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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UK National Series - Round Six - STOTFOLD

Stotfold played host to the final round in the 2007 BRCA 1/10th off road National series. Stotfold is a 100% astro turf track in the south east of England. The track was recently completely re-done, adding new astro turf and new jumps - and it showed, with a great '3D' layout which really challenges the drivers.

2WD started damp, condensation making the grip levels fairly low in the shaded areas of the track. The sun was out from early morning and never went away - A real contrast to some of the previous Nationals of 2007.

The championship in 4WD was decided in the previous round of the series - but the 2WD championship title came down to the last leg. Both championship leader Darren Bloomfield (Losi / LRP) and Neil Cragg (AE / Nosram) 1 point astray in second could take the title.

Top 10 drivers in Round 1.

Nathan Ralls made his first National A final at stotfold with his Mirage / Nosram powered Xfactory X-6 buggy. Nathan had a good year in 2006 which peaked with his double win at the end of season finals. During 2007 Nathan has upped his game and had some great results already. To prove it was no fluke, Nathan took his Nosram powered Losi XX4 to the A final again in 4WD - it was a great weekend all round for Nathan. Nathan will be switching over to the XFactory X-5 Squared soon to compliment his 2WD choice. Nathan wasn't alone though and Grant Williams also made his first A finals on both days! Congratulations guys!

A Final leg one
Darren bloomfield took an early lead from pole with his Losi XXXCR, pulling a gap on the field. Ellis Stafford started slowly reeling Darren in over the course of the race - a minite or so from the end Ellis was less than a second behind when a roll coming over the small jumps in the top left corner put him back a few seconds. Darren had a huge gap and went on to win with Ellis in second.

A Final Leg two
Darren again got a good start, pulling away with Danny McGee in tow. Danny looked to be catching but a roll put him down to around 4th place. Darren kept pressing ahead and Neil Cragg started to close the gap - these two pulling away from the field. A couple of laps from the end Neil was only a second behind but without a mistake from Darren he was never going to catch in time. Darren went on to win the second leg and with it the meeting - giving him the 2007 2WD Championship.

A Final Leg Three
Darren Bloomfield had already won the event so all the pressure was off. Tom Yardy (Nosram/B4) went on to win from Kev lee and Ellis Stafford (Nosram/XFactory).

	Darren Bloomfield wins the 2007 National Championship. leading by only one point from current World and European Champion Neil Cragg coming into the final round it, was not going to be easy to hold on - But Darren did it with style by TQ'ing and winning the last round. Darren finished the series on 523 points, with Neil Cragg on 520 and Tom Yardy rounding out the top three with 514. Darren should be a favorite to do well in next years championship.
Below Left: The winning XXXCR of Darren Bloomfield - Below Right: Neil congratulates Darren on a job well done.

4WD

Sunday saw the track change a little for the four wheel drive buggies. The track changed from first to second practice - and again before qualifying started. The changes made the track a lot faster and easier to drive, some of the off-camber and technical sections being 'dumbed down'. The track changes meant that the first qualifier was run on a track layout no-one had driven on - not ideal, though the track was easier rather than harder. Despite some overcast skies early on, the day was to be another hot and sunny affair - a nice change from most Nationals this summer, which had already seen two 4WD rounds rained off!

Darren Bloomfield set about a near-domination of the 4WD event early on, winning the first three rounds of qualifying to secure the TQ - at the same time putting in the only 14 lap run of the days qualifying. Tony Truman upped his game even more from the previous National where he took the HotBodies car to its first A final - Qualifying second over all at Stotfold.

A Final Leg 1
Darren Bloomfield took the lead and over the first two laps managed to pull a 2 second lead on the field. Kev Lee started gaining ground and a roll by Darren let Kev close the gap but just as it looked like Kev might make a pass - a roll over the troublsome little jumps in the top left corner cost him a lot of time.
Darren continued to charge ahead with Kev a few seconds beind and Lee Martin in third after some great over-taking manouevers to come from 9th on the grid. Only a couple of laps from the end disaster stuck for Darren Bloomfield when his rear belt broke - slowing him considerably and eventually forcing him to retire allowing Kev Lee to take a well deserved victory ahead of Lee Martin.

