All photos are mine, all mine, and not to be used in commercial purposes without prior permission. copyright ©2007 Jimmy Storey. rc(at)oople(dot)com.

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Video by BATHY - bigger embedded version at the bottom of this report.

UK National Series - Round Three - Bury Metro

Bury Metro was the venue for the third event in the BRCA National series.  The track wasn’t part of the 2006 series so most drivers hadn’t raced here for a long time.  This, coupled with the new features - some new jumps and resurfacing work, meant that it was a learning experience for many drivers. The track had seen a lot of work by the Bury members in the weeks leading up to the event and looked superb.

130 drivers are allowed in the 2WD events (120 in 4wd), and in the weeks prior upwards of 25+ reserves were also waiting for places.  All 130 drivers who had gained places turned up to race – a first I’m told, which meant those reserves that had come to try and get in on the day were disappointed. Still, the nice weather and good racing provided good entertainment for those not able to race.
The day started sunny and warm which gave the track plenty of grip from the outset.  Neil Cragg took the first round with a great run three seconds ahead of Ellis Staffords XFactory X-6 mid-motor car.

Neil showed consistency in round two, putting in another 12 in 3:10. Lee Martin came in 1.3 second further back with ellis 0.05 seconds behind in third.

Round three saw Danny McGee put in a good run to take the win, whilst Neil couldn't keep up the pace of the previous two rounds and retired on 9 laps - apparently suffering interference which lasted all weekend.

Neil once more showed his class in 2WD, winning round 4 over 6 seconds ahead of second in round man, Tom Yardy (RC10B4). Richard Taylor put in his third 3rd in round finish whilst Stuart Wood proved the new Kyosho 2WD buggy was now truly competitive against the best - placing 4th in round. Stu was driving the only Kyosho out of 130 cars in the Bury National and has worked tirelessly to develop the car for Team oOple and provide a base setup and tips for Kyosho fans. - You can read all about Stus experiences with the Kyosho soon in the dedicated Kyosho RB5 area on oOple.com.

Overall Scores after 4 Qualifying Rounds (Top 20) 1 Neil Cragg B4 2 Lee Martin B4 3 Danny McGee XXXCR 4 Ellis Stafford X-6 5 Richard Taylor XXXCR 6 Tom Yardy B4 7 Stuart Wood Ultima RB5 8 Craig Collinson XXXCR 9 Chris Doughty B4 10 Chris Long X-6 11 Dan Greenwood X-6 12 Grant Williams B4 13 Stu Mahon XXXCR 14 Tom Cockerill XXXCR 15 Tony Truman B4 16 Richard Lowe B4 17 Andy Fraser B4 18 Ben Riley B4 19 Paul Bradby B4 20 Darren Bloomfield XXXCR

Craig Collinson and Chris Long - first time in the Awesome

A Finals:

Leg one was delayed when Danny McGee set off on his practice lap and it was obvious his diff was slipping - evident by the laughs from all close enough to hear. It took a few minutes of intense work before Danny was happy enough to start. Sadly for danny it didn't last long as he broke a front suspension arm on the very first corner.
Neil Cragg got away cleanly and took the win 2 seconds ahead of Lee Martin - these two were way ahead of the rest, with Richard Taylor in third 10 seconds further back.

Leg two and Neil Cragg got away with Ellis Stafford and Lee Martin in hot pursuit. Neil made some mistakes, rolling a couple of times to give Ellis Stafford and Lee Martin a breathing space. Lee Martin led but coming to the first corner of a new lap Ellis drove inside Lee and took over the lead in some very close racing. It finished in that order, with Ellis Stafford taking the leg with his XFactory X-6. Lee Martin was right on his tail, only 0.1 seconds further back. Neil Cragg came home third another 3.5 seconds further back.

