The penultimate round of the 2010 BRCA 1/10th off road national series was held at Southport, North West England. The 4WD championship had already been decided at the previous round - Lee Martin the champion once again in that class. The 2WD was up first and things were still to play for in the championship.

It seems Southport always greets us with poor weather - it's not true of couse and some years the National here has been bathed in glorious sunshine. Not today sadly - the week of poor weather leading up to the race didn't suddenly disappear and after the drivers briefing racing got underway at a little past 10am to be greeted with light rain.

Southport is referred to as being a seaside town, however the sea is a few miles out from where the beach begins. The land on which Southport is built was originally owned by the Hesketh family who agreed that stuff could be built here as long as many trees were also planted. The local area therefore boasts much greenery and gardens a plenty, and is also host to the countries largest independent flower show, which fortunately for the hay-fever sufferers amongst us was not being held this weekend. When Southport was first invented in 1792 it was owned by Lancashire, but was eventually handed over to Merseyside with the intention of creating a replica of nearby Blackpool where allegedly dogpoo shaped lollies can be purchased.

Some of the top drivers in the UK were watching the racing action

The track was moist early in the round but by the end of round one things were pretty much dry despite occasional light rain.

Tom Cockerill, Lee Martin and Ellis Stafford were the main contenders for the 2WD title with two rounds of the series left to run including todays racing. Grant Williams and Danny McGee could do it too apparently, statisticly, but it would be an outside bet. Tom Cockerill was reckoning he could theoretically take the 2WD title today with a round left to go but it'd require some poor driving from the other contenders as well as maximum points for Tom - some things can't be controlled though.

Round one was close at the top, with the top three split by just over half a second - Danny McGee took the win ahead of Lee Martin and Simon Moss. Series leader Tom Cockerill was down in 7th over 4 seconds behind the leaders.

	Round 1 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Danny McGee 13/313.99 2 Lee Martin 13/314.24 3 Simon Moss 13/314.51 4 Tom Yardy 13/315.22 5 Paul Bradby 13/316.28 6 Richard Lowe 13/317.61 7 Tom Cockerill 13/318.31 8 Chris Bowater 13/318.57 9 Phil Sleigh 13/318.97 10 Ellis Stafford 13/319.74

Some drivers quite liked the wet conditions and excelled in them, so to improve their chances - some of the drivers tried various 'rain dances'. It didn't work. Kev Lee likes to show how much room there is somewhere.

	Rossendale models had this neatly machined 3-degree gold hinge pin block for the Schumacher Cougar SV - which they're hoping to start selling soon. RRP will be £19.99p, that seems like a fair price for this block of solid gold. This one is a prototype and smells a little like Kendal Mint Cake; we are not sure why.

Towards the end of round two, oOple director Jimmy took an early retirement on health grounds, and demoted himself to oOple-monkey, whilst promoting sosidge-clad Vicky oOple (that's me) to lead editor and project manager on the Southport National report. So it was time to pull all stops out, cancel the hangover, and learn to use the camera as I took to the wet grass to get some action shots of the top heats.

No special effects - this is actually the original photo.	McGee had a really good run in round 1 but looks like he wants to throw a punch after Tom Cockerill took TQ in round 2.

After playing around in photoshop I found some special effects to help disguise my photo taking abilities.

	Round 2 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Tom Cockerill 13/306.17 2 Lee Martin 13/306.31 3 Grant Williams 13/308.86 4 Chris Evison 13/309.13 5 Danny McGee 13/309.93 6 Ellis Stafford 13/312.36 7 Craig Collinson 13/312.64 8 Simon Moss 13/313.41 9 Nathan Waters 13/314.24 10 John Spencer 13/314.79

Chris Brooke negotiates the end of the straight. The track had dried up a lot throughout round two and conditions were generally a lot milder, as a result the race times were much quicker. Tom Cockerill, who would need to TQ and win this event in order to take the championship title before the series is over, put in the top time in round 2. During the higher heats of round 3, the temperatures remained mild and the track stayed dry, until seconds from the end of heat 11 when a light shower commenced. Grant Williams was putting in a storming run and took second in round; the final heat however was unaffected and most drivers were putting in their fastest times of the day. After TQing round 2, Tom Cockerill made a series of schoolboy errors in round 3 which resulted in him finishing 16th in round - definitely a score to drop for the championship hopeful. Northy, Coatsey, Steve Pierce, Stu Evans... all putting in good times to place them in or around the c final. Dan Greenwood wasn't having quite the day he'd anticipated, but found some comfort in the fact that at least his car was clean and in good working order. On a more positive note for Dan he's winning the skillfullness competition between himself and Steve Pierce, having performed better than Steve at 7 events this year.

