BRCA R1 – Kidderminster – 2wd Qualifying Round 2

Round 2 of qualifying proceeded in quick succession after the top heat of round 1. A noticeable improvement in pace from nearly all the competitors. Oscar Keen taking the heat with some decent lap times on this tough track. In the mid-field, James Pritchard, Andrew Woods and Charlie Saunders were all fastest in heat and generally faster overall as the drivers settled in. Other notible mentions are Lloyd Storey recovering from a 51st in Round 1 to a 10th in Round 2. And Josh Holdsworth showed much improvement recovering from 10th in Round 1 to 6th in Round 2.

Top heats

But again, the crowds really came out for the top heats 9 to 12. Michal Orlowski in Heat 9 had only managed 17th overall in Round 1 even though he was fastest in heat ahead of Mark Smith. This time however Orlowski would prove to be much quicker on the track which is becoming slightly trickier in the midday sun. The car does look like a handful over the uneven surface in comparison to the lead Associated cars, but Michal put in a solid run going 5th in round with a 14/318.93. Mark Smith in second unable to improve on his Round 1 time. In heat 10, Ben Pugh just pipped Orlowski’s time to take 4th in Round – the local racer going very well with an extremely controlled drive.

2022 BRCA 1/10th Offroad National Championships

Round 1 – Kidderminster – 16th April 2022

Perfect timing….

Heat 11 is where you will find, at the moment, main TQ challenger Tommy Hall, along with Jamie Hall and Danny McGee – all of whom were very fast in Round 1. From the start of the heat we could see that something odd was going on. Tommy, Jamie and Danny were all running in very close proximity at the head of the field, yet the timing system was calling Danny as last. Tommy put in another great performance, but he did have a few oversteer moments – probably a result of the sunshine making the artificial grass sections looser. Tommy still putting in a time of 14/315.27, some 3 seconds ahead of Ben Pugh. We later found out that Danny’s car had failed to register at the start of the race, even though all other laps had been counted. Both the time keeper and the referee had realised what had happened during the race and were prepared to time the difference from the lead car to Danny separately. This allowed the organisers to correct Danny’s time which yielded him provisional 2nd in round behind Tommy with a 14/318.74.

Second attempt at TQ….

For the top heat – #12 – the track looked warmer and looser yet again. All eyes were on Round 1 TQ man Neil Cragg. Danny McGee, Ben Pugh, Michal Orlowski, Josh Holsworth and Jamie Hall had all put in times which may threaten Cragg should he make a mistake – however Tommy Hall had put in a time which threatened even if no mistake was made. Neil had commented after Round 1 that it was “All fine, just a smooth one” which would leave you to believe that he has a little bit more in the tank.

Neil Cragg yet again pushed his Associated B6.4 around in commanding fashion. A couple of small bobbles and oversteer moments, as we had seen from Tommy Hall, ultimately slow his time very slightly, but after a characteristic smooth run, Cragg did enough to displace Hall at the top of the round with a 14/315.27 to Hall’s 14/315.74.

Point Break

So going into Round 3 of qualifying its time for Tommy Hall to make his move to have any chance of denying Neil Cragg pole position. More news to follow…..

2wd Qualifying Round 2 Top 10

Overall 2wd points after qualifying round 2