistently sub-27 second laps. Toms success is said to be down to his emotional sponsor and mentor Graham North, and for the first time in known history DC was speechless, muttering 'that's amazing' followed by the gentle hissing of microphone interference.

Pretty amazing for sure, but Danny McGee wasn't put off and during his epic battle with Lee Martin in the last heat he took the second 12 lapper of the day and finished just 2 seconds off Toms time.

Mediocre racer Stu Evans had his impressive new Atomic Carbon limited edition XXXCR2 buggy out for the first time and had some accompanying new Intellect lipo saddle packs with a whopping 5200mah and 45C - WOW. Unfortunately for Stu his 11 turn brushed motor couldn't cope with the cells and desoldered after one lap (32.99 seconds!), noob.

He also managed to get all the way back to the pitting marquee still wearing his hi-vis marshals vest - warrior.

Round 2 Qualifying

Nathan Ralls came over to pay homage to GOD

Big Telly action - fully legal

Tom Cocky Cockerill - living the dream

Tom wore away the thumbs on his gloves - he's FAST!

Ben Jemison about to land on Helliwells micro car

Andrew Jones upskirt shot

Qualifying round 3

Northy looks proper boss and was referred to as 'Boss' by the burger people.

Anonymous "The weather has been more windy than Stuart Evans after a night on the beer."

Tom Cockerill went quicker in round three with a new fastest of 12 in 318 - A total of 8 drivers made it through for 12 laps as they got used to the track and things dried out. Things were close up front with less than 4 seconds seperating the next 6 drivers.

	Round 3 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Tom Cockerill 12/318.55 2 Paul Bradby 12/320.50 3 Ellis Stafford 12/321.60 4 Grant Williams 12/321.77 5 Tom Yardy 12/322.79 6 Simon Moss 12/323.87 7 Lee Martin 12/324.42 8 Ben Jemison 12/326.04 9 Craig Collinson 11/300.39 10 James Helliwell 11/302.10

Qualifying Round 4.
At approximately 15:12hrs some blue sky started to appear, and by 15:32 the sun had broken through the clouds, however the windy conditions continued and despite the promising signs the good weather was not to materialise for 2wd day.

Lee Martin was the only one who could take TQ away from TC - and looked well on target for it but a 'misunderstanding' with a back marker saw Lee rolling over like a dog playing dead. Lee needed to beat Toms best time but failed due to the error in a previously storming run.

Overall Qualifying.

Leg 1 A-final 2wd.
Tom cockerill guided the A finalists away from the grid in pole position, whilst 3rd place Danny (not nanny) McGee slipped through past Lee Martin into 2nd place. The top two kept close whilst 3rd place Lee Martin pushed to catch up, the top 3 were soon pulling away from the other drivers.
The top three continued to race uneventfully for the noext couple of minutes, and with most of the grid racing in their start order it was Ellis who decided to shake things up with around 3 minutes left to go, moving past Bradders and Mossy from 6th place into 4th, and now had the top three in his sight.
Meanwhile Danny McGee made an error coming through the centre section of the track, and required marshalling, losing 2nd place to Lee Martin, this wasn't to last for long though and Ellis rolled at the end of the straight, promoting Bradders to 4th place.

Cock - McGee - Martin.

McGee puts early pressure on Cockerill	A mistake from McGee gave Cockerill breathing room.

Tom Cockerill wasn't experiencing any pressure on his rear end, and navigated the track smoothly as though he's driven at this venue previously, the battle was for second place and Danny McGee was homing in on Lee Martin. The pressure was building up and Lee took the bomb-hole on two wheels, losing some momentum and allowing Danny through into second place. Lee wasn't having any of it though and pulled a smooth move on Danny as he clipped the track marking coming over the loop.
Danny remained close to Lee, but made another mistake coming through the bomb-hole, giving Lee some breathing space to challenge TomCock for his lead in the final lap of the race.

Danny clips the inside too tight and Lee is poised	Lee rails round the outside - bully stylee.

The boys were about to embark on what would have been a very close final lap, with Lee Martin sniffing at Toms rear end, when the finish tone went and the pair finished with TomCockerill taking the first leg win, and Lee Martin in second place.

A Final Leg 1

Leg 2 A-final 2wd.

The race started with a buzzer as they normally do (not sure whether I've mentioned that before) and the top three remained in start order but pulled a small gap on the other drivers. Ellis Stafford moved straight into 4th on the first corner from 6th on the grid and started hammering down on the top 3.

