BRCA R2 Southport – 2wd Qualifying Round 2

I’m delighted to report that the sun reemerged in time for the top heats of 2wd qualifying Round 2. The battle at the front took an interesting turn – but we will come back to that!

Lower down the rankings several drivers are impressing given their lack of experience and/or age. Charlie Saunders and Lewis Hopkins are two young men driving out of their skins. Charlie going 18th and Lewis going 15th in round 1. Other notable performances have come from local ‘boys’ Mark Smith and Chris Evison – both hovering around the top 20 overall.

The sharp end…

At the front it should have been business as usual for some of the regular winners and podium finishers, but it wasn’t. Neil Cragg in heat 12 had an uncharacteristic mistake in what was a potentially a very fast run – losing a handful of seconds which relegating his overall time to fifth in round. In the heat 10, Josh Holdsworth laid down a marker with a near perfect run going 14/305.91 – good enough for third in round – only a fraction off Cragg’s Round 1 TQ time – Jamie Hall taking second in race some 4 seconds further down the road. In the proceeding heat, 11, Lee Martin doubled down on his consistency with increased speed to put in a 14/307.40 – fourth in round. It worth pointing out that Cragg’s error didn’t occur from the lead of the heat – that accolade went to Luke Holdsworth and he retained the lead of the heat to the end – the local racer now stretching is legs with a round TQ very closely followed by Paul Crompton who went 2wd in round.

2022 BRCA 1/10th Offroad National Championships

Round 2 – Southport – 21/22 May 2022

Neil Cragg applying the pressure to Luke Holdsworth

Battle for pole

Pole position is settled by taking a driver’s best two round scores from four – so with Cragg and Holdsworth taking one each it’s still wide open. Observing the races, it looks like Paul Crompton is the biggest threat for a new round winner. He was unlucky in Round 2 to collect Niel Cragg, causing him a couple of seconds – with a clean run he will be there.

2wd top 20 after qualifying round 2