	Round 3 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Simon Moss 13/304.67 2 Grant Williams 13/305.13 3 Paul Bradby 13/307.74 4 Richard Lowe 13/307.80 5 Nathan Ralls 13/308.71 6 Ellis Stafford 13/310.79 7 Danny McGee 13/311.57 8 Lloyd Storey 13/314.02 9 Matt Benfield 13/314.52 10 Tom Yardy 13/314.90

Danny McGee put in the fastest time of the day with his Losi / Atomic Carbon XXXCR2 mid-motor beast in round four - taking the overall TQ with it.

	Round 4 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Danny McGee 13/303.79 2 Lee Martin 13/306.35 3 Phil Sleigh 13/308.97 4 Simon Moss 13/309.50 5 Paul Bradby 13/310.28 6 Craig Collinson 13/310.34 7 Chris Evison 13/310.62 8 Colin May 13/311.06 9 Nathan Ralls 13/311.63 10 Tom Yardy 13/312.11

Zombie-Damo strikes again	C-Cup
Keith Robertson pilots his way round.............................. lol

Overall Qualifying

A final 2wd leg 1.

In the style of someone who's confident they're going to win, Danny McGee left the grid with a wheelie, this was not to his detriment however as he kept ahead of the crowd and soon started to pull off ahead. Grant Williams had a tumble coming around the cobbles, losing him some places. Simon Moss in 2nd place was a fair gap back from leading Danny by the end of the first lap, and Lee was hot on his tail, with Tom Cockerill close behind. Danny was sailing off away with a lead of 3 seconds after the first two laps. Mossy rode the track edges too wide and Lee Martin was up his rear waiting to make a pass, which he promptly did as the two cars slipped down the straight; Lee was into 2nd place. It was now Tom Cockerill hassling Mossys back-end, followed by Grant Williams and Ellis Stafford.

Danny holds onto the lead - JUST - after a wheely at the start almost cost him dearly.

Start of lap two - McGee in full control.

Lee had a trip coming through the centre section of the track and his car required marshalling, as Mossy returned into 2nd place and Lee lost a few positions. As Danny continued flying ahead with now a 4 second lead, the race was for 2nd place, with Schumacher-Schumacher-Schumacher; Mossy, Tom and Grant racing around the track.

Mossy found a bobble coming through the back section and became distracted, Tom Cockerill was through into 2nd place. Mossy was hot on Toms tail though and remained close, attempting to pass one lap later in the same place, however this was unsuccessful.

Lee Martin was starting to gain some places back and had soon moved into 5th place, with Sleigh behind him in 6th.

Mossy looked like he was going to make another pass at Tom Cockerill, however he ended up cartwheeling across the track, being fortunate enough to land on his wheels with no need for marshalling. Tom now had some breathing space - something happened to Grant and Lee Martin but we're not sure what and suddenly Phil Sleigh was past and up to 4th.

Danny McGee looked in full control from start to finish - 6 seconds ahead of 2nd place Tom Cockerill..

2WD A Final Leg 1

A final 2wd leg 2.
An uneventful start from the top-10 as they left the grid, Danny lead the boys around and a small altercation between Lee and the track marker saw Danny and Mossy pull a slight gap. The top 3 remained fairly spaced apart, and the main activity was back at 4th place where Grant Williams moved past Tom Cockerill.

Simon Moss made an error followed by an error, and Lee Martin moved through to 2nd place. A couple of laps further in, Tom Cockerill landed on his lid in the centre of the track and lost a few places as he required marshalling. Further errors from Mossy saw him lose three positions. Meanwhile Danny McGee was once again sailing away up front in the lead.

Lee Martin couldn't catch the McGee machine	McGee shows his pleasure

The order was Danny, Lee, Grant, Bradby, Sleigh. With 1 minute 20 seconds to go Danny McGee had a 2.5 second lead. Sleigh was having a good race with Grant Williams and Paul Bradby, however experienced gremlins at the end of the straight and his car had to be removed from the track as it was starting to become a hazard to other drivers. Bradders was momentarily through past Grant but a flip coming through the bumpy back section saw Grant reclaim his place. Bradders remained close though and applied pressure from behind to Grant. A brief pause atop a track marker though for Bradders gave Grant a bit of a gap as he moved away. The finish tone sounded and Danny crossed the line to take the 2010 Southport national, Lee Martin finished the leg in 2nd place, Grant in 3rd, and Bradders was wrestling with Lowe as the pair approached the finish line, they both ended up on their lid and required marhsalling but it was Bradders who came off best, taking 4th place ahead of 5th place Lowe.