Lee Martin chasing Cockerills Cougar SV	Cock - Martin - McGee

The first couple of laps were quite uneventful then Danny McGee decided to kick things off a little by making an error coming up to the loop, seeing Ellis Stafford move up to 3rd place. Mossy was close to Dannys rear end but Danny soon started to pull of and home in on the top 3. Ellis was now hot on Lee Martins tail, looking for a way through coming down the straight, but Lee kept it clean and slammed his back door shut. Tom Cockerill was happily maintaining his lead.
As the cars crossed the loop with around 2 minutes left to race, Lee Martin clipped the track markerand flipped out, catching Ellis Stafford and resulting in something od a pile-up. The Marshalls were quick to the scene, but Danny McGee was past and now in 2nd place, with Lee Martin in 3rd, and Mossy making a move past Ellis into 4th.

Lee clips the inside and 2nd/3rd/4th place are piled up allowing Cockerill some breathing room out front.	McGee leads the chase on Cockerill

Mossy was on a roll now, he jumped high and prepared to make his move past Lee Martin who was riding another track marking but the move was not a success and Mossy roly-poly'd, nearly collecting Danny McGee, and waved goodbye to his promotion as Danny maintained 2nd place, with Lee in 3rd, Bradders now up to 4th, and Ellis cruising behind in 5th.
Bradders overtook Lee coming past the rostrum into 3rd place.
Tom Cockerill by now had a 4 second lead, and was starting to lap the backmarkers. Ellis crashed out of 4th place in the centre of the track. the top 5 was now Tom Cockerill, McGee, Bradders, Lee and Moss.
The final couple of laps were relatively uneventful, Mossy made a smooth move past Lee Martin, but then proceeded to crash out coming up to the double jump. TomCock won the leg, taking with it the 2wd national win.

A Final Leg 2

Leg 3 A-final 2wd.

Clean-ish start but then TomCock, who had already won the meeting, binned it on the corner coming up to the loop, so instantly Lee Martin and Danny McGee were in 1st and 2nd place. The order at the end of the first lap was Lee, Danny, Bradders and Ellis. Danny McGee took control of 1st place when Lee bacon-rolled coming up to the straight, but Lee was soon back on his wheels and putting up a good chase.

Bradders was gutted	Cockerill takes the dubya

The pair had an altercation with a track marker and Lee nearly re-gained the top spot, but Danny wasn't having any of it and lurched forwards back into the lead. The battle continued until Danny rolled out a the end of the straight, seeing Lee Martin and Paul Bradby shoot past before he was back on his wheels.
Lee and Bradders now had a good lead on the rest of the field, and the battle was close, so close in fact that an encounter occured through the centre section of the track, both cars clipped the track marker as they turned the corner, Bradders accidentally shunted Lee who rolled onto his lid and required marshalling, which Bradders promptly called for before carefully moving out of the way.
Bradders manoevured to the end of the straight, where, ever the gentleman he went wide on a corner to allow Lee back into his position.
Bradders kept close and was looking for a legal way through back into first, but Lee had it in the bag and lead the boys around the last lap to take first place in the leg, and 2nd overall in the meeting.

A Final Leg 3

Overall A final Results.

Tom Cockerill's winning car was the new Schumacher Cougar SV, a very interesting new mid motor 2WD buggy. This being Toms home track (York Club) and combined with the practice that Schumacher have had here paid off with Toms car clearly getting on the pace early.

	Speed Passion powers Tom

Dan Greenwood was on cavity patrol - OOOF

Stop                                        Hammertime

Dave Gibson sold his beard to this collector

name the nose!

The mighty Rob Fox brought his big tent to RHR like last year - it'll also feature at the oOple race at this same venue in June for the best race of the century (possibly). Rob Fox is a hero.

Sunday May 9th - 4wd day.

The sun came out for day two and the start of the 4WD class, though temperatures were still on the low side. The track had been changed the previous evening to mix things up and include some different features.

Drivers briefing was a similar setup to yesterday, once again down with the lads in the moshpit. Worsley thanked Tom for the relatively dry weather yesterday, and hoped that todays weather would be a further improvement. Worlsey also clarified that the time on the computer used in race control is running two seconds ahead of 'standard time' and that this is checked at the start and finish of each racing day, so drivers are advised to arrive early for their race if they are in any doubt about the accuracy of their own timekeeping.

Round one saw plenty of crashes and rolls as the drivers 'explored' the limits. The previous days winner Tom Cockerill was on for a good run but a wild crash at the end of the main straight saw him into the fence and valuable seconds lost. Previous days runner up Lee Martin was on his usual form however and despite a couple of small errors went on to take the win in his heat and the fastest time of the round. Paul Bradby came in just over a second behind after an intense battle with Lee in his heat where the two constantly changed places on time.

Nathan Waters with the Durango took third in round but was a whole 6 seconds back from Bradby in second - and Tom Cockerill less than half a second further back from Nathan in 4th with his CAT SX.