Plenty of lead changes in leg 2 made for some exciting racing. Above Left: Ellis pulls a nice move on Lee Martin

Leg three and it was all to play for - Neil Cragg didn't hang about and just drove away. Lee Martin took up second ahread of Ellis Stafford. Lee rolled and Ellis went past to go into 2nd place for a short time but it wasn't to last. Lee Martin picked up the second place again this time followed by Tom Yardy as Ellis made another mistake to drop to 4th. Neil took the third leg and with it his second 2WD win of the season. Lee took 2nd place in all three finals to give him 2nd overall with the very fast Ellis Stafford taking third overall.

A Final Qualifying Position Leg 1 Result Leg 2 Result Leg 3 Result 1 Neil Cragg 1st 12/ 311.50 3rd 12/ 316.59 1st 12/ 310.87 2 Lee Martin 2nd 12/ 313.10 2nd 12/ 313.25 2nd 12/ 318.18 3 Danny McGee DNS DNS 9th 11/ 309.45 7th 12/ 330.87 4 Ellis Stafford 4th 12/ 327.60 1st 12/ 313.01 4th 12/ 325.28 5 Richard Taylor 3rd 12/ 323.08 5th 12/ 322.71 5th 12/ 325.62 6 Tom Yardy 7th 11/ 305.90 6th 12/ 322.98 3rd 12/ 321.10 7 Stuart Wood 9th 11/ 308.59 10th 11/ 315.81 8th 11/ 304.89 8 Craig Collinson 5th 11/ 304.19 4th 12/ 322.46 6th 12/ 326.79 9 Chris Doughty 6th 11/ 304.65 8th 11/ 304.08 10th 1/ 30.30 10 Chris Long 8th 11/ 308.41 7th 11/ 300.54 9th 11/ 305.93 A Final Overall Results 1 Neil Cragg 2 Lee Martin 3 Ellis Stafford 4 Richard Taylor 5 Tom Yardy 6 Craig Collinson 7 Chris Doughty 8 Chris Long 9 Danny McGee 10 Stuart Wood

After the finals were over the 'secret evenings entertainment' showed up. Along with the barbeque that Bury had organised, a bar had been planned but in the end wasn't availble. But the star attraction was the 'Rodeo Bull' which was a focal point for the racers in the evening, with a challenge to stay on the longest. Young Connor Cocker won the event with a time of 1:16 and his dad was presented with some bubbly as a prize, whilst the rest of the big boys nursed their various grazes and bruises.

4WD was predicted to be wet – indeed the entire weekend was in the week before the event. So shops had already run out of the dry weather option early the previous day  – Schumacher Yellow mini spikes. As it turned out the sun came out with only a short spell of cloud early in the day which quickly disappeared and temperatures soared.

The track had changed only a little from the previous day – the corner after the straight was slightly altered and the centre section of the track up and over the hill was different, but the general layout was similar. 

Darren Bloomfield was quick early on, taking the first round of qualifying.  Lee martin was only a couple of seconds off Darren, with Richard Taylor and Paul Bradby only fractions of a second further back.

Lee Martin once more brought his entourage of helpers in the form of the AERO team, to go with his usual mechanic Trish – Paul Wragg also helped out for the second day in a row after once more failing to pick up a reserve place on the day to race – the 4WD meeting being another where all the entrants showed up.  With that kind of support, it’s no wonder Lee has come on this year.

In the second round of qualifying, Chris Doughty (Atomic Carbon S4) took the round- half a second in front of Paul Bradby (Yokomo BX), with Team oOple super star Stu Wood placing 3rd in round less than a second further back.

Round three saw Lee Martin take the win with his AERO prototype, two seconds in front of Darren Bloomfield with Neil in third after a poor start in round one.

The final round of qualifying again saw Darren Bloomfield take the win with a very fast time - taking the TQ for the meeting with his two round wins. Ellis Stafford put his X5 into second in round, 4 seconds adrift of Darren, with Richard Taylor almost 2 seconds further back. Special mention must go to Richard Lowe who put in consistent results all day without mishap - you'll be able to read more about Richards excellent result soon in the dedicated BJ4we section on oOple.com, along with his setup and an interview.