2WD A Final Leg 2

A final 2wd leg 3.

Phil sleigh dropped back at the start of the race, whilst Danny McGee set off up front with determination to claim all three A-final legs. Cockerill was in 5th place looking for a way past Williams, Grant slammed his door shut. Danny started to pull a big gap already by the end of the first lap.

McGEe in the infield	By the end of the first lap McGee had most of the length of the straight lead.

Grant clipped the track marker sending him offline, and Cockerill was through to 4th. Coming through the centre section of the track, Tom left a small gap and Grant saw his chance, he barrelled down through the small opening but there was not sufficient space to make a full pass as Tom closed it up and the two cars clipped wheels, Tom flipped and Grant was back through to 4th.

CHASE MEEEEEE - Moss leads a pack of warriors.	Grant looks for the inside - next corner there's a collision

At three and a half minutes Danny flipped coming through the centre of the track, he was back on his wheels without marshalling but now had a certain Simon Moss coming up close behind, followed by Lee Martin.

With three minutes left to go Danny continued to lead, followed by Mossy in 2nd, Lee Martin in 3rd, Paul Bradby in 4th, Ellis up to 5th from 10th on the grid. Grant Williams followed in 6th place, Tom Cockerill in 7th, Evison 8th, Lowe 9th and Sleigh 10th.

Tom Cockerill getting marshalled after his collision with Grant.	McGee had a rare error

McPhee in full - and we mean FULL control.

Mossy misjudged the corner coming around the back of the track, flipping his car and needing marshalling, giving Lee Martin just enough time to slip through before Mossy was back on his wheels.

Whilst Lee Martin was pushing hard to catch up the leading Danny, Bradby was sniffing close to Mossys gearbox.

Lee made an error in the centre of the track and required marshalling, his car was returned to the track in the path of oncoming Simon Moss, the two cars made contact but Lee maintained his position.

Further around the track and Lee mounted the track edging as he came around to start his next lap, Mossy saw his opportunity to pass and made his move, however as Lees car rejoined the track the two cars came together and chaos ensued, Mossy landed on his wheels and was now ahead of Lee. McGee continued to hold a strong lead, 6 seconds ahead of the battling pair.

Last ditch attempt to pass Moss by Lee ended in FAIL	No one remembers that McGee is a super star - he got asked multiple times if he's won a national before, and of course this is his fourth national win.

Last lap Lee sniffed all over the place in a last ditch effort to make a pass at Mossy, but without success as Mossy finished in 2nd place, Lee in 3rd.

2WD A Final Leg 3

The top three in 2WD ----- Lee 2nd - McGee 1st - Grant Williams 3rd

Grant Williams finished 3rd but the collision with his team mate Cockerill would take hours to heal.

No one remembers that McGee is a super star - he got asked multiple times if he's won a national before, and of course this is his fourth national win.

Overall results - 4WD A Final

Sunday 18th July 2010
The famous Southport weather broke through on Sunday morning in time for 4WD and things were more than moist. The rain kept hammering down and qualfying round one was distinctly moist. So much so indeed that nearly 25% of drivers did not complete their race, a staggering 80% increase on usual statistics.

Paul Robinson - serious about keeping his hair dry	Andy Jones - serious about food.

We actually already wrote a load of gubbins but the laptop went NUTS and crashed - losing all the report from Sunday which sucked hard. (Jimmy 'I don't click save' oOple).

In round one of qualifying Lee 'I've already won it' Martin skidded on some standing water at the end of the straight and his car ended up slamming into the metal panels around the track edges, full pelt -OOOOF. Some pessimists might say that the Lee Martin of 5 years ago would have done this intentionally however the modern day Lee Martin is all about serious racing.

Meanwhile amid controversy the final heat of round one was delayed whilst Ellis was being interfered with. This leniance was to no avail however as four laps into the race Ellis had problems with his shaft becoming dislodged and took an early retirement.