Round 1 Qualifying

A short way into round two the sun sadly went away and temeratures dropped off and the wind seemed to pick up a little. This didn't stop Paul Bradby though, who stormed around the track like a warrior to take the round with 12 laps in 316.41seconds, very close to Lee Martins round 1 time but nearly 10 seconds ahead of 2nd in round Craig Collinson. Kevin Lee, Ben Jemison and James Helliwell also made 12 lap time in this round.

Round 1 winner Lee Martin made a series of schoolboy errors throughout his race in heat 12, but still managed to finish 9th in round.
2WD superstar Tom Cockerill experienced electrical gremlins towards the end of his heat, finishing just short of the full time with 10 laps in 271.27. Tom didn't look worried.

Stu Evans tussles with Graham North during drivers briefing.	Andrew Jones brought his own sort of 'ride' to RHR

Round 2 Qualifying

Round 3 Qualifying.

it was a bit colder and even tried to rain, lap times were much closer though. Paul Bradby had another great run to take provisional TQ position with Tom Yardy just over a second behind and Tom Cockerill another half a second back for third in round. Round one winner Lee Martin was still having a bit of a nightmare with traction-roll and was on his roof 50% of the race duration, fact.

Worthy mentions in this round were local farm-boy James Helliwell who piloted his tractor-esque Team Durango to fourth in round.

Round 3 Qualifying

Round 4 Qualifying.

Bradby confirmed TQ and completed a near-dominance of qualifying with his Associated B44 in round four with a new fastest time to boot. Lee Martin went quicker than he'd gone before but couldn't match Bradby but his round win and second place was enough for 2nd on the grid. James Helliwell had improved every round to finish an impressive third in round with the Team Durango DEX410.

Round 4 Qualifying

Pole Position

4wd A final - leg 1
The start buzzer sounded and local hero James Helliwell slipped straight in to 2nd place behind TQ boss Paul Bradby. Lee Martin was hot on his tail though, and a small error from James coming over the loop saw Lee take hold of 2nd place. The top two pulled away, leaving James being chased by Yardy who had moved up to 4th place on the first lap.
Two minutes into the race and Bradders was keeping it cool up at the front with a 1.9 second lead, lee Martin sailing around behind him, with James Helliwell in 3rd place. Yardy was looking eagerly for a way through. He didn't need to wait much longer though, and when James briefly clipped a track marker as the pair approached the bomb hole, Yardy was through, much to the audiable excitement of his fan club. The pair briefly latched on, an error which saw 2wd warrior Tom Cockerill move into 3rd place, followed by Yardy in 4th, Helliwell in 5th and Craig Collinson in 6th.
The gaps between 1st place Bradders, 2nd place Lee, and 3rd place Tomcock were quite comfortable, the main battle was between 4th place Yardy and 5th place Helliwell.

Lee chases down Bradby	Lee Martin having a brief 'moment' early in the race

Ellis goes over	Bradby built a nice lead over the 'pack'

Bradby was ASSURED of the win	.....But a popped out driveshaft ended his race early.

Some close racing between Tom Yardy and James Helliwell

Drama in the centre section as Bradders hit a track marker and his shaft became disenganged (this problem was to be later resolved by a reduction in the droop, shame he hadn't thought of that sooner), his car was no longer riding the track as he would have liked it to, and he had to be pulled off by a marshall.

With 1 minute 30 seconds to go Lee Martin was now in the lead by 4 seconds from TomCockerill, with Yardy and James racing closely behind. The trio raced very closely around the next couple of laps, with James looking for a way past Yardy, and as Yardy went wide coming onto the straight James though he saw his chance to slip through, but it was not to be and when Yardy came back onto the racing line the two cars knocked wheels briefly. Yardy maintained 3rd place and continued down the straight, but it was James who came off worst, he had lost his momentum and coming through the bumhole he tripped over, losing a position to Craig Collinson and then to Nathan Waters.

A Final Leg 1

4wd A final - leg 2
Bradders lead the way followed in start order by his peers. James had a stumble coming around a corner, taking it on two wheels and allowing Tom Cockerill into 3rd place. The following two minutes were really quite uneventful, with not a great deal happening., Bradders kept the lead ahead of Lee Martin, the pair racing quite closely. 3rd, 4th and 5th place kept very close.

A roll from James approaching the step-up jump before the straight saw a previosly unnoticed injury to his car exacerbated and the rear end collapsed, James was out of the race and Yardy took control of 4th position.
Bradders meanwhile was almost flying, and not quite on fire, but well ahead of 2nd place Lee Martin - 4 seconds in fact.
The main focus was on TomCock and Yardy, battling it out for third. The pair were close but an error saw Yardy on his lid at the start of the straight, whilst Tom was way off in the distance looking to home in on lee and Bradders. Yardy was down to 6th place.

