Batley Buggy Club have been running the modern 'Supercup' anually since 2005 - Over the past year since the previous event in early 2008, the club has had a poor attendance, particularly outdoors with the terrible weather and frequent flooding at the Spenbrough track. So it wasn't certain a race would take place this year - thankfully the comittee got together last minute and the entries flooded in.

Doors opened at 7:00am - slightly earlier than most people had expected, since I posted the wrong time on the entry form... oops. Practice got underway a little later than expected and was run in heat order - finishing just after 9am with the electric trucks.

Some small jumps and fairly tame mat sections meant the track was an easy one to drive - especially compared with some previous years, which have resembled an assault course of sorts! The track still featured plenty of polished wood floor however, which was still extremely slippy even for brand new tyres. The difference in grip between the carpet and polished floor was as high a contrast as you can get.

Above - the racing line is hard to see on photos, the yellow line shows the route (most) cars take.

Greg Williams dad Barry prepares his car - actually no, he's sat motionless staring trying to workout how it goes together.	Dan Greenwood hands out some penalties for underweight cars. COME ON DAN!

The last minute organisation meant a conflict with other meetings was unfortunately inevitable - relatively local club Bury Metro was also running and a whole 30 no-shows meant a big delay after practice to get the heats reorganised. boo.

Dan Greenwood shows off his new BRCA legal 'Vampire' 5200 (!) 30c lipo - if only we all had legal lipos!	Dan was also sporting a brand new part from XFactory for the X6squared buggy. The brace is designed by Brian Kinwald and connects the gearbox to the battery strap with some trick looking carbon. Should stiffen the back end for different characteristics.

RD 1
Local ACE Stephen Lawson took round one of the 2WD class with 15 laps in 316.97 seconds. Richard Lowe came less than a second further back for 2nd in round, with Phil Sleigh third.
In 4WD the top two again featured - but this time it was Lowe taking the win - a whopping 9 seconds ahead of Lawson, these the only two on 16 laps. James Helliwell put in a good effort for third with his CAT SX, missing out on the extra lap by a tenth of a second
Richard Lowe also dominated the electric truck class - putting in a faster time than the 2WD TQ! Incredible.

The track used the full width of the large sports hall - with pitting behind.You can see the large amount of polished floor used in this layout.

Trophys for the winners.

The power of the media can sometimes get people to do the most bizzare things.

RD 2
Round two of qualifying saw Phil 'green' Sleigh take the top spot in 2WD with his XFactory X6sq - Steve Lawson second and Craig Collinson third. Richar Lowe had a poor run - blowing out a shock and dumping his slipper oil all over the left hand side of the track, as if it wasn't already slippy enough.
Lowe had no such mishaps in 4WD and Truck however, again taking top spot in both to take provisional TQ. Adam Skelding (HD D4) came in second in 4WD with the mighty Graham North driving the CAT SX third. Grahams car is running the new Atomic Carbon top deck, which allows for easier lipo access, very nice.

Phil Sleigh

RD 3
Richard Lowe was on form to dominate the 4WD and Truck qualifying - taking both classes yet again with his JConcepts BJ4we and Associated T4 respectively. Phil Sleigh took his second consecutive round win to give him provisional TQ - only Steve Lawson could mount a challenge in the final round.

Kev Kitchen was racing for the first time as a Team Xtreme driver - with the Predator X11 '08, the latest incarnation of the car. Kev also converted the car to use stick lipo - similar to some other team drivers.

The Schumacher CAT SX is a popular choice

This lipo powered CAT SX was running an unusual custom made brass weight - designed to sit under and around the gears as far back as possible.

RD 4
Phil Sleigh took his third round in a row to secure TQ in 2WD. Steve Lawson and James Helliwell came in second and third respectively.
Richard Lowe was doing his own thing in 4WD and Truck again - completing a domination of both classes.

The only penalty of the day went to Ben Jemison in truck, well done Ben;- in his own words: "Sleigh set me up! - he took the jump slowly without any warning and I had no where to go, piling into the back of him. Do the math?"

oOps - Bens demonic face after his stop-go penalty.

Jeremy Horne(y) gets excited about his Kyosho ZX5 FS
JEZ is ace!

2WD A final
Phil Sleigh got away cleanly followed by Lawson and Lowe - 1,2,3 in regulation order as they came around the first lap. Phil Sleigh looked to be in the zone as he had during qualifying, swiftly pulling out a small lead back to Lawson and Lowe - with another gap back to Dan Greenwood in fourth.

Sleigh leads - Lawson the background	Dan Greenwood - 4th all the way
Rob Fox leads round a mid-field charge.	Lawson goes drift-crazy, Lowe keeps it smooth to take second.

Phil Sleigh kept things smooth to take the 2WD Supercup 2009 after leading all the way. Richard Lowe second and Stephen Lawson third.

4WD A final
Richard Lowe didn't hang about and quickly started to pull away from the rest. Skelding took a Lawson-shaped torpedo in the side coming round to start lap 2, costing both drivers a little time as Lawson cheekily snook thru for second.

Richard Lowe didn't feel like entertaining the crowds and made for a boring race by simply driving faster and harder than anyone - taking the win 11 seconds ahead of Steve Lawson, with Adam Skelding 1.5 seconds further back in third.

LOWE - the man of the day leads them off.	Chaos at the back of the grid.
Colin May goes over the mats.	Richard Lowe flys on toward victory

TRUCK A final:

The winners - Richard Lowe, 4WD & Truck. Phil Sleigh, 2WD