Stu Wood once more had an excellent run with his MTroniks propelled Tamiya, putting in some very quick laps - but misfortune once again struck when a simple roll on lap 7 popped a ball joint and dumped the oneway outdrive. Chris Long (marshalling), was quick to get the car back in one piece but the 29 second lap all but killed Stus chances of making the A final with three more heats of fast drivers to come.
Tony Truman driving the new Hot Bodies D4 was the unlucky one - all set to take the 10th spot in the overall A final standings, Tonys ESC had a meltdown on lap 9, pushing him down to 12th overall behind Tom Yardy in the B1 position. With Tonys misfortune Stu was back in the running and ended up scraping into the A final in 10th position with a 3rd and 12th in round to count.

With a badly cracked front shock tower sustained earlier in the Day, and worn ball cups which kept popping off - (neither of which can easily be replaced, such is the support for the Tamiya brand currently), Stu wasn't in the best of shape. Steve Kirk from the Batley Club kindly dropped his house improvements to come over and help Team oOple driver Stu Wood - Steve is a full-on Tamiya GOD and lent us his front shock tower and some interesting looking ball joints from SERPENT. The ball joints in question are captured, so they can't escape! Given the misfortune Stu had already suffered, this was a great addition to ensure Stu wouldn't be let down in the A final. So many thanks to Steve Kirk for all his help on the day.

Another driver with a broken shock tower in round 4 was Lee Martin with his prototype AERO. The AERO team have worked hard on their production car but neglected their prototype to the point that they didn't have a spare front shock tower - a mistake on a track like Bury Metro, which is well known for it's 'parts eating' potential. Kim from the AERO team had to make a new tower from carbon plate in time for the A finals.

Overall qualifying was as follows (Top 20):

A Final:

Leg one of the A final, and Darren Bloomfield got away, managing to stay out front and take the first leg just in front of a hard charging Neil Cragg, 1.5 seconds behind Darren. Richard Lowe had a dream first leg taking 3rd from 8th on the grid, 5 seconds adrift of Neil.
Both Stu Wood and Lee Martin had problems with their electrics - Stu had borrowed a 7x1 Checkpoint motor from a friend after his own motor was killed in the last qualifier - the combination led to some overheating and the car stuck on full throttle several times causing Stu to retire. Lee had the opposite problem and his car would slow down due to an unknown problem.

Leg two and this time Chris Doughty was on the ball - pushing his Atomic Carbon S4 hard. Darren wasn't able to pull away and both drivers pulled a slight gap on the rest.
Coming over the double at the top left corner of the track, the drivers tangled and tumbled - Darren got out still in the lead with Chris hot on his tail, but the accident allowed Richard Taylor to close the gap and put pressure on Chris. The drivers finished in that order with only slightly over 1 second seperating the top three. With the second leg win, Darren took his second National win of the season to accompany his Tiverton 2WD win.

	Darren chose to save his tyres and sit out the third leg, having already won the meeting. The battle was still on for the points however, and Chris Doughty took the lead coming into the first corner, passing Lee Martin in the process who was in pole with Darrens absence. Chris Doughty drove well but Lee mounted up the pressure through the race - eventually Chris got the car out of shape and Lee seized on the chance, making the pass. These two were glued together for the next few laps. Coming up to the last lap, Lee pulled a small gap whilst Neil Cragg caught up to Chris Doughtys S4. Coming over the triple before the banked corner to finish the race, Lee made the jump cleanly whilst first Chris and then Neil Cragg both rolled their respective cars. Chris got away with it, whilst Neil ended up on his roof. With Richard Lowe having caught up to Neil, he was able to make the pass giving him another third and 4th overall - his best National result?
Above: Last corner of the last leg - Lee Martin gets away as the others roll - anarchy!
Lee Martin was nowhere to be seen in leg 2 after having dropped out mid race - his ESC having shut down (again) for an unknown reason. Lees pitcrew swapped the ESC for the third and final leg, hoping to salvage some points - and that's exactly what they managed, but it was too little too late, and despite the leg win Lee managed only 5th and will be looking to drop this meeing score with some better results later in the year.

2WD Winner, Neil Cragg - 4WD Winner, Darren Bloomfield