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The TRACK The Pendle club we're told was originally a 10th off road club but when it moved to this new site many moons ago the Cromptons helped sway it's direction to the 8th off road class - and this is what we have now. The track itself is mostly dirt - but has some cobbled sections under the muck. There are plenty of challenging jumps at Pendle and these would really tax some of the drivers in the slightly slippery conditions on this lovely (!) summers day.

The UK's BRCA national series is a highly contested one with some of the best drivers in the world - most of whom we don't know so well but recent defections from 10th offroad electric have seen a new breed of talent take up the helm - or should we say bolster its ranks. Former 10th off road world champ Neil Cragg set about the 8th scene a few years back and with increasing dedication has managed to take the national championship for the past two years.

Stu evans, ace photographer and semi-literate reporter suggested attending this the sixth round of the series and in a fit of excitement even went to the track on friday afternoon to check on preparations. Stu felt foolish however when he got there and it was all locked up with not a soul in sight. Clearly things are different at 8th nationals than were used to - other than one meeting a year all the rounds are held over just a single day.

We were expecting sun - and some amazing photos. Sadly - the clouds closed in almost as soon as the day had started. Conditions were never truly wet however and dry areas came and went with passing showers.

Practice was underway by the time we got back to the track - since upon arriving Stu realised he'd forgotten something and we had to go back. Practice kicked off around 8:30am - one round of 5 minute practice for all the drivers, with the top drivers all randomly arranged in the top four heats. There were 8 heats in total - the top heats were running 14 drivers whilst some of the lower were 13 - one no show.

Round 1
Round one of qualifying saw local hero Dave Crompton take the win - but only just with Neil Cragg less than half a second behind and Elliott Boots a further half second off Neil for third. These were the only drivers on 8 laps - with average lap times of 42 seconds each.

Craig Drescher glued his tyres with pritt stick

Kevin Brunsden's Team Durango DNX408

Chris Doughty puts in a perfect landing off the big set with his LRP

A touch of light rain at the end of round one qualifying was swiftly followed by 30 seconds of sun at the start of round two.

Round 2
Round two saw only two drivers make it through for 8 laps - Dave Crompton this time having to settle for second in round - Elliot Boots' Mugen out doing him by less than half a second to take it. Championship contender Darren Bloomfield missed the 8-lapper by 0.2 of a second in third whilst unlikely hero Super Stu Mahon stuck his car in fourth.

Round 3
Neil Cragg took the third and final round of qualifying by a second over Elliott Boots in second, with Dave Crompton less than half a second back in third. With all top three drivers having a 1st and 2nd place finish in round, they were all on 398 points. By virtue of his faster winning time, Dave Crompton took the overall TQ and first on the grid in the A final - Elliot second and Neil Cragg third.

Pendle BRCA 1/8th Buggy National - Overall Top 10 Qualifying

Pete Watt was the sole Serpent driver at Pendle - driving the recently released Serpent Cobra 811. Pete is super happy with the buggy

Lee Martin's bodyshell looks like it took some serious crash damage

To cut down on the first corner CHAOS the organisers decided to alter the track for the first lap of every final - cutting out the sharp hair pin into the quad's - and instead using the sweeping banked corner around onto the big double. This seemed to work pretty well - then things were quickly changed back to the normal layout before the cars came back around.

The racers in the J final sweep around turn one

John Vine	Liam Galvin

All the finals up to the D final are 10 minutes - with 15 minuted for the D, 20 minutes each for the C and B finals - and a full half hour for the main.

All the finals have 10 qualified drivers - but the top four finishers from each race bump up to the next final straight away - so there's 14 drivers in total per race. There's a 5 minute engines-off gap between finals to allow those that have bumped up enough time to get their cars prepared to do battle once more. The bump ups allow drivers that have had a bad qualifying session to still move up the order and gain their rightful place - perhaps.

Liam Galvin won the J final - bumping up into the I and again bumping to the H final - after that, keeping any sensible commentary going over this racing is impossible, but he ended his run of luck in the H.

Tom Jordan was ruling the F final but after a small error he got caught by Jonathan Clark - keeping the 1-2 qualifying order for the first 5 minues. Matthew Ball reeled the pair in and as first Jonathan and then Tom went in for fuel - Matthew just kept nursing it round till the end for the win and bump up.