A Final Leg 2
The first lap carnage saw the lead change over the first few corners - eventually Tony Truman driving the Hot Bodies D4 came out on top with Kev Lee in hot pursuit. Kev slowly closed the gap and a random bump saw Tony push out wide whilst Kev snook through the inside - eventually going on to win the second leg and with it the meeting. Tony Came in second with a gap down to Chris Doughty driving the Atomic Carbon S4 in third.

Perhaps a sign of growing interest in 10th off road - or pure chance. The Stotfold National showed that the sport is being taken a little more seriously with the Xtreme (predator) owners in attendance along with Team AERO. The KO grandprix was being held in London but the KO representitives, accompanied by the Horizon UK boss, came to watch and take photos of the far more interesting off-road National at Stotfold. Robin Schumacher (Owner of Schumacher, if you didn't already guess) also came to watch and talk to people on the Sunday - confirming that plans for a new 4WD buggy are true, but Robin wasn't to be drawn on any details.

A Final Leg 3
After the disappointment of the earlier A final legs, Darren Bloomfield took the win from pole with Grant Williams coming in second and meeting-winner Kevin Lee third.

	Overall A final results Finishing Position Name Leg1 Leg2 Leg3 1 Kevin Lee 1 1 3 2 Tony Truman 8 2 4 3 Grant Williams 4 5 2 4 Phil Sleigh 3 4 7 5 Lee Martin 2 7 6 6 Darren Bloomfield 10 10 1 7 Richard Barton 7 6 5 8 Chris Doughty 9 3 10 9 Ellis Stafford 5 8 8 10 Nathan Ralls 6 9 9
Kevin Lee wins the 2007 Stotfold 4WD National with his LRP powered Losi XX4. After near-domination in qualifying, Darren Bloomfield had to settle for 6th on the day but gained 2nd place overall in the championship.

Lee Martin driving the prototype AERO ONE had already technically won the 4WD series coming into the last round - even though there was the possibility of a points tie with Darren Bloomfield, Lee had done it. With the pressure off, Lee looked very fast in practice but made too many mistakes on the day and had to settle for 5th. The AERO team had various production parts hidden away but kept them well under wraps (no photos!) - though lee was running the new AERO wheels on his car. From the debut appearance of the AERO buggy it has been at the sharp end of the results and winning the highly competitive BRCA National championship with a new car is an impressive result. with the car nearing production it should be a popular choice next year.

Summary of 2007:
Despite the initial popularity of the Kyosho brand with the ZX5 - and the appearance of the new 2WD RB5 just in time for the first National, Kyosho failed to gain much of a following in the National championship. Stu Wood took the RB5 to two National A finals but with no Kyosho team or official support it didn't seem to make many waves, though the car seems to be gaining popularity at club and regional level, if slowly. We can only hope next year brings more involvement from Kyosho themselves as it's clearly been of low priority for them this year - at least in Europe.

Losi have long been a major force in the UK National series and won the 2WD title this year along with the runner-up spot in 4WD (both at the hands of Darren Bloomfield) - a great result. It seems though that the brand is on a slight decline with the lack of off-road development, discontinuation of the XX4 and non-attendance at the World Championships.

Associated continued the strangle hold on the 2WD numbers game - with a majority of racers choosing the Associated B4 over any other car. The soon-to-be-released B44 4WD buggy is sure to be a huge success next year.

Tamiya again made an A final in the 2007 season, at the hands of Stu Wood. With only 2 or three cars from a field of 120 it's a disappointing start if they want to be taken seriously. The win in Europe at the hands of Hupo Honigl gave the car a higher profile but a total lack of support in the UK with an apathetic distributor and no spares track-side didn't help. Shops will be supporting the brand next year including track-side at Nationals.

Atomic Carbon had pre-production cars running from the start of the season in 2 and 4WD. The results from the outset were fantastic - particularly with Chris Doughty and the S4. Chris put the S4 in 3rd place over all, an amazing result which should see more racers choosing the brand next year.

Well done to all the club organisers, referees and BRCA officials on creating one of the best race series in the world - great job!