Paul Bradby in full attack mode

A flip out from Lee Martin saw Tom Cockerill edge slightly closer, but with less than a minute to race there were few changes that would take place. In fact the end of the race was boring, but big propz to Bradders who won the leg very credibly after his upsetting first leg.

A Final Leg 2

Trish Neal has established himself as one of the most innovative tinkerers on the 10th off road scene with his constant developments on the cars he's run. This year with the Schumacher team Trish has been working on the CAT and Cougar buggies - developing parts and modifications all over the place to solve problems / make things better or at the very least, different.

Here are a few snaps of the details on Trish's personal CAT SX buggy.

Battery thumb screws	Centre belt roller / tensioner

Custom alloy rear hubs	Raised inner pivot on the rear - achieved by re-drilling the mounting holes higher in the bulkhead.

Brass slipper parts - Trish reckons this helps tighten the slipper when hot rather than loosen. Looks cool tho!	Trish was running Losi dampers at this time and here's the nice shock collars he sells and his long upper stand offs.

4wd A final - leg 3
The cars left the grid with a clean start at the front of the queue, and a brief encounter at the back of the field coming around the first corner. It was North VS South as straight away Pole man Paul Bradby and 2nd place Lee Martin danced off together, with farm-boy hero James Helliwell keeping it up in third place.
The two Toms were just a smidgen further back riding the field closely packed together like a jar of pickled eggs, along with some other dudes.

One lap in and Lee was sniffing at the gravy on Bradders' gearbox, looking for a way through. Lee nearly took control when Bradders tickled a corner on two wheels at the end of the first lap, but Bradders slammed the door in Lees bristly face and held onto his well-earned lead for the next half-lap. Lee kept the pressure button firmly pressed though and Bradders performed a roly-poly as he landed off the stepped-table-top. He landed his car on its wheels but not before Lee got through into the lead. Bradders kept close and pushed hard down the straight, but another error and flip on a track marker coming through the corners eased the pressure somewhat on Lees rear end, and he had soon pulled a 2 second lead.

Bradders errors it up - Lee dances on 2 wheels in the background but keeps it going.	Lee jumps for joy down the main straight

Lee clipped the edge of the track and Bradders was soon up close again, looking to make a pass. James Helliwell was keeping close in 3rd place, with 2wd-master Tom Cockerill on his tail end, and Craig Collinson back in 5th place.
Bradders was still pushing for the lead but made a small series of errors coming through the corners after the straight, nudging the track markings like a pinball machine as he misnavigated the route through.
Lee was off and now 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were racing closely. Tom Cockerill was hot on the gearbox of James Helliwell, and after hitting a patch of black ice just off the racing line, James lost his grip slightly and Tom cockerill was through to chase for the lead.

Back at the front Lee landed badly off the stepped tabletop, flashing his underside briefly and requiring some attentio from a mashal. Bradders thought he was through but like a jack-russel on an all-important visitors leg, his car mounted the marshal and this interfered slightly with him re-claiming the top spot.
Bradders wasn't giving this bad boy up without a fight though, and he was straight back up close and personal with Lee, and as the pair mounted the stepped table top Bradders gave it some big throttle and went for the mid-air manouvure. It was close but not quite close enough, Bradders landed about 1 pidgeons-width ahead of Lee, but his turbo cut-out and Lee was bezzing off as Bradders did his two-wheels trick again, he re-gained his composure with impressive speed but proceeded to briefly exit the racing-line entering the straight, and TomGod Cockerill who had gained distance throughout the previous errors was ready to make a pass.
In the nick of time Bradders turbo power kicked back in, and he managed to pull away from Tom slightly, suffice to maintain his 2nd position and pursue Lee once more.
Coming into the final lap and after 4 minutes of such excitement and suspense the crowd were going wild, Bradders was back in the familiar position to the rear of Lee, with TomCock close behind. This lap wasn't going to be lucky though, as coming over the jump in the centre-section Bradders flipped out, and the eager TomCock slipped on through. With a quick display of marshalling Bradders was back on his wheels, but he saw the win slipping away and his momentum was gone.
As Lee Martin crossed the finish line in first place, followed closely by Tom Cockerill, James Helliwell who had been cruising smoothly in 3rd / 4th place for this race went for a last minute dash over the finish line, side by side with Bradders, but had to settle for 4th. Yardy rolled in close behind in 5th, followed by Craig Collinson in 6th place.

Last ditch fight for the win - Bradby bears down on Lee	Bradders had done well but stopping the Lee Martin machine would be a hard task for anyone.

A Final Leg 3

Paul Bradby 2nd & TQ - BRCA's Paul Worsley 1st (not really - lol) - Lee Martin 1st

Overall A final Results.