Tom Jordan getting chased down by the fuel efficient Matt Ball.	Tom gets his belly filled

Richard Cree dominated the C final - pulling away and on his 1-stop strategy in the 20 minute final he managed to come back out of the pits still in the lead, but only just. Cree held on and as the others went for fuel he was well over 15 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Bumping up to the B, Cree once again took control - just winning ahead of Simon Willets by the slimmest of margins to bump to the A final.
We talked to Cree earlier in the day about 8th racing and he mentioned how much he loves the bump's - clearly!

YEAHHHHHH!

Maybe Trumans car? who knows, but it's flying!

The A final was the last race of the day - 30 minutes of man-battling ahead. We hoped there'd be a grid so we could get some nice photos but apparently these 8th racers don't like to show off their cars and prefer to race them! Oh well - we did ask!

Dave Crompton lined up first on the grid - half an hour of racing and multiple fuel stops ahead means that positions on the grid mean very little though. Crompton held on to the lead pressured hard by Elliott Boots from the start but coming around the end of the main straight at the start of lap two Elliott punched his way up the inside of Crompton to forcibly wrestle the lead away. From then on Elliott really took control of things and steadily pulled away from Crompton who was now being pressured by Darren Bloomfield who'd taken third from Cragg on lap one - and then Cragg closed up Bloomers for fourth.

Crompton leads them over the first set of jumps after the banked corner lap 1.	Lap 1 complete - Boots closes in on Crompton

Boots punches past at the end of the main straight	Boots slams into the fourth jump on the quad - Crompton looks to take back the position

Crompy looks likely to side swipe Boots and has to back off.	Boots crosses it up over the big double.

Boots built up a quick lead	Some say Crompton could drive this track with his eyes shut - we couldn't possibly comment.

Coming over the quad Bloomfield took up second from Crompton - but Crompy wasn't done and made a mad move to retake the position on the next set of jumps, colliding with Bloomfield mid-air and sending them both tumbling. Bloomfield recovered quickly but Cragg got caught up for a couple of seconds allowing Bloomfield to pull away slightly as Crompton ended up facing the wrong way and down to fourth.

Bloomfield looks for it....	....And takes it, up to 2nd

Crompy and Bloomfield collide	Cragg ends up under Cromptons out of control buggy

Cragg loses it on the back-straight and Crompton sails back past for third.	Cragg refuels and everyone starts to get split up on the track.

With the drivers starting to come in for fuel around the 10 minute mark the drivers got split on the track so things became harder to see but Elliott Boots continued to extend his lead out front. Crompton, Cragg and Bloomfield were left to scrap over second and swapped positions several times. Coming up to the end of the race it was clear that whilst Elliot Boots had gone for three stops - Dave Crompton had timed things (nearly) perfectly with his 2-stop strategy and with only a few minutes to go there was nothing between Elliott and Dave Crompton.

Neil Cragg running in second had an issue with his servo and had to retire.

Mick Cragg takes Neils poorly car away to shout at it	Dave Crompton played a great fuel strat and was right on Boots by the end.

The pressure told and Elliott made a couple of errors - recovering the first and staying out front but another error 2 laps from the end allowed Crompton through for the lead and a near certain victory as Boots lost a few seconds on his roof. Crompton came down the main straight and over the quad but disappeared from view - Elliot took the quad just behind and came out back in first - Crompton had run out of go-juice right after the quad and rolled helplessly to a stop allowing Elliott past for the lead and win.

Elliot gets it out of shape but recovers - nail biting stuff.	Elliott and Dave Crompton go wheel-to-wheel, next to last lap and only seconds to go.

Elliott stuffs it into the side - Crompton for the WIN!	Crompton comes over the quad - and he's probably free-wheeling by now - out of fuel. Elliott in the background flies high about to take the lead back

Elliott completed his lap and finished on 42 laps - Dave Crompton didn't finish the lap but still took second as Simon Willets who'd clawed his way up from 12th on the grid missed out on 42 laps by just over 5 seconds.

Crompton gets dragged back to the pits but with the time gone there's no chance of a win. So close.	Elliott Boots put in a stunning performance and despite a scary moment toward the end of the race, truly deserved the win at Pendle.