	Round 1 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Tom Yardy 13/303.37 2 Tom Cockerill 13/305.15 3 Danny McGee 13/305.89 4 Grant Williams 13/307.64 5 Phil Sleigh 13/307.86 6 Simon Moss 13/308.12 7 Matt Latham 13/308.52 8 Stuart Wood 13/308.53 9 Matt Benfield 13/310.13 10 Adam Skelding 13/310.46

Paul Bradby was on a super fast pace in round two, thrashing it around nice and smooothly and leading his heat, when a missile came across the track; Simon Moss had crashed and ended up on the wrong side of the track marking, right in the path of oncoming leader Bradby. Still, Bradders ended up finishing 7th in round whilst Mossy came off worst, finishing 35th in round - rumours of a penalty for crashing were unfounded, this time.

The racing is close at the top... less than 7.5seconds seperate the top 10 in round 2.

Further rain had fallen heavily during round 2 however this had settled down by the time the top heats were running, and stuff was feeling a bit warmer. Stu Wood top-tenned again with his Ansmann 4WD buggy.

	Round 2 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Tom Cockerill 13/301.50 2 Lee Martin 13/302.43 3 Danny McGee 13/304.45 4 Ellis Stafford 13/305.03 5 Tom Yardy 13/305.08 6 Richard Lowe 13/305.19 7 Paul Bradby 13/305.53 8 Stuart Wood 13/308.24 9 Colin May 13/308.26 10 Phil Sleigh 13/308.92

It was Tom Cockerill who chucked in the first 14-lapper of the day as conditions continued to improve throughout round 3.

	Round 3 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Tom Cockerill 14/321.43 2 Tom Yardy 13/300.24 3 Lee Martin 13/301.37 4 Simon Moss 13/303.81 5 Matt Benfield 13/306.06 6 Colin May 13/308.98 7 Lloyd Storey 13/309.43 8 Stuart Wood 13/310.35 9 David Orbell 13/310.45 10 Craig Collinson 13/310.46

Once Tom Cockerill had introduced the posse to 14 laps in round 3, they were suddenly all the rage, and the top 13 drivers were on 14 laps in the 4th and final round of qualifying. I think this might be why we usually use Round-by-round qualifying here in the UK, anything else would be madness.

	Round 4 Qualifying
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 14/312.36 2 Ellis Stafford 14/313.69 3 Grant Williams 14/316.48 4 Paul Bradby 14/316.97 5 Danny McGee 14/319.07 6 Phil SLeigh 14/319.39 7 Colin May 14/320.61 8 Adam Skelding 14/321.03 9 Tom Yardy 14/321.05 10 Matt Benfield 14/321.54

	Stuart Wood from JEspares was racing his new Ansmann X4Pro 4wd buggy and confirmed himself to be the 8th fastest driver in the UK with it by taking 8th in rounds 1-2-3. If only he can hold things together he'll take a perfect score of four 8's. The new car was totally standard - even down to the kit wheels and narrowly missed the A final - qualifying B2. Not bad for the first time out - hopefully we'll see more action from the Ansmann team in coming months now they've got a couple of competitive and reasonably priced cars out. Stu mounts the inside kerb on his way to 8th in round - again! Stamped alloy front pin brace Some nice dark coloured anodised shocks - much nicer looking than the vivid green of old The car has a slipper, of course. And a metal motor mount. Lots of droop 'BIG HEX' wheel fitment - like the Hot Bodies cars and Kyosho ZX5 SP. Woody with his box-standard Ansmann - narrowly missed out on the A final first time out. Let's not mess about - it bears a resemblance to the Yokomo BMax, though Stu points out that in the details it's all different. Not having built a Yokomo we can't possibly comment - but it sure does go well.

A final 4wd leg 1.
Lee fishtailed off the line and Tom Yardy was straight up to 2nd. Martin, Stafford, Williams, McGee.
Yardy was very close to lead-man Tom Cockerill. The order remained the same for the next few laps, Cockerills throttle thumb was going wild as he pushed to stay ahead of Yardy who was bearing down on his rear.

This remained the same for much of the race and actually made quite boring footage. Tom pulled away slightly and the battle was on between Yardy and Lee for 2nd place. Lee looked like he was through but yardy touched cloth and pulled away. The top 3 remained close together. Lee moved in for another polite sniff of Yardys rear end. Yardy hit the inside of the end of the straight, bouncing back across into Lee Martins path, the pair just avoided a collision but Lee was through ointo 2nd place after 12 laps hot on Yardys tail.

