BRCA R1 – Kidderminster – 4wd Qualifying Round 1

After an exciting days racing yesterday, 4wd has kicked off this morning at Round 1 of the 2022 BRCA 1/10th Offroad Nationals from Kidderminster Model Car Club. Competitors got out of their cars and tents into beaming sunshine even though temperatures were still chilly.

The forecast for today is the same as yesterday – dry warm and sunny. Two rounds of 4wd practice started at 8am – each session lasting only three minutes. The organisers arranged for this session to be timed – a change from yesterday. There are many drivers going quickly this morning including Neil Cragg, Ben Pugh, Danny McGee, Michal Orlowski, Tommy Hall and Ben Smith.

4wd Qualifying Round 1 – early heats

The first driver to look completely comfortable and quick on the tricky Kidderminster track was Thomas Phipps in heat two – setting timed laps in the late 23 second bracket – only a second shy of what we saw from the fastest drivers in practice. As the sun partially dried off the surface moisture to the optimal amount the times started to tumble. Mid 23’s for Lewis Hopkins in Heat 3 is the new benchmark in Qualifying round 1 and an impressive overall time of 13/310.35. He would end up 10th in round!

2022 BRCA 1/10th Offroad National Championships

Round 1 – Kidderminster – 16/17 April 2022

4wd Qualifying Round 1 – mid heats

As the sun shone down over the early heat any moisture which was present at start off with was now truly burnt off. Some of the drivers reporting that the track was not as quick now as it was in Practice Session 2 – only time would tell. This might be supported by the fact that the first person to displace Hopkins at the top was Michal Orlowski in Heat 7 – going 13/303.87. The multiple European Champion had a very pacey run in what was a difficult heat as he was so much quicker than his closest rival. An mixture of traffic and marshals stepping out in front of him cost him dearly.

4wd Qualifying Round 1 – late heats

In the later heats all eyes were on whoever had a chance of beating Michal Orlowski’s time. As Michal hadn’t had a clear run, it was expected that it wouldn’t be long till his was being relegated down the overall order, but that expectation was very wrong. In heat 8, Paul Crompton showed serious pace and lead the heat by a good margin till he mad a few consecutive mistakes, ruining his time. Jamie Hall taking the heat with a decent banker on 13/305.81 – still not enough to displace Orlowski. It was a similar story in Heat 9 – Ben Pugh setting a very fast pace before putting it off – Josh Holdsworth taking the heat with a 13/304.33 – very fast, but still not enough.

So onto the the final heat in the round – heat 10. Neil Cragg set the initial pace with Tommy Hall in tow. Some bobbles and bad bounces allowed Tommy to reign in Neil and briefly lead the heat before the latter opened the taps mid-race – putting in a couple of astonishing 22 second laps. Some more bobbles and a champions roll at the end of the straight all set Neil back, but he just managed to keep Tommy behind him. Both drivers going 1st and 2nd in round with 13/302.00 and 13/302.11 consecutively – displacing Michal Orlowski to 3rd, Josh Holdsworth 4th and Ben Smith 5th.

4wd Qualifying Round 1 top 20 times

4wd Qualifying Points after Round 1 – top 10