	Pendle BRCA 1/8th Buggy National - A FINAL
	Pos Car Name Result Car Make Model Engine 1 2 Elliott Boots 42/30m35.392 Mugen MBX6 RB 2 1 David Crompton 41/29m50.211 Mugen MBX6 RB 3 12 Simon Willetts 41/30m 5.368 Kyosho MP9 Orion 4 4 Darren Bloomfield 41/30m10.570 Losi Eight NovaRossi 5 9 Graham Alsop 41/30m26.282 Hot Bodies D8 RB 6 5 Lee Martin 41/30m36.026 Losi Eight 2.0 NovaRossi 7 7 Dave Bailey 41/30m37.050 Associated RC8 RB 8 8 John Holmes 41/30m37.526 Hot Bodies D8 Hpi 9 13 Jon Hazlewood 40/30m14.032 Xray 808 OS 10 10 Richard Taylor 40/30m19.020 Losi Eight Losi 11 14 Reece Sawyer 40/30m38.909 Xray 808 OS 12 11 Richard Cree 39/29m38.972 Pure P8 Prototype RB 13 6 Stuart Mahon 39/30m 8.367 Losi Eight 2.0 eu Alpha 14 3 Neil Cragg 35/25m39.361 Associated RC8 Reedy

Interview with Dave Crompton - TQ and 2nd at the Pendle National 2010.

Hiya Dave, Congratulations on your TQ and nearly-win at the recent Pendle national, where does your result leave you on the overall standings after 6 nationals? Has 2010 been a good year for you so far?
This was only my 2nd national this season. At the end of 2009 I decided it would be my last season after competing in the rallycross section for nearly 20years.

You performed very well at the Pendle national, coming 2nd place to Elliott only after a mis-judged fuel economy strategy, how do you think you could have improved your plan to dominate the final, and on what did you base your calculations?
Throughout the 3 rounds of qualification I calculated i could run for 11mins, but after having a poor start to the final I has to push very hard to catch up so used more fuel and ran out at 10min.

The track at Pendle used to be used for racing 1/10th off-road, how did it change to become one of the UKs premier 1/8th scale clubs?
The pendle track has always been meant for 1/8th rallycross. when it first opened in 1992 it was a modular grass track and The 1/10th section of pdmcc raced there a few times but the track was just too big for the 1/10th class.

There's been a lot of recent work on the track over the past 18 months, what was your aim, what work was done, and are you happy with the improvements?
We changed the track layout in 2006 to something similar to our current layout. But in the last 18months we added a lot of new land drainage, which is working very well, we have given the track a few fine tweaks by changed the jumps at the end of the straight from single, double single to the double double. We added a few off camber corners and the little kicker under the timing loop. Over the last 6 weeks we added the permanent safety fencing and removed all the tyres and changed them for boarding and hosing to mark the track out.

Now that you don't have the shop any more where do you now work?
I work for a company called Askews refrigeration, installing and servicing all diffternt types of aircon units throughout the uk.

Do you find it more difficult to keep up to speed and get in plenty of practice now that you have a real-life job?
Yes, this is one of the reasons I am not racing at the national / international events, I don't have the time to do all the practicing anymore :-(

Is it true that you used to race 1/10th off-road? And would you consider a return to the class for a top event next June, such as the oOple Invernational?
Yes a very long time ago, my last 1/10th car was a schumacher pro-cat, I also had the top-cat for 2wd, think that was 1990.
If someone can supply the gear I might have a go at your invertational meeting. (We'll sort you our Dave!!)

What do you think can be improved within the 1/8th off-road class?
More race scrutineers/referees, there should be 2 people on the rostrum, it's too big a job for 1 person to keep an eye on everyone (14/15 cars!).

You've had a steady influx of drivers moving over from the 1/10th electric off-road scene, do you feel that the driving standard within 1/8th off-road has improved as a result of this?
Yes, for the likes of craggy, bloomers, Martin, dresher and tricky who are all top drivers A finalists at the international 1/10th meetings. Makes for closer racing.

Do you like to drink energy / stimulation drinks whilst you're at racing, like many of the other youngsters do, or do you prefer a good cup of tea now that you're over 30?
I do like a good brew throughout the day but I love a can of relentless an hour before the final.

Many nitro racers favour facial hair, as opposed to their clean-shaven electric counterparts; what is your favourite item of facial hair, and have you ever considered installing a moustache?
I am the facial hair type but kept trimmed, only have a clean shave for those special occasion's :-)
Moustache lol that's for the older generation.

Do you plan to change any of your equipment in the 2011 season?
No, I am loving driving the mugen with RB power and Tourex tyres.

What advice would you give to drivers on the 1/10th off-road scene who are planning to make the transition over to the dark side (1/8th)?
Buy a mugen and an rb engine and you will be onto a winner

Thanks Dave and well done on your awesome racing - SO CLOSE!