Lee looks up the inside but can't stick it	Yardy out of control after a mistake allows Lee through to chase Cockerill

Yardy dropped back from the top two slightly whilst Lee threw in all of his juices and was right up behind Cockerill, looking each way to pass, finally he crashed crossing the line, in a last ditch attempt to pass Toms ass. Still, Tom won.

4WD A Final Leg 1

A final 4wd leg 2.

Very clean start to this race, totally uneventul apart from Bradders gaining one place, which he promptly lost by the third lap. After this lap however the drivers decided to pull out some tricks to make interesting viewing for the onlookers. Yardy made an error and Ellis was through to 3rd place. Tom Cockerill held a 1 second lead on Lee Martin.
Lee flipped out on the tarmac corner but just held onto his place. Tom Cockerill pulled away a little more, extending his lead to 2 seconds.

Ellis was bearing down on Lees rear. Lee cornered on two wheels but Ellis had no way through so slammed on the breaks. A series of further errors by Lee eventually saw Ellis Stafford make his pass and move up to 2nd. Tom Cockerill now had a 5 second lead.
Meanwhile there was a man battle occuring in the centre of the track which involved Yardy, Mossy, Williams, McGee, and Bradders, it was like battle royale with cheese.
McGees car skidded on some toenail clippings as he came off the rumble corner, Grant slipped through on the inside and the two cars clashed wheels, sending McGee ping ponging first into the kerb then into Paul Bradby, and back onto the racing line into the path of Tom Yardy.

Tom Cockerill was in a league of his own	Ellis was all over Lee Martin and eventually passed

Mossy became distracted by all this excitement happening ahead of him, he touched no-one yet still crashed. It was now Grant, McGee, Yardy, Bradby and Moss.
In the confusion Bradby went on to rear-end Tom Yardy, backflipping a somersault with a triple twist over the racing line, finally Moss was through for last place. (Colin May and Sleigh had already finished).

Oh, Tom Cockerill won it.

4WD A Final Leg 2

A final 4wd leg 3.

Tom Cockerill went for a show off move coming off the grid with a wheelie and a backflip, straight onto his lid in the path of oncoming cars, which mostly managed to avoid the static poleman, and Lee Martin was straight into the lead.
Stu Wood was awarded with the special brown marshalling badge for creating a fowl on Phil Sleigh, by performing some dramatic one handed marshalling first flipping Sleigh, but not onto his wheels, and continuing his marshalling dance to overturn the once-leader Tom Cockerill.

Stu, thinking he'd done a good job, was soon hearing voices, not his usual voices but this time they were from the rostrum as the drivers frantically alerted him to the still-up-turned Sleigh, who was screaming crying and retching in last place, about to be lapped by the leaders.

Lee Martin took the lead immediately and never looked back.	Sleigh was half a lap down and 3 feet off the line

Lee Martin had pulled a good lead, Danny McGee in 2nd, Yardy 3rd, Williams 4th, Ellis 5th, Bradby 6th. DC encouragingly advised Sleigh not to give up yet...
Yardy was applying some pressure to McGee, whilst Williams fell over and allowed Moss to pass into 4th place.
McGee went for a ride along the kerb coming through the back section after hitting a bump and getting all out of shape, allowing Yardy past for 2nd place.
Bradders went NUTS and forgot to follow the racing line, flipping straight over the track marker to the other side of the track, narrowly avoiding the other cars. As can be expected Bradders waited to one side until his place became available.
McGee rode the kerb again in the same place on the next lap and something else happened.
A further lap later McGee once again hit the kerb, flying through the air and landing side by side with Moss,.

Yardy was flying around in 2nd place but crashed at the end of the straight, dismantling his car and ending a storming run.

Lee Martin was well ahead now, and the fight was on for 2nd between McGee, Mossy, Williams, cockerill and Stafford. Colin May moved over to allow the chasing pack to lap.
Mossy was hot on McGees tail, pushing hard but McGee slammmed his door shut. Ellis attempted a crazy jump over the back section to overjump half of the field, but this did not succeed and he remained at the back of the chasing pack.

4WD A Final Leg 3

Danny McGee pitted all weekend like a gypsy

The lads

Danny McGee 3rd - Tom Cockerill 1st - Lee Martin 2nd

Overall results - 4WD A Final

Tom Cockerill is turning into one of the UK's hottest talents.