BRCA R5 TORCH – 2wd Qualifying Round 4

It’s advantage Neil Cragg after 3 rounds on 2wd qualifying. His only real challenger for Pole Position is Ben Smith and Ben definitely has the pace. Unusually, the battle for 2nd and 3rd on the grid is equally raging as Tommy Hall, Ben Smith and Michal Orlowski all jostle for the chance to push or defend Cragg. But its not over yet and anything could happen.

In heat 10, Tommy Hall led away on a charge. His car looked smooth and fast. Everything was going to plan till he crashed over the double-double and was left on his roof isolated from the marshal. A couple of cars had to pass through before Tommy was back on his wheels and on his way. He then took his pace up a notch and put in several fastest laps before crashing again on the last lap – unbelievably still setting a 12/326.94. Jamie Hall took the heat with a fairly clear run – finishing on 12/325.36

2022 BRCA 1/10th Offroad National Championships

Round 5 – TORCH – 6/7 August 2022

Next up was heat 11 with Brown and Orlowski continuing their day long battle. Orlowski looked smooth and controlled whilst Brown looked like he was pushing out of his comfort zone to keep up. At the three minute mark, Orlowski had a 3 or 4 second lead on Brown when he crashed on the table top requiring marshalling and letting Brown through. Then it was Brown’s turn to faulter and this let Orlowski back through. They both pushed very hard for the remaining session – Orlowski declaring 12/325.11 and Brown 11/300.91.

With one heat to go the overall table showed Orlowski on top. However Heat 12 would settle TQ and the remaining order of the A Final Grid. Smith would need a first in round on a time qiucker than 12/321. Cragg changed his style in this round. Instead of the smooth, faultless displays we are used to, we had a much more aggressive session this time. Neil would turn in sharply, unsettling the car, and counter steer just after the apex to lock the grip back in and then get on the power very early – reminiscent of the Mark 2 Escort rally drivers of the 1970’s. It looked aggressive, but not ragged and it produced some very fast laptimes indeed. Cragg had a clear run with only a few bobbles to log 12/318.94 – another fastest time of the day. Paul Crompton was Neils closest challenger some 7 seconds behind. Smith 3rd on a 11/301.81

So Neil Cragg has his extra point. If he can couple that to a win or second the 2022 2wd championship is his.

2wd Qualifying Round 4 results

Overall top 10 after 2